| "Christmas Wrapping" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single bythe Waitresses | ||||
| from the albumA Christmas Record | ||||
| B-side |
| |||
| Released | 1981 | |||
| Recorded | 1981 | |||
| Studio | Electric Lady (New York City) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
| |||
| Label | ZE | |||
| Songwriter | ||||
| Producer |
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| The Waitresses singles chronology | ||||
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"Christmas Wrapping" is aChristmas song by the Americannew wave bandthe Waitresses. First released onZE Records' 1981 compilation albumA Christmas Record, it later appeared on the band's 1982EPI Could Rule the World If I Could Only Get the Parts and numerous other holiday compilation albums.[1] It was written and produced byChris Butler, with vocals byPatty Donahue.[2]
"Christmas Wrapping" received positive reviews andAllMusic described it as "one of the best holiday pop tunes ever recorded". It has been covered by more than a dozen acts, including theSpice Girls.
In 1981,ZE Records asked each of its artists to record a Christmas song for a compilation album,A Christmas Record. The Waitresses were in the middle of a difficult tour and the Christmas song commission was "the last thing we wanted", Butler said later.[3][4]
Butler wrote the song that August, assembling it from assorted unusedriffs.[5] He finished the lyrics in a taxi on the way to the recording studio,[6]Electric Lady Studios inGreenwich Village.[7] Butler said the lyrics came from his hatred of Christmas: "Everybody I knew in New York was running around like a bunch of fiends. It wasn't about joy. It was something to cope with."[5] The bassist,Tracy Wormworth, was inspired byBernard Edwards' bassline on the recently released "Good Times" byChic.[6]
Written whilehip 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'" byKurtis Blow.[9] Butler said he did not really think of Donahue's performance as a rap, as it was a new musical form, but said: "It was OK for a white guy to tell a story but tell it in rhythmic verse. And, it does have a melody, just three notes because Patty was no belter, but she’s a good enough actress that she could act it out."[10] Butler said he also liked the meaning of "wraparound", as the story is circular.[9]
"Christmas Wrapping" is told from the perspective of a busy single woman adamant not to participate in the exhausting Christmas season. On Christmas Eve, she runs to a grocery store to buy cranberries, where she meets an attractive man she has been interested in for a year, bringing her Christmas "to a very happy ending". In the finalrefrain, she admits that she "couldn't miss this one this year".[11]
"Christmas Wrapping" was released as a single in the UK in 1981 onIsland Records. It did not initially make thecharts, but was reissued in 1982 and reached No. 45 on theUK Singles Chart that December.[12] It remains the Waitresses' highest-charting single in the UK,[13] and despite its modest chart placing, the song was certified platinum by theBPI in 2024.
Butler said the reception was a rejuvenating gift for the band: "We do the Christmas song, forget about it and go back on the road. The next thing I know when calling back to New York is that it's all over the radio and much to our surprise it leaps over our heads and hits all the cities where we're heading and all of a sudden we're back on an upswing again."[3]
In 2005,Guardian journalist Dorian Lynskey called the song "fizzing, funky dance-around-the-Christmas-tree music for Brooklyn hipsters".[14] In 2012, theDaily Telegraph writer Bernadette McNulty called it "one of the most charming, insouciant festive songs ever".[8] TheAllMusic reviewer Andy Hinds called it "one of the best holiday pop tunes ever recorded".[1]
During the 2016 Christmas season, it re-entered the UK singles chart at number 96.[13] The song appears in numerous holiday-music compilations, includingThe Edge of Christmas,Dr. Demento's Holidays in Dementia, andNow That's What I Call Christmas!: The Signature Collection.[15] Each festive season, Butler makes a donation to theAkron-Summit County children's library in the name of the first person to tell him they heard "Christmas Wrapping" on the radio.[6]
"Christmas Wrapping" was covered by the English pop groupSpice Girls as a B-side for their 1998 single "Goodbye",[16] with lyrics altered to include a reference to British supermarket chainTesco instead of the American chainA&P.[6] It has also been covered bySave Ferris (with lyrics altered for a Jewish perspective),[17]Kate Nash,[18] theFront Bottoms,[19]Devon Kay & The Solutions,[20] theDonnas,[21]Summer Camp,[21] the cast of the Broadway musicalWicked,[22] comedianDoug Benson,[23]Martha Wainwright,[24] the cast of the TV showGlee (withHeather Morris on lead vocals),[25]andDisney Channel starBella Thorne.[26] British/Irish girl bandthe Saturdays covered the song for the filmGet Santa.[27]Kylie Minogue recorded the song withIggy Pop for her 2015 album,Kylie Christmas.[28]
Sinkane, studying a Masters in composition, produced a cover for Christmas 2020. It featured Nancy Whang (LCD Soundsystem) singing lead, Nick Millhiser (Holy Ghost!) on drums, andMoney Mark (The Beastie Boys) on Moog.[29] Profits from this release went to The Food Bank for New York City.
Credits and personnel are adapted from "Christmas Wrapping" vinyl liner notes.[30]
| Chart (1981–2020) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles (OCC)[33] | 45 |
| USBillboard Alternative Digital Songs Sales[34] | 9 |
| USBillboard Rock Digital Songs[35] | 8 |
| USBillboard Rock Streaming Songs[36] | 24 |
| USHoliday 100 (Billboard)[37] | 67 |
| USHoliday Digital Song Sales (Billboard)[38] | 12 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[39] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
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