Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Part 1 of a festive journey through Soho’s musical history
December 1984. Forty years ago. Things were grim. We had cruise missiles. Women camped at Greenham Common, protesting for peace—a vigil that would last another sixteen years. Coal miners had been on strike for nine months, and the coalfield communities were already shattered and fractured by the bitter dispute. Across the country, mines, factories, and shipyards were closing, leaving whole towns to fend for themselves. And we had Thatcher. Just two months earlier, the IRA tried to assassinate her in the Brighton bombing, killing four people. Meanwhile, on another continent, there was famine.
It was a bleak time.
But even in moments of great distress, music can offer hope. “A pop song gives us permission to access joy, even when the world is burning,” argues journalist Charlie Harding. That sentiment was especially true in 1984.
Pop music doesn’t fix the world, but it can help us cope. It reminds us of our humanity, connects us to others, and hardwires memories into our brains. Of course, not all pop achieves this. Some of it is truly dreadful. And Christmas is the season for both the best and worst of popular music. But Christmas 1984 gave us three of the best Christmas songs of all time. And Gary Glitter.
The battle for the Christmas number one had only really become a thing in 1973, when Slade and Wizzard locked horns in their legendary race for the top spot. Before that, only two festive-themed tracks had ever hit number one. But after Slade’s stomping Merry Xmas Everybody, everyone wanted a crack at the crown—surprisingly, Britain’s prog rockers most of all.
Yet 1984 was a Christmas like no other. It gave us three very different songs that each highlight how pop music works its magic.
Do They Know It’s Christmas? may not be the first charity single (George Harrison deserves that title), and its creators have admitted it’s not even a particularly good song. But its impact is undeniable. No other art form can command attention, mobilise millions, raise money, and force politicians to at least listen quite like pop can.
The Power of Love by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, meanwhile, is exactly what it claims to be. It distills the essence of Christmas into four transcendent minutes. Co-writer Holly Johnson later reflected, "There’s a biblical aspect to its spirituality and passion; the fact that love is the only thing that matters in the end."
And then there’s Wham!’s Last Christmas. Sublime. More on that later.
We all have different songs that have special meanings for us at Christmas. For fellow Substacker
it’s Winter Song by Lindisfarne, because “their Newcastle Christmas shows in the late 70s/early 80s were legendary and Alan Hull is a massively under-rated songwriter.” For , the song Child’s Christmas in Wales by John Cale is one of her favourites. Christmas songs are different. They have very particular meanings for us, work differently to other songs, and often have some remarkable and surprising stories behind them.A walk through Soho’s streets reveals everything you need to know about Christmas songs. From timeless classics to quirky one-hit wonders, many of the most iconic festive tracks were born here—or are forever tied to the artists and places that make this vibrant corner of London their home. Last year, we hosted a Christmas walking tour of Soho, uncovering the stories behind these songs. This year, we’re bringing that journey to you.
So, fire up the Spotify playlist below (or find the Apple Music link at the end), settle in, and let the music guide you. Together, we’ll explore the magic, mystery, and meaning of Christmas music—its origins, its evolution, and the secrets that make it so unforgettable. This is more than just a playlist; it’s a celebration of the songs that give Christmas its voice.
Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin.
Denmark Street: London’s Tin Pan Alley
Although not technically part of Soho, Denmark Street is one of London’s oldest streets. Built in the 1780s, it was named in honor of the Prince of Denmark, who married the future Queen Anne. By the 20th century, it earned the nickname London’s Tin Pan Alley, becoming the heart of the British music publishing industry.
Denmark Street’s history reflects the rich diversity of Christmas music itself, which can be divided into four broad categories:
Traditional: Rooted in folk or religious customs, often reinterpreted for modern audiences.
Standards: Timeless classics immortalised by crooners and jazz greats.
Novelty: Fun, quirky, or humorous songs designed to entertain.
Authentic: Original compositions with heartfelt intent and social relevance.
Denmark Street’s legacy touches on all four categories. Let’s take a closer look.
St Paul’s Cathedral Choir – Gaudete
At the eastern end of Denmark Street stands St Giles-in-the-Fields, a church originally founded in the 12th century alongside a leper hospital. While it’s unlikely that Gaudete—a sacred Christmas carol written in the 16th century—was ever sung within its walls, the song’s modern journey exemplifies the influence of traditional carols on popular music.
In 1973, Steeleye Span brought Gaudete back to life, transforming this Latin hymn into a surprise hit. It became the first UK chart single sung entirely in Latin (we’re still waiting for a second). Their success demonstrates how old, sacred traditions can be revived and reimagined for new audiences—one of the hallmarks of modern Christmas songwriting.
Darlene Love – White Christmas
If Christmas had only one standard, it would undoubtedly be White Christmas. Written by Irving Berlin, it’s not just a song—it’s the song that defined Christmas as we know it today. It also reflects two critical truths about the holiday music industry. First, it’s Christmas songs that largely invented the imagery, traditions, and nostalgia we now associate with the holiday, rather than reflecting them. And second, many of these classics owe their existence to Jewish songwriters. From White Christmas to Let It Snow, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Winter Wonderland, American Jewish composers shaped the Christmas canon. And when they weren’t creating festive standards, they were inventing alternative icons—such as Superman, Batman, and E.T.
Irving Berlin’s story is as remarkable as his success. Born in Russia, he fled to New York with his family after their home was destroyed in a pogrom. He brought the traditions of Yiddish theater and song into his work, creating the blueprint for 20th-century popular music. With 25 number-one hits to his name, no songwriter has been more successful.
Berlin’s pride in White Christmas was unabashed: “Not only is it the best song I ever wrote, it’s the best song anybody ever wrote.” Bold words, but history backs him up. Since its release in 1941, it has sold over 100 million copies, making it the world’s top-selling single.
Recorded by Bing Crosby in just 18 minutes, White Christmas first debuted during World War II, a time when its wistful longing for home and peace resonated deeply with American audiences.
Years later, Darlene Love’s version, produced by Phil Spector with his famous "Wall of Sound," cemented its place as a timeless classic for a new generation. While Spector’s music undeniably shaped the DNA of the modern Christmas hit—4/4 time, 115 beats per minute, swing rhythms (used in 35% of Christmas songs), and sleigh bells (featured in 46% of festive hits)—his legacy is marred by his crimes. Convicted of murder and known for his troubling personal life, it’s impossible to separate the man from his actions. Yet, his contribution to the sound of Christmas music is significant, laying the groundwork for what we now consider the essential elements of a festive pop hit.
For Substack writer
the album this version of White Christmas is on - A Christmas Gift - has special memories, as her best friend used to play it with her when they were children: “We’d dance and feel Christmassy and for me she brought the joy of Christmas to me. Even now her Christmas decorations are the most beautiful. I love the old sound of this album and how great it is to sing along too!”But how does White Christmas connect to Denmark Street? Enter Bert Feldman, a Hull-born music publisher who helped bring Berlin’s music to Britain. Operating just south of Denmark Street on Shaftesbury Avenue, Feldman recognized the potential of Berlin’s songs, securing UK rights and helping to establish the area as the center of the British music publishing industry.
Connie Francis – Among My Souvenirs
Another Denmark Street connection to Christmas standards comes via Laurence Wright, one of the first music publishers to set up shop on the street. In 1926, Wright founded Melody Maker—the world’s first music magazine—primarily to promote his own songs.
One of Wright’s biggest hits, Among My Souvenirs, became a top-10 Christmas hit for Connie Francis in 1959. Covered by legends like Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby, it stands as a fine example of a standard that bridged eras. Its early success in 1925 helped fund Melody Maker, tying the development of British music publishing directly to Denmark Street’s legacy.
Lionel Bart – Give Us a Kiss for Christmas
Lionel Bart, affectionately dubbed “The King of Denmark Street,” embodies the street’s golden age. Born to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants who escaped pogroms, Bart grew up in London’s East End and went on to revolutionise British music. Known for writing hits like Living Doll and From Russia with Love, he single-handedly revived the British musical with Oliver! in the 1960s.
While Bart’s greatest songs endure as standards, his novelty songs reflect the spirit that also defined Denmark Street. Songs like Give Us a Kiss for Christmas echo the street’s legacy of producing fun, whimsical hits—from I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts to Have You Ever Seen a Straight Banana? Fruit and veg feature heavily. Novelty records, like today’s chart-topping Christmas singles by LadBaby or Bob the Builder, remain reliable festive stocking-fillers.
The Equals – Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys
By the 1960s, Denmark Street evolved from publishing to production. Regent Sound Studio, for example, hosted The Rolling Stones’ debut album. The street also became a hub for artists writing their own songs, with an emphasis on authenticity and social commentary.
One standout example is Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys by The Equals, a pioneering multiracial band from Crouch End in North London. Released in 1970, this anti-war anthem was a minor Christmas hit and remains a landmark in British pop history. Musicologist Lloyd Bradley described it as “the first recognisably Black British statement—a song that saw itself as being British in both words and music, announcing that London’s indigenous Black soul music was entirely self-sufficient.” It exemplifies how Denmark Street helped nurture not just hits but groundbreaking, authentic voices.
From sacred carols and festive standards to quirky novelty songs and socially conscious anthems, Denmark Street has shaped every corner of the Christmas music canon. Whether reimagining the past or pushing boundaries, this unassuming street remains a vital thread in London’s musical tapestry—and a key player in the story of how we celebrate the festive season through song.
Soho Square: The Heart of Nostalgia and Celebration
Charles Ignatius Sancho - Les Contes des Fees, pt 3
Let’s leave Denmark Street and step into the heart of Soho: Soho Square. This elegant corner of London still retains much of its Georgian character, and in many ways, Christmas as we know discovered its spirit here.
Before the 18th century, Christmas was a muted affair—and for a time, even illegal. Under Oliver Cromwell, the holiday was banned entirely, with carol singing punishable by hanging. But in 1660, Charles II restored the festivities, and by the Georgian era, Christmas had become a season of indulgence, revelry and some debauchery thrown in for good measure. For the fashionable London elite, it was a time of charity balls, masquerade parties, games, banquets, and endless food. Families and friends gathered, often leading to weddings during the season.
One key location for such celebrations was Carlisle House, where St. Patrick’s Church now stands on Soho Square. Teresa Cornelys, a celebrated socialite and opera singer, hosted grand masquerade balls here for royalty and aristocrats alike. Among her guests was almost certainly Charles Ignatius Sancho, a businessman, composer, and writer who became the first Black person to vote in Britain. It’s easy to imagine Sancho’s music performed at these lavish events, embodying the joyful and communal spirit of the season.
Wings – Mull of Kintyre
On the opposite side of Soho Square stands the MPL Communications building, home to Paul McCartney’s offices. The former Beatle’s 1977 hit Mull of Kintyre became a cultural phenomenon, spending nine weeks at number one on the UK charts over Christmas. The song remains the country’s best-selling non-charity single.
While not a Christmas song in the traditional sense, Mull of Kintyre captures one of the season’s most enduring themes: home. A version with altered lyrics has been sung by Nottingham Forest fans since their 1978 championship win. It resonates with the longing for connection and place, themes at the core of many great Christmas songs.
Pop music typically deals with youthful themes: falling in love, dancing, and fleeting moments of excitement. Christmas music, on the other hand, taps into something deeper—nostalgia, innocence, and homecoming. As Professor Brian Rabinovitz explains, Christmas music “burrows into a sweet spot in our brains’ wiring,” evoking treasured memories and delivering a sense of comfort.
The most iconic Christmas songs revolve around universal ideas: being home, snow, Santa, love (both found and lost), parties, and peace on earth. Mull of Kintyre hits the homecoming note perfectly. But McCartney, ever the rule-breaker, did it in his own way. Instead of sticking to the sure-fire rule of writing a song in 4/4 time, McCartney wrote Mull of Kintyre as a waltz in 3/4 time, proving once again that great songwriting transcends expectations. Interestingly, John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Happy Christmas (War Is Over)—another unconventional Christmas hit—also breaks this mold as a waltz.
The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl – Fairytale of New York
Soho Square is also home to one of the most poignant connections to a modern Christmas classic. A bench in the square is dedicated to Kirsty MacColl, a brilliant singer-songwriter whose duet with The Pogues on Fairytale of New York has become one of Britain’s favourite Christmas songs. Each year on her birthday, fans gather at the bench to celebrate her life and music.
In 1987, MacColl collaborated with The Pogues on Fairytale of New York while grappling with the legal troubles surrounding her record label, Stiff Records, which had gone bankrupt. Unable to record under her own name, MacColl poured herself into this duet with Shane MacGowan.
Fairytale of New York is a masterpiece of contrasts, full of grit and grace. Written over two years and perfected through painstaking arrangements, it tells the story of the Irish diaspora in New York through the lens of a broken relationship. It bundles themes of home, lost youth, ruined dreams, and moments of hope into a duet that feels as raw and real as Christmas itself. The song was beaten to the 1987 Christmas number one slot but has charted 19 times since, solidifying its place in British culture.
Shane MacGowan’s lyrics often explored the lives of "damaged souls adrift in a cold-hearted city," according to writer Sean O’Hagan, and Fairytale of New York captures this perfectly. The song’s bittersweet themes—love and loss, despair and reconciliation—strike a chord, with the national character at least.
Many British Christmas songs tend to have a more downbeat or melancholic tone compared to the generally upbeat and cheerful nature of American Christmas songs. This contrast reflects differing cultural attitudes and storytelling traditions surrounding the holiday season. British Christmas songs often highlight themes of longing, loss, and reflection. Then of course there’s the weather, and our attitudes to it. The Americans celebrate their Winter Wonderland while we endure our Bleak Midwinter.
Soho Square: Where Tradition Meets Emotion
Soho Square embodies the spirit of Christmas music, from the Georgian roots of seasonal celebrations to modern masterpieces like Fairytale of New York. It’s a place where themes of homecoming, love, and nostalgia are woven into the cultural fabric, reminding us why these songs endure. Whether it’s McCartney’s wistful longing in Mull of Kintyre or the rawness of MacGowan and MacColl’s duet, these songs capture the complexity of the season: joy and melancholy, celebration and reflection, all wrapped up in the music of Christmas.
Greek Street: Hidden Stories of Christmas Music
Greek Street is alive with music history. Some of the best-known Christmas songs have connections to this street. The street also reveals the too often neglected and unique contribution that women have made to festive music. Walking down Greek Street is like exploring a hidden jukebox of Christmas traditions, creativity, and surprising tales.
Amy Winehouse – I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Just a short walk from Soho Square sits Jazz After Dark, a club where Amy Winehouse honed her craft as a live performer. While tabloid tales too often overshadow her legacy, Winehouse remains one of the most significant figures in British music. The first British woman to win five Grammys, her album Back to Black ranks among the UK’s top-selling records, outselling Madonna, the Spice Girls, and equaling Fleetwood Mac’s iconic Rumours.
Winehouse’s family, originally from Belarus, fled pogroms in 1891 to settle in London. Her Jewish heritage remained important in her life, not through strict observance, but in her emphasis on family and community. Her final posthumous album, released in 2011, reached number two on the UK charts over Christmas, though it didn’t include this festive classic.
The song I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus was penned by London songwriter Tommie Connor in 1952. Connor, a regular in the Denmark Street publishing scene, also wrote novelty tunes like The Biggest Aspidistra in the World and Never Do a Tango with an Eskimo. Interestingly, it was initially banned by the Roman Catholic Church in the US, as the lyrics were interpreted as promoting adultery.
Shirley & Dolly Collins – The Gower Wassail
Greek Street was also home to the legendary Les Cousins folk club, located in the basement of number 49. Although it only operated for seven years up to 1972, it played a pivotal role in the folk and experimental rock scenes of the late 1960s. As writer Rob Young described it, Les Cousins thrived on the "progressive push and nostalgia pull" of the time, launching the careers of iconic artists such as Pentangle, John Martyn, Sandy Denny, Fairport Convention, and Shirley Collins.
Shirley Collins, often called "one of England's greatest cultural treasures," performed regularly at Les Cousins. Together with her sister Dolly, she recorded The Gower Wassail, a traditional wassailing song from South Wales, accompanied by David Munrow and his Early English Consort. These musicians represented the more traditionalist wing of the late sixties folk revival. Wassailing, a pagan custom, involved groups decorating bowls with ribbons and singing door-to-door in wealthier neighborhoods in exchange for ale, food, or money. It took place in the autumn, and especially during the Christmas and New Year period. Over time, this ritual evolved into modern carol singing.
A forgotten figure in Britain today, David Munrow played a vital role in rediscovering and popularising early English music. Aged just 33, he took his own life in a state of depression in 1976. One year later, NASA’s Voyager spacecraft was launched. In 2013 it left the solar system and entered interstellar space, making it the farthest human-made object from Earth. On board is a twelve inch metal long playing record with sounds of Earth. Alongside Mozart, Beethoven, Azerbaijani folk music and Chuck Berry, is “The Fairy Round” recorded by David Munrow. His music will live on across the universe.
Bert Jansch – In the Bleak Midwinter
Two other Les Cousins regulars, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, formed the groundbreaking folk-jazz group Pentangle with jazz session players Terry Cox and Danny Thompson, along with singer Jacqui McShee. Jansch’s solo work includes an adaptation of In the Bleak Midwinter, a hymn originally written by English poet Christina Rossetti and later set to music by Gustav Holst.
Hymn singing was imported to Britain from Germany, embraced first by methodists as a means of bonding and expressing congregation and community. Unable to preach, women seized the opportunity that hymn singing represented, channelling their faith into writing hymns and carols. Once in Royal David’s City, We Plough the Fields and Scatter and All Things Bright and Beautiful are among the greatest hits of women hymn writers.
According to Professor Valentine Cunningham: “Into a religious world managed by men, these women subversively interposed words, feelings, experiences manifestly from the female sphere.” In the Bleak Midwinter, recently voted Britain’s most popular carol, exemplifies the way women’s voices shaped Christmas traditions in subtle yet profound ways.
Wham! – Last Christmas
By the 1980s, Greek Street’s music scene had transformed. Across the road from where Les Cousins had been, Le Beat Route club became the haunt of London’s New Romantics. The club’s role in the creation of one of the world’s most loved Christmas songs is legendary.
One of the themes we explore in our walks around Soho is how London’s music is a product of migration to the city, with Soho serving historically as a home for many waves of refugees over centuries. Indeed, it’s called Greek Street because of the Greek Orthodox Church built there in 1677 to serve the neighbourhood’s Greek community who had fled oppression under the Ottoman Empire. It was at Le Beat Route that Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou—better known as George Michael—dreamed up Wham! alongside Andrew Ridgeley. Both men had immigrant roots: Michael’s parents were Cypriot, and Ridgeley’s father had been expelled from Egypt in the 1950s because he was an Egyptian-Yemeni Jew.
In 1984, Wham! released Last Christmas, which has since become a staple of holiday playlists worldwide. The song’s bright melody and iconic sleigh bells disguise its melancholic lyrics, which touch on love, rejection, longing, not to mention a bit of self-loathing as well. There’s a deeper layer, too: the line “a man under cover” hints at George Michael’s life as a closeted gay man, giving the song a very particular resonance.
Since 2011, Billboard magazine in the US has curated its Holiday 100 chart of the most popular Christmas songs using a formula that combines download sales, airplay and streaming data. The top ten has all the predictable standards by Bing Crosby, Mariah Carey and Nat King Cole. There is only one non-US song. It’s this one. It stands as one of the great pop songs of all time, and would have easily been 1984’s Christmas number one, had it not been for Band Aid.
Last Christmas was a staggering achievement. Written, produced, and performed entirely by George Michael, who played all the instruments (including the sleigh bells). He clearly was a man with something to prove.
Tom Lehrer – A Christmas Carol
Just next door at 18 Greek Street was The Establishment Club, co-founded by satirist Peter Cook in 1961. It became a hub for the satire boom of the 1960s, hosting performers like Barry Humphries (the first venue where he performed as Edna Everage) and laying the groundwork for modern British comedy.
The so-called British invasion led by The Beatles was preceded by an earlier cultural invasion of the US by a four-strong group. Beyond The Fringe comprised Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller. They met as Cambridge undergraduates, and took their satirical revue first to London, then to New York where it was a hit with audiences.
Tom Lehrer, the MIT and Harvard mathematics professor turned musical satirist, and another in the growing line of Jewish songwriters with an interest in Christmas, wrote A Christmas Carol as a tongue-in-cheek critique of holiday commercialism. When the album this comes from was released in the UK in 1958, 10 of its 12 songs were banned by the BBC. In June 1959 Tom Lehrer attended the Footlights Revue at Cambridge and said to Peter Cook afterwards that he thought they had potential to take the show to Broadway. Their success in America provided the funds for Cook to set up the Establishment Club.
Winifred Atwell - Let’s Have Another Party
A qualified pharmacist from Trinidad, Winifred Atwell was Britain’s top musical star of the 1950s. She hosted her own TV shows on both BBC and ITV, and had fourteen top 20 hit records. Her tally of three number ones in the 1950s places her just behind Elvis Presley with his four. A further five top five singles with total sales of over 20 millions discs, makes Winifred Atwell one of the most successful music stars of the decade.
Her remarkable run of success began at what is now the Prince Edward Theatre on the corner of Greek Street and Old Compton Street where she stepped in to replace the star of a charity performance who went down with a sudden illness. She was a natural TV performer and accomplished classical pianist, making the first stereo recordings of Grieg’s piano concerto. Her stage show combined the classics with boogie woogie.
Her single Let’s Have Another Party was the first record by a black musician to get to number one - and was the second ever Christmas number one - and she remains the only woman to top the charts with an instrumental single. Both Elton John and Keith Emerson cite her as a key influence.
But Soho’s story doesn’t end here. Beyond the boogie woogie of Winifred Atwell, the folk revival of Greek Street and the traditions of Soho Square and Denmark Street lies another side of Soho—a place where rebellion, innovation, and reinvention define the music. The second half of our journey reveals the edgy, subversive, and sometimes surprising role that Soho has played in creating Christmas music.
So, we’re now down the end of Greek Street. Time to slip into the Coach and Horses, a favourite pub once with The Beatles, Jarvis Cocker and others. Rest your feet and refresh yourself.
If you’ve enjoyed this newsletter…
Like you, we love music - and we love how London provided the conditions for some of our favourite music to be created. Our Substack and our guided walks are a celebration of this.
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Authors’ note
This is a complete rewrite of an earlier post with significant additional research. Thanks must go to our friend John Gore. He and the wider Gore family joined our walk in December 2023. Two months earlier, when we were planning it, he suggested that we give the walk a Christmas theme. We thought at the time this was a monumentally bad idea. However, we subsequently realised that his was a suggestion of genius.
Here is our playlist as an Apple Music version
https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/wows-christmas-songs/pl.u-RRbVLG5I5ajaZ
A great selection, but will Part 2 include that Xmas classic Stay Another Day, by ‘gritty’ boy band East 17, their only No 1? I spotted Tony Mortimer in the Greek Street Coach and Horses one afternoon…
Fabulous piece!
I used to love roaming around Soho when I lived in London, and you’ve brought all of those places and memories back into the present for me!
I was convinced the great Don Black had written the lyrics to From Russia With Love; very happy to have the correct songwriter, the even greater Lionel Bart, pointed out to me…ha-ha!
Can’t wait for the next leg of your seasonal Soho saunter.
Oh! And George Michael? A genius.