"Lonely This Christmas" is a Christmas song by the English

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...

band

Mud A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-bas ...

, that topped the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 1974, selling over 750,000 copies and reaching

Christmas number one In the United Kingdom, Christmas number ones are singles that top the UK Singles Chart in the week in which Christmas Day falls. The singles have often been novelty songs, charity songs or songs with a Christmas theme. Historically, the volume ...

Song

Written Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...

and produced by

Nicky Chinn Nicholas Barry Chinn (born 16 May 1945) is an English-American songwriter and record producer. Together with Mike Chapman he had a long string of hit singles in the UK and US in the 1970s and early 1980s, including several international number- ...

and

Mike Chapman Michael Donald Chapman (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian-American record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including The Sweet, Suz ...

, "Lonely This Christmas" was Mud's second

number one Number One most commonly refers to: * 1 (number) Number One, No. 1, or #1 may also refer to: Music Albums * ''Number 1'' (Big Bang album), and the title song * ''No. 1'' (BoA album), and the title song * ''No.1'' (EP), by CLC * ''n.1 ...

single in the UK, spending four weeks at the top in December 1974 and January 1975. It was the third number one single that year for the ChinniChap writing and production team, and was performed in the style of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

's slower songs from his later career.

Performances

The song is noted for a performance on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' in which guitarist Rob Davis was covered in tinsel and wore Christmas baubles as earrings, while vocalist

Les Gray Thomas Leslie Gray (9 April 1946 – 21 February 2004) was an English musician best known for his work with glam rock pop band Mud. Gray was also known for his distinctive vocal impersonation of Elvis Presley, as well as being a lifelong suppor ...

sang to a

ventriloquist Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is v ...

's dummy. Its final appearance on ''Top of the Pops'' was on 8 January 1975, which was coincidentally the fortieth birthday of Elvis Presley. At the conclusion of the song, vocalist Les Gray turned to the camera and solemnly said, 'Merry Christmas darling wherever you are.'

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control Songs about loneliness 1974 singles British Christmas songs UK Singles Chart number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles Songs written by Nicky Chinn Songs written by Mike Chapman 1974 songs RAK Records singles Song recordings produced by Mike Chapman Mud (band) songs