The Right Way
The right way to do a Christmas song (if you are a former Beatle) is to pen a heartfelt antiwar protest song. Despite the stance of John Lennon's Happy Xmas (War Is Over), the song is less about decrying war and more about a plea for peace.
Also, you can arrange the musical structure to have beautiful instrumentation and a chorus of children (always a Christmas favorite). The children's lines "War is over if you want it. War is over now" come from a series of billboards John and Yoko posted in eleven cities all around the world in 1969. In New York, Tokyo, Rome, Athens, Amsterdam, London, Paris and Toronto in late 69, posters reading "War is over! If you want it. Merry Christmas from John and Yoko" (see above) were seen declaring a stance against the highly controversial Vietnam War.
I think the reason this song works is that, despite all its trappings to be overtly cheesy (singing children, sappy protest lyrics), the words came directly from Lennon's heart. It was a meaningful love of the generosity and kindness of Christmas.
The Wrong Way
The wrong way to do a Christmas song (if you are a former Beatle) is to do Wonderful Christmastime. I've recently discovered that a lot of people actually enjoy this song and it's really disheartening to me.
This song, for lack of a better word, sucks. It sucks hard. It's a never-ending barrage of repetitive lyrics and crappy synthesizers while Paul McCartney constantly sings about how he's simply having a wonderful Christmastime.
And I know its supposed to have rhyming words because each verse rhymes but McCartney forgot to make something rhyme with "our spirit's up," so he uses "that's enough." UP AND ENOUGH DON'T EVEN RHYME ARGH. The melody of the song literally goes nowhere but circles, constantly repeating that awful wet synth sound.
I cannot believe this ass wrote Helter Skelter.
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