Lonely This Christmas

"Lonely This Christmas" is a popular Christmas song by the English glam rock band Mud, that topped the UK Singles Chart in 1974,[1] selling over 750,000 copies and reaching Christmas number one.

"Lonely This Christmas"
Single by Mud
B-side"I Can't Stand It"
ReleasedDecember 1974
Recorded1974
GenreChristmas music
Length3:35
LabelRAK
Songwriter(s)Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn
Producer(s)Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn
Mud singles chronology
"In The Mood"
(1974)		 "Lonely This Christmas"
(1974)		 "The Secrets That You Keep"
(1975)

Song

Written and produced by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, "Lonely This Christmas" was Mud's second number one single in the UK, spending four weeks at the top in December 1974 and January 1975.[1][2] It was the third number one single that year for the ChinniChap writing and production team, and was performed in the style of Elvis Presley's slower songs from his later career.

Performances

The song is noted for a performance on Top of the Pops in which guitarist Rob Davis was covered in tinsel and wore Christmas baubles as earrings, while vocalist Les Gray sang to a ventriloquist's dummy. Its final appearance on Top of the Pops was on 8 January 1975, which was coincidentally the fortieth birthday of Elvis Presley. At the conclusion of the song, vocalist Les Gray turned to the camera and solemnly said, 'Happy birthday Elvis, wherever you are.'

Versions

The song has been covered by Lucky Soul, Miss Vincent, Blue, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine (as part of a fan club limited edition Xmas 7 inch), Little Man Tate, KT Tunstall, Los Campesinos!, and The Growlers. The song has been used as background music in North American Buick Lacrosse commercials.

Despite several incorrectly-labelled videos on YouTube, Elvis Presley never recorded the song. Those videos tend to be the Mud or James Memphis King versions.

Chart performance
Chart (1974) Peak
position
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[3] 1
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[4] 1
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[5] 1
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References
  1. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 308–9. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. "Radio 2's Great British Songbook: Lonely This Christmas". BBC. Retrieved 2014-03-27.
  3. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 51, 1974" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40 Retrieved 2017-12-31.
  4. "Dutchcharts.nl – Mud – Lonely This Christmas" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 2017-12-31.
  5. "Ultratop.be – Mud – Lonely This Christmas" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 2017-12-31.


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