Last Christmas - WHAM - George Michael - Arranged by : Michiwo Tashima

To Listen to George Michael singing " Last Christmas" (with English Lyrics), please click links below :
   • Wham! - Last Christmas (Lyrics)  

Written in February 1984, recorded in August 1984 and released on 3 December 1984 by George Michael, this song actually has very little to do with Christmas - it's about a failed relationship and about a Christmastime breakup.

The engineer, Chris Porter, said the upbeat rhythm track contrasted against the sadness of unrequited love.The same chord progression and melody is used for both the verse and chorus.

George Michael wrote, produced, and played every instrument (synthesizer, drums, sleigh bells) himself.

The music video was filmed in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, featuring a cozy, festive ski resort setting.

Only the phase "Last Christmas," when the relationship comes to a head, refers to the festive season. Despite this, it has become an annual Christmas standard.

"Last Christmas" was released as a charity record with its proceeds going to famine relief in Ethiopia.

Apart from "Do They Know It's Christmas," which prevented it from reaching #1, "Last Christmas" is the biggest selling Christmas song in the UK. George Michael features on both songs.

The song originated one Sunday in 1984 when George Michael and Andrew Ridgely, the duo that comprised Wham!, were visiting Michael's parents. Ridgely recalled in 2017:

"We'd had a bite to eat and were sitting together relaxing with the television on, in the background when, almost unnoticed, George disappeared upstairs for an hour or so.

When he came back down, such was his excitement, it was as if he had discovered gold which, in a sense, he had.

We went to his old room, the room in which we had spent hours as kids recording pastiches of radio shows and jingles, the room where he kept a keyboard and something on which to record his sparks of inspiration, and he played me the introduction and the beguiling, wistful chorus melody to 'Last Christmas.' It was a moment of wonder.

George had performed musical alchemy, distilling the essence of Christmas into music. Adding a lyric which told the tale of betrayed love was a masterstroke and, as he did so often, he touched hearts."


Numerous artists have covered this song, including Ashley Tisdale, Coldplay, Kim Wilde, Jimmy Eat World, The xx, Kylie Minogue, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Taylor Swift, who reached #28 on the US Country chart with her version.

In 2009 a version by the cast of Fox-TV's Glee finally took the song into the Hot 100 when their rendition debuted at #63.

The song didn't chart on the US Hot 100 after its initial release in 1984 because it was only available as a promotional (not commercially available) 7-inch single. It was only decades later when the song started charting during the holiday season thanks to streaming counts.

The melody bears resemblance to Barry Manilow's 1978 hit single "Can't Smile Without You" and Kool & the Gang's "Joanna" from 1983.

The publisher of "Can't Smile Without You" (Manilow didn't write the song) took legal action against Michael, which according to "Last Christmas" engineer Chris Porter, was dismissed in court when Michael's team showed that many songs have a similar melody.

The song's music video was the last time that George Michael was filmed without a beard.

Wham!'s festive song finally charted following the unexpected death of George Michael on Christmas Day 2016, when it debuted on Billboard's Hot 100 on the listing dated January 7, 2016.

"Last Christmas" reached the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time two years later, when it rose from #43 to #34 on the chart dated December 15, 2018.
In 2019, a movie called Last Christmas was released, starring Emilia Clarke as a Christmas curmudgeon who finds the spirit. The film, which is loosely and somewhat literally based on the song, features "Last Christmas" along with other tracks from George Michael and Wham!

The soundtrack, which went to #1 in the UK, is comprised entirely of songs by either Michael or Wham!, including a previously unreleased song called "This Is How (We Want You To Get High)."


George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) 53 years old, was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded one of the best-selling recording artists.

Born in East Finchley, Middlesex, Michael rose to fame after forming the pop duo Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981.

GEAR USED :
Guitar : Fender FC-20 1982 Classical Guitar
Guitar String: D'addario XT normal tension nylon string (XTC45)
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T6i
Microphone: MOVO VXR10 Universal Cardioid Microphone
Microphone Stand: ATLAS IED Microphone Stand PB15EB
Guitar Stand: OnStage XCG4 Black Tripod Single Guitar Stand

Guitar Tuning: Standard Tuning

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