I Believe in Father Christmas

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"I Believe in Father Christmas"
Single by Greg Lake
B-side"Humbug"
ReleasedNovember 1975 (with orchestra)
Recorded1974
StudioAbbey Road Studios, London
Genre
Length3:31
LabelManticore
Composer(s)
Lyricist(s)Peter Sinfield
Producer(s)
  • G. Lake
  • P. Sinfield
Greg Lake singles chronology
"I Believe in Father Christmas"
(1975) 		"C'est La Vie"
(1977)
Official video
"I Believe in Father Christmas" on YouTube
"I Believe in Father Christmas"
Song by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
from the album Works Volume 2
ReleasedNovember 1977 (without orchestra)
Genre
Length3:17
LabelAtlantic
Composer(s)
Lyricist(s)Peter Sinfield
Producer(s)
  • G. Lake
  • P. Sinfield
Works Volume 2 track listing
12 tracks
A-side
  1. "Tiger in a Spotlight"
  2. "When the Apple Blossoms Bloom in the Windmills of Your Mind, I'll Be Your Valentine"
  3. "Bullfrog"
  4. "Brain Salad Surgery"
  5. "Barrelhouse Shake-Down"
  6. "Watching Over You"
B-side
  1. "So Far to Fall
  2. "Maple Leaf Rag (Odeon Rag)"
  3. "I Believe in Father Christmas"
  4. "Close But Not Touching"
  5. "Honky-Tonk Train Blues"
  6. "Show Me the Way to Go Home"

"I Believe in Father Christmas" is a song by English musician Greg Lake with lyrics by Peter Sinfield. Although it is often categorised as a Christmas song, this was not Lake's intention. He said that he wrote the song in protest at the commercialisation of Christmas.[1] Sinfield, however, said that the words are about a loss of innocence and childhood belief.[2] Released as Lake's debut solo single in 1975, the song reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart, number 17 on the Irish Singles Chart[3] and number 98 in Australia.[4]

Background

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Lake wrote the song at his west London home, after tuning the bottom string of his guitar from E down to D.[5]

The instrumental riff between verses comes from the "Troika" portion of Sergei Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé Suite, written for the 1934 Soviet film Lieutenant Kijé;[6] this was added at the suggestion of Keith Emerson (an adaptation of the same song was used on Emerson's later The Christmas Album (1988)). Peter Sinfield described the song as "a picture-postcard Christmas, with morbid edges."[7]

Release

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The song was recorded by Lake in 1974 and released separately from ELP in 1975, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart.[8] It was kept from number one by Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". Lake commented: "I got beaten by one of the greatest records ever made. I would've been pissed off if I'd been beaten by Cliff (Richard)." However, orchestrator Godfrey Salmon said: "I was surprised the single wasn't more successful. I thought 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was rubbish, and still do. When it got to No 1 before we'd even brought ours out, I thought it would be long gone by Christmas. How wrong can you get?"[9] The record continued to sell and in 1984 and 1986 reached 84 and 98, respectively, on the UK Singles Chart.[10] The song also reached #98 in Australia in late 1975.

Video

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The video for the record was shot on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, and in the Dead Sea Scrolls caves in the West Bank, and includes footage from the Vietnam War and Six-Day War.[5]

Legacy

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A second recording by the full ELP trio, but with a sparser arrangement, was included on the 1977 album Works Volume 2. It was recorded a third time in 1993, for the ELP box set The Return of the Manticore, and Lake revisited it yet again for the 2002 Sanctuary Records compilation A Classic Rock Christmas. The song has also appeared on several other ELP and Christmas compilation albums including a 1995 EP titled I Believe in Father Christmas, which includes Lake's original single as well as the Works Volume II version.

In 2005 Lake wrote a letter to The Guardian about the song, in answer to a reader question regarding whether it was possible to survive on Christmas royalties alone:

In 1975, I wrote and recorded a song called "I Believe in Father Christmas", which some Guardian readers may remember and may even own. It was a big hit and it still gets played on the radio every year around December, and it appears on more or less every Christmas compilation going. So I can tell you from experience that it's lovely to get the old royalty cheque around September every year, but on its own, the Christmas song money isn’t quite enough to buy my own island in the Caribbean. I'm on tour at the moment and the Christmas song is as well received now as it was 30 years ago – maybe even more so. If Guardian readers could all please request it be played by their local radio stations, maybe that Caribbean island wouldn’t be so far away – and if I get there, you’re all invited.[11]

Charts

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Chart (1975) Peak
position
Australian Singles (Kent Music Report)[12] 98
Ireland (IRMA)[13] 17
UK Singles (OCC)[14] 2
US Billboard Hot 100[15] 95

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[16]
2008 release 		Gold 400,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ "Greg comments about "Father Christmas"". The Official Greg Lake Website. Archived from the original (MP3) on 30 January 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  2. ^ "Peter comments about "Father Christmas"" (Text). The Official Peter Sinfield Website / Song Soup on Sea. Retrieved 25 December 2009.
  3. ^ "The Irish Charts - all there is to know - Greg Lake". Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  4. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 172. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  5. ^ a b Greg Lake (January 2011). "I Believe in Father Christmas" (PDF). Uncut. pp. 28–30.
  6. ^ "The Czar Wants to Sleep". 9 December 1934. Retrieved 9 December 2016 – via IMDb.
  7. ^ "The Life of a Song: 'I Believe in Father Christmas'". Financial Times. 8 December 2016. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  8. ^ Adams, Owen (22 December 2006). "A song for a secular Christmas". Guardian Unlimited: Arts blog. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
  9. ^ Mulholland, Garry (19 December 2014). "The Making Of... Greg Lake's I Believe In Father Christmas". Uncut. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  10. ^ "Greg Lake". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  11. ^ Lake, Greg (8 December 2016). "When Greg Lake wrote to the Guardian about 'I Believe in Father Christmas'". theguardian.com. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  12. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 19. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  13. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – I Believe in Father Christmas". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  14. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  15. ^ "Greg Lake Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  16. ^ "British single certifications – Greg Lake – I Believe in Father Christmas". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
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