The Song That The Beatles Wrote For Their Official Fan Club

Arguably, the first band to truly go above and beyond for its fans was The Beatles. Although earlier musicians like Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley had amicable relationships with their fans, The Beatles were still the first to establish such tight ties with their fanbase.

One of the most remarkable things they did to tighten their relationship with their fanbase is the Christmas records they mailed out every year. It all started in 1963, wherein there’s an annual edition, distributed for free to members of their Official Fan Club.

The first was their 1963’s The Beatles Christmas Record, with the last being 1969’s The Beatles Seventh Christmas Record. The releases were conceived as a means of appeasing their mass of fan club members whose letters were not always answered due to their massive volume.

Apart from songs, the records contained messages of thanks, skits, carols, and other original pieces. A compilation of all seven, From Then to You, was released in 1970.

However, there’s only one among these sent-out seven tracks that were truly made or dedicated to their fans. The band specifically wrote the 1967 effort “Christmas Time (Is Here Again).” It’s also a significant moment as it’s one of the few pieces credited to all four members of the group. Unfortunately, despite being one of their best-known Yuletide tracks, it remained officially unreleased for decades.

A 1984 release was planned, but it was shelved with the cancellation of the compilation album Sessions. Later on, the band’s record company Apple released a condensed version of the song as the B-side to “Free as a Bird” in December 1995. Eventually, the original 1967 version was finally republished in 2017 on the limited-edition box set The Christmas Records.