Unit 34. Writing a Christmas Song

Last Christmas – Wham!

The group consisted of two men, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley formed in the early 1980’s and together sold 25 million records in the years they were active 1982-1986. 
They released the song ‘Last Christmas’ in 1984 and was written by George Michael and during the year of release they wanted the song to be the Christmas number 1, but they were beat out by the Band Aid Project fronted by Bob Geldof in the UK, however ‘Last Christmas’ topped the charts in other countries. 
WHAM! Sold over a million records of this song and it became the biggest selling single in UK chart history not to reach number 1. The song is about saving your love for someone else Christmas.
This is a successful Christmas song because it is catchy due to the use of repetition throughout the song. Also the backing track has some elements that you would use to describe some of the sounds at Christmas such the twinkling sounds that could be used in relation of the Nativity play and the story of Jesus’s birth about how the three wise men followed the star to get to Jesus.

This song includes a lot of repetition and numerous interludes of instrumentals. At the start of the song there is an interlude of just instrumental and then we are introduced to a single voice singing the chorus giving the song a thin texture of just that homophonic sound.  As soon as this single voice has finished its phrase, the second voice repeats the chorus accompanied by the first voice giving the song a polyphonic sound and a thicker texture. Following this, there is another instrumental interlude before the verse starts. There is one voice singing the verse with the occasional accompaniment of the second voice then it goes back to the chorus starting again with one voice singing the chorus once and then the second voice joining in during the second time that the chorus is sung.  Before starting the second verse there is yet another interlude of instrumental music but this is an augmentation of the interlude of music that we have previously heard in the song. The second verse starts with one voice singing but then is soon joined by the second voice thickening the texture of the verse and this leads off to the chorus but instead of starting the chorus with a single voice as they have been doing, they start it with both voices singing at the same time repeating the chorus with both voices twice. There is another interlude of instrumental music followed but this is shorter and then leads into the last lines of the chorus where just one voice is doing the singing and hitting the high notes. From there, the song fades out.

The structure of this song is:
-Chorus x2
-Verse
-Chorus x2
-Verse
-Short interlude
-Verse
-Chorus x2 (Augmented)
-Middle 8
-Augmented chorus
-Outro


There aren't many chords used in this song, there are only four chords.
D, Bm, Em, A.
This does not change, it is the same chords all the way through the song. 


There is some relation to the lyrics and the melody for example:
"...But the very next day, you gave it away.
This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it someone special"

The top line of the one above, is sung differently compared to the bottom line. 
"...But the very next day, you gave it away." 
This line is about giving someone you love, your love and expecting them to return the love to you, however instead of love being given back, the person gave the love away. This is the same as saying: "I showed you how much i love you, but then the next day you ended the relationship. You took my heart and left me"
Due to the feelings of sadness, hurt and upset from the person singing, this line is sung as if the person who showed the love is hanging his head down because his feelings are hurt. The line is also sung like the person is/was shocked, especially when the singer says :"but the very next day"

"This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it someone special"
This line is about learning from your mistakes and making sure that you give your love to someone who deserves it. 
The emotion in this line is almost as if the singer is talking about being "born again", having the strength to move on, be stronger, let go of the past. You can tell that the singer is stronger than what they were before because of the way the singer sings: "this year" he almost shouts it, to show his power and how much he means what he is saying. 
When the words "i'll give it to someone special" is sung, the singer soften his voice to show that even though he has shouted his beginning part, he now is softening his voice to show that he still wants to be in love.