“Merry Christmas Everyone” by Shakin’ Stevens
According to Shakin’ Stevens, the content of this piece (“Merry Christmas Everyone”) was meant to replicate classic Christmas tracks, the types of which someone like the late Bing Crosby would drop back in the relatively puritan days of old.
Such tunes, such as this piece, tend to focus on the simple, ubiquitous pleasures practitioners of the holiday relish the most. For instance, there is the innocent joy of children on display, as well as a snowy setting.
And on a more adult level, we also have the “parties and celebration(s)” that last deep into the night. And with this being a late 20th century yuletide offering, relatedly are also allusions to romance. In that regards, the the vocalist uses the opportunity of a well-placed mistletoe to get intimately closer to a lady who catches his eye.
In fact whereas there may be more of a lyrical emphasis on children overall, the middle part of this song is more squarely centered on a grown-up holiday gathering. And you know that as far as the younger guys like the vocalist go, socializing with the fairer sex would also be like in the back of their minds.
In Conclusion
So now we’re seeing that this practice of imbuing a Christmas song with romance preceded Mariah Carey in the 1990s. But that said there is nothing actually adult about this song, with “Merry Christmas Everyone” achieving the goal of being generally applicable.
That is to say that this Xmas offering features ample shoutouts to both young and mature listeners. And conclusively, as far as the vocalist is concerned, to him Christmas is a season of “love and understanding”.
Shakin’ Stevens
Shakin’ Stevens is a singer, currently being a septuagenarian, who experienced his peak success throughout the 1980s. During that time, from 1981 to 1990, he dropped eight consecutive studio albums. These albums began with “This Ole House” and ended with “There Are Two Kinds of Music… Rock ‘n’ Roll”. And they all made it onto the UK Albums Chart.
The first three projects on that list actually scored within the top three of the chart, with the second of those efforts reaching number one.
Release of “Merry Christmas Everyone”
As for “Merry Christmas Everyone”, Epic Records released this track as a standalone single on 25 November 1985.
It was actually ready for release in 1984, the year prior to its official issuance. But said Yuletide season was also when “Do They Know It’s Christmas?“, one of the biggest Xmas and charity singles ever, was also dropped. So Epic Records and co. waited, wisely so, until 1985 to release this tune.
And there is an actual Shakin’ Stevens album named after this song, also courtesy of Epic Records, which didn’t come out until 1991. Such is understandable, that they would release an album entitled Merry Christmas Everyone even after the song itself was already a few years old, when you take into consideration that this is the biggest hit in Shakin’ Stevens’ 50 year discography.
Success of “Merry Christmas Everyone”
This song went straight to the top of the UK Singles Chart, as did a few songs he dropped prior. But unlike the others, this one also achieved double-platinum BPI certification in the UK and performed commercially similar in Denmark.
When this song came out, it did prove to be the UK Christmas number one of 1985 as envisioned. And beyond that, it actually survived the test of time to earn the distinction of being a genuine yuletide classic across the pond.
More Facts
In 2015 Shakin’ Stevens came out with a new rendition of this piece. That time around it came out as an act of charity in conjunction with The Salvation Army. It’s 2015 title was “Echoes of Merry Christmas Everyone”. Interestingly enough that version failed to hit. Instead the original “Merry Christmas Everyone” rather reappeared on the UK Singles Chart during the 2015 Xmas season.
In 2020 The Celebs, a London-based supergroup consisting primarily of non-musicians, released their own charity version of “Merry Christmas Everyone”.
And during Christmas season 2021, a British children’s band known as Andy and The Odd Socks came out with another rendition of this classic Xmas tune. And the video to that track, which is also a charity single, features a cameo appearance by Shakin’ Stevens.
There are a number of children in this song’s music video with one of them, Sarah J. Price, going on to become a notable voice actor. This visual also includes a couple of Shakin’ Stevens’ own kids.
Moreover, the clip as filmed in a venue in known as Santaworld, in a part of Sweden that is known to be quite cold. But interestingly it hadn’t snowed when they decided to shoot the clip, and accordingly Shakin’ Stevens and the rest of the gang opted to utilized snow machines.
Who wrote “Merry Christmas Everyone”?
This song was written by a behind-the-scenes’ Scottish musician named Bob Heatlie. Simply put, Stevens played no role in the composing of this iconic hit of his.
And its producer is Dave Edmunds, who like Shakin’ Stevens is from Wales but unlike Heatlie also has a notable discography in his own name. Interestingly, Heatlie actually penned this tune in the middle of the summer, during a serious heat wave.
