I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" is a popular Christmas song in the UK, first released in 1973 by Wizzard, when it reached #4 in the singles chart, famously beaten to #1 by Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody which remained there for five consecutive weeks. As with all Wizzard songs, it was penned and produced by Roy Wood, who played most (if not all) of the instruments too.

The song features the lead vocals of frontman Roy Wood but also contains backing vocals by The Suedettes as well as The Stockland Green Bilateral School First Year School, with additional noises being produced by "Miss Snob and Class 3C", as credited on the sleeve.

Many children actually thought that Roy Wood was indeed Santa Claus as he had the white hair and beard in the music video.

Re-releases

With the failure of its first release to reach #1 in 1973, it was re-released in 1981 (only reaching #41) and then again in 1984, this time with an additional extended 12" version and getting as far as #23.

As downloads as well as physicaly sales became eligible for the weekly Top 75 as from January 2007, and with the help of additional exposure thanks to an Argos television advertisement later in the year using an excerpt of the song for a soundtrack, it was one of several Christmas oldies to chart again in November and December 2007. This time it reached #16, despite the absence of a physical release in the shops.

Covers

"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" has since been covered by many artists including:

* Roy Wood Big Band in 1995, (UK #58)
* The A*Teens in 2001
* Girls Aloud
* Spice Girls
* El Vez in 2002
* Ash
* All Star United
* Les Fradkin on his 2006 Holiday CD: "Spirit Of Christmas"
* Sarah Brightman in 2008 on her album A Winter Symphony

The song was also spoofed in 2000 when it was re-released as "I Wish It Could Be A Wombling Christmas" by The Wombles with Roy Wood.