"Step into Christmas" is a

Christmas song Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

written by English musician

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

and songwriter

Bernie Taupin Bernard John Taupin (born 22 May 1950) is an English songwriter, singer and visual artist. He is best known for his long-term collaboration with musician Elton John, a songwriting partnership that is one of the most successful in history. Tau ...

, and performed by John. It was released as a stand-alone single in November 1973 with the song "Ho, Ho, Ho (Who'd Be a Turkey at Christmas)" as the B-side. Upon its original 1973 release, the song peaked at No. 24 on 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 ...

, and it reached a new peak of No. 8 on the same chart in 2019. In the United States, the single reached No. 56 on the ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' Top 100 Singles chart and No. 1 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Christmas Singles chart.Whitburn, Joel. ''Top Pop Singles 1955–1996'' (1997):316 "Step into Christmas" was later included as a bonus track on the 1995 remastered reissue of the album ''

Caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

'', even though it was released in the ''

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' is the seventh studio album by English singer-songwriter Elton John, first released on 5 October 1973 as a double LP. The album has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and is widely regarded as John's magnum ...

'' era. It also appears on the albums ''

Elton John's Christmas Party ''Elton John's Christmas Party'' is a Christmas-themed compilation album from English musician Elton John. It features his 1973 Christmas single, "Step into Christmas", and a new duet with Joss Stone, "Calling It Christmas". According to John's i ...

'', ''

Rare Masters ''Rare Masters'' is a compilation album by Elton John that was released in 1992. It includes all A-side and B-sides released by John between 1968 and 1975 that were not included on original studio albums or on ''Elton John's Greatest Hits Volu ...

'', ''

To Be Continued A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...

'', ''

Diamonds Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...

'' and various Christmas compilation albums. Two versions with different vocals are known to exist: the original single mix and a version recorded for John's 1973 performance of "Step into Christmas" on '' The Gilbert O'Sullivan Show'' television programme (which featured Bernie Taupin standing in for

Ray Cooper Raymond Cooper (born 19 September 1947) is an English musician who has worked as a session and road-tour percussionist. During his career, Cooper has worked and toured with numerous musically diverse bands and artists including Elton John (as ...

on percussion). In 2009, "Step into Christmas" was listed as the ninth-most-played Christmas song of the 2000s in the UK. In December 2021, the song was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for sales and streams of 1,200,000 units. In September 2021, the song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales and streams of 500,000 units.

Recording

According to liner notes about the song (in ''Rare Masters'' and ''Elton John's Christmas Party''), the track and its B-side, both produced by

Gus Dudgeon Angus Boyd "Gus" Dudgeon (30 September 1942 – 21 July 2002) was an English record producer, who oversaw many of Elton John's most acclaimed recordings, including his commercial breakthrough, "Your Song". Their collaboration led to seven US No ...

, were recorded during a session on 11 November 1973 at London's

Morgan Studios Morgan Studios (founded as Morgan Sound Studios) was an independent recording studio in Willesden in northwest London. Founded in 1967, the studio was the location for recordings by such notable artists as Jethro Tull, the Kinks, Paul McCartney, ...

,Moments: ‘Step Into Christmas’
Retrieved 19 December 2017 which was owned by drummer Barry Morgan, who had played on several of John's early albums. "Step into Christmas" was mixed to sound like one of producer

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

's 1960s recordings, using plenty of compression and imitating his trademark

wall of sound The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of session m ...

technique. This was intentional according to both John and Taupin, and an homage of sorts to Christmas songs by Spector-produced groups such as

The Ronettes The Ronettes were an American girl group from Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector), her older sister Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. The ...

Music video

A music video was produced to promote the single; it is notable for its cameo appearance of Taupin, who is seen briefly playing

tubular bells Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within a ...

during the song's bridge (although they are actually played in the audio recording by percussionist

). John is also seen holding his

Watford F.C. Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. They play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club’s original foundation is 1881, aligned with that of its antecede ...

supporters card. John would later go on to own the club.

Chart performance

Charts

Certifications

Other versions

"Step into Christmas" was covered by the band

The Wedding Present The Wedding Present are an English indie rock group originally formed in 1985 in Leeds, England, from the ashes of The Lost Pandas. The band's music has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of their most obvious influences The Fall, ...

on their 1992 single "No Christmas" and also covered by The Business for the holiday EP ''Bollocks to Christmas''. The song was also covered by

The Puppini Sisters The Puppini Sisters are an English close harmony vocal trio composed of Italian-born singer Marcella Puppini and English singers Kate Mullins and Emma Smith. Although the three are not related, the name was chosen in tribute to the Andrews Sister ...

on their 2010 holiday album ''

Christmas with The Puppini Sisters ''Christmas with The Puppini Sisters'' is the third studio album by the close harmony trio The Puppini Sisters, released through Verve on 5 October 2010. The album features ten cover versions of Christmas songs. The Puppini Sisters had always wa ...

''.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Step into Christmas 1973 singles British Christmas songs Elton John songs Songs with music by Elton John Songs with lyrics by Bernie Taupin Song recordings produced by Gus Dudgeon DJM Records singles MCA Records singles Song recordings with Wall of Sound arrangements