Christmas Wrapping

Product Information

Staff (December 20, 2011). "MP3: The Front Bottoms Get In The Holiday Spirit With "Christmas Wrapping" ". Filter . Retrieved December 24, 2013. a b McNultey, Bernadette (December 16, 2012). "Christmas songs advent calendar: Day 16. The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping". The Telegraph . Retrieved December 23, 2012. a b Christmas Wrapping (UK 7" Vinyl liner notes). The Waitresses. ZE Records. 1982. WIP 6821. {{ cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) ( link) In 2005, Guardian journalist Dorian Lynskey called the song "fizzing, funky dance-around-the-Christmas-tree music for Brooklyn hipsters". [13] In 2012, the Daily Telegraph writer Bernadette McNulty called it "one of the most charming, insouciant festive songs ever". [8] The AllMusic reviewer Andy Hinds called it "one of the best holiday pop tunes ever recorded". [1] Long after the holiday season, fans demanded that The Waitresses play the song live, so the group did so until disbanding in 1984.

Lynskey, Dorian (December 23, 2005). "Readers recommend: alternative Christmas songs". The Guardian . Retrieved December 23, 2012. Christmas Wrapping (FRA CD Single liner notes). The Waitresses. ZE Records. 2016. ZEREC.EP59. {{ cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) ( link) Christmas Wrapping (UK 12" Vinyl liner notes). The Waitresses. ZE Records. 1983. ZEREC.EP59. {{ cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) ( link)

Missing lyrics by The Waitresses?

a b "Waitresses Chart History". Official Charts. Official Charts Company . Retrieved April 11, 2017. ZE Records released the album “A Christmas Record” in November 1981. Did Butler know that “Christmas Wrapping” would be a success? Written while hip hop music was beginning to gain prominence, "Christmas Wrapping" is "almost rapped" by Donahue. [5] Its title, a pun on "rapping", [8] alludes to the 1979 song " Christmas Rappin'" by Kurtis Blow. [9] Butler said he also "liked the idea of the word 'wrap,' like a wraparound, because the story is circular". [9] Lyrics [ edit ] Each festive season, Butler makes a donation to the Akron-Summit County children's library in the name of the first person to tell him they heard "Christmas Wrapping" on the radio. [6] Covers [ edit ] a b "Summer Camp Cover "Christmas Wrapping" ". Stereogum. December 3, 2010 . Retrieved December 24, 2013.

When people were relaxing, having a cup of holiday cheer, I was slaving away to write articles and make deadlines, because I was perpetually broke and I needed the dough,” he said. As an adult living in New York, Butler found December to be a time of stress. He felt obligated to battle the crowds and go shopping for gifts for people he barely knew at the same time he worked overtime to make ends meet as a freelance writer.The Waitresses Chart History (Alternative Digital Songs Sales)". Billboard . Retrieved December 24, 2020. Christmas Wrapping" was released as a single in the UK in 1981 on Island Records. It did not initially make the charts, but was reissued in 1982 and reached No. 45 on the UK Singles Chart that December. [11] It remains the Waitresses' highest-charting single in the UK. [12] Zilkha wanted The Waitresses to contribute an original song for a Christmas album with other acts on the label, including Was (Not Was), Alan Vega, Suicide, Davitt Sigerson, Cristina, August Darnell, Charlélie Couture and Material with Nona Hendryx. When performing live, Butler and Wormworth helped finish some of the lines so Donahue could catch a breath here and there. I’ve still got the cassettes of me kind of grunting in the microphone, trying to come up with parts to present to the band,” he said. “That’s kind of the way we worked. I would come up with an idea for a song and figure out a few parts and then present it.”

Forty years later, he’s still amazed when he hears the tune blaring on the radio, wafting through a mall or playing in a movie or TV show.

Credits (2)

Christmas came early this year when Netflix released “The Tomorrow War” in July. The song was featured prominently during the first five minutes of the sci-fi movie. With so many words in “Christmas Wrapping,” he joked that it’s more of a master’s thesis than a song. a b Spears, Steve (December 5, 2016). "The story behind ... 'Christmas Wrapping' by The Waitresses". Tampa Bay Times . Retrieved December 18, 2019. The song has appeared on such TV shows as “The Office,”“Cobra Kai,”“Gilmore Girls” and “Malcolm in the Middle.”

In 1964 the film was the British choice for the Cannes Film Festival and is a sensual, surreal fantasy about a beautiful woman and her passion for peaches. The 15-minute story, which opens with a woman splayed on a bed rubbing her face with a ripe peach. Donahue delivers the lyrics in a singsong manner. It’s not a traditional rap, but “maybe by 1981 standards it was close,” Butler said. I remember thinking one really hot day: “We’re recording a Christmas song in August? OK!” At the time, Good Times by Chic was out and, for bass players, Bernard Edwards’ badass bassline was iconic. I wasn’t trying to rip it off, but I was heavily inspired by it. I sat in the studio and worked out note for note what I would play. Like the band, the song is a real mix. We’d been part of the CBGBs scene that spawned Talking Heads and Ramones. Our drummer Billy Ficca had been in Television. Mars Williams [saxophone] came from the New York free jazz scene and was a big character, who sometimes brought a didgeridoo on stage. He plays the sax on the chorus really straight, but then in the solo at the end just really goes for it: free jazz mayhem. Alternative Festive Songs To Freshen Up Your Christmas Playlist". HuffPost. December 18, 2017 . Retrieved December 26, 2022. Comedy Death-Ray Christmas CD". Earwolf.com. 2010. Archived from the original on December 5, 2010 . Retrieved December 5, 2010.

Release

Butler delivered his outline to the band and the veteran musicians got to work in early September. Michael Frondelli served as studio engineer and co-producer.