Roy Wood
A glam rock legend has shared how all he wants for Christmas is his festive favourite to bag the number 1 spot – 50 years after it was first released.
Wizzard frontman Roy Wood hopes I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday will get Christmas Number 1 – something it narrowly missed out on the first time round.
It first hit the charts in 1973 and with a children’s choir, sleigh bells and catchy lyrics, the Christmas classic has been played every December ever since.
In fact, it is so popular that he ends up playing it at gigs all year round as everyone wants to hear him belt it out. Despite it being a firm part of any Christmas party, the song has actually never hit that top spot – something that Roy hopes will change this year.
He said: “I didn’t realise when I wrote it that it would last this long – it’s brilliant really.
“It would be fantastic to get to Number 1. It would mean one hell of a lot to me. That would be it, I’d have scored what I wanted after all this time.”
To mark 50 years since it was first released, Roy has reflected back on what inspired it in the first place and some of the backstage secrets that created the video that is still loved to this day. Roy with his white beard and red and white hat with glitter on his face, surrounded by snow and a castle is a sure sign of Christmas for many.
I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday was something that he already had ideas for and even had a folder dedicated to it but it was May of 1973 that he properly sat down and wrote it.
He said: “Around about that time there hadn’t been a rock ‘n’ roll Christmas record for a long time, before that it was Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee and the ones after that were strange and quirky ones.
“I just thought now’s the time. I got in the recording studio and recorded it in August when it was bright sunshine. I got to the studio early and put the big fans on and left it on so it was freezing in there.
“I phoned the band and told them to come in their overcoat, scarves and hat. It was brilliant and you can hear the atmosphere on the track.”
After recording the track, they got 10 to 12 year olds from a school in Birmingham on a coach and took them to a recording studio. It was here that the band explained how they got the song from the microphone to the record to the children.
Roy said: “By the time it was their turn to sing their bit they had lost their nerves. We went in the studio and recorded it in one or two takes. They were smashing kids.
“After we took them to the Hard Rock Café in Leicester Square and one band member sat with them on each table and the kids interviewed us which was great.
“On the coach on the way home they were singing all the way. You can hear it on the track. I loved it. I don’t play my own stuff at home and if anything comes on the radio I tend to turn it over but I’m still proud of the Christmas one. Everybody likes it.
“When I was on the road we played it in the summer – all year round as everyone wanted to hear it.”
To mark the milestone, Roy has created a special limited edition gin with Nelson’s Distillery and School named after the famous Christmas hit.
Fans are calling on everyone to play I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday as much as they can in the run up to the big day, download it, buy it and do all they can to get it to that top spot.
