Tom Petty Wrote His Only Holiday Song on a Ukulele George Harrison Gave Him, Then Created a Wall of Sound Around It

When producer Jimmy Iovine persuaded Tom Petty to contribute a song to the 1992 edition of A Very Special Christmas 2, a compilation of holiday tracks benefitting the Special Olympics, he agreed under one condition: it wouldn’t be a cover. If this was his only holiday song, Petty also wanted to emulate the Wall of Sound Phil Spector captured with the Crystals, the Ronettes, Darlene Love, and on his 1963 album A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector.

“I didn’t want to do somebody else’s song,” explained Petty in the liner notes of the band’s 1995 compilation album Playback. “To me and Mike [Campbell], there’s only one Christmas album in the pop field and that’s Phil Spector’s. That was the only one we could relate to. That really sounds like Christmas to me. So we thought we’d do something like that, eighteen guys, cut it all live.”

Produced by Petty, Iovine, Jeff Lynne, and Mike Campbell, and recorded at A&M Studios in Hollywood, California, “Christmas All Over Again” featured an 18-piece back in-studio to capture that wall of sound.

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[RELATED: The Tom Petty-Produced Album That Nearly Led to a Reunion of The Byrds]

Christmas Scenes

Petty’s lyrics are partial to everything that makes Christmas special: the decorations hung by the fire, kids playing, and being with family, friends, and lovers.

Well, it’s Christmas time again
Decorations are all hung by the fire

Everybody’s singin’
All the bells are ringin’ out
And it’s Christmas all over again, yeah, again

Long distance relatives
Haven’t seen ’em in a long, long time, mm
Yeah, I kind of missed ’em
I just don’t wanna kiss ’em, no
And it’s Christmas all over again, yeah, again

And all over town
Little kids gon’ get down
And Christmas is a rockin’ time
Put your body next to mine
Underneath the mistletoe we go, we go, whoa, whoa

Everybody’s singin’
All the bells are ringin’ out
And it’s Christmas all over again, yeah, again

A Rickenbacker, two Fenders, and a xylophone—by the end, Petty doesn’t leave out some of the items on his Christmas wishlist:

Now let’s see
I want a new Rickenbacker guitar
Two Fender Bassman
Chuck Berry songbook
Xylophone

George Harrison’s Ukulele

While writing “Christmas All Over Again,” Petty didn’t hit the guitar or even sit at a piano. He picked up a ukulele that George Harrison gifted him.

“The funny thing is I wrote the song on a ukelele,” said Petty. “George Harrison had come by and given me a ukelele and spent a whole afternoon teaching me the chords. The ukelele is a really cool instrument, even though it doesn’t have that image. I took the ukelele with me to my house in Florida in the middle of summer and wrote this Christmas song.”

Petty added, “The ukulele is a really cool instrument, even though it doesn’t have that image.”

“It’s Christmas All Over Again” also appeared in the 1992 film Home Alone 2: Lost In New York and was later covered by Jon Bon Jovi, Darlene Love, and the Goo Goo Dolls.

Photo: Mick Hutson/Redferns