FEATURE:
Just a-Popping Up in My Memory
Kate Bush’s December Will Be Magic Again at Forty-Six
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THERE may be a lot…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush working in Abbey Road Studio 2 in 1980
of the same information that I have brought in before. However, it is that time of year where I look at the Kate Bush’s Christmas single, December Will Be Magic Again. In terms of how people write about it, I don’t think it has ever quite been given the appreciation it deserves. As I have said before, this is a great song. Released on 17th November, 1980, it is forty-six years of this underrated gem. December Will Be Magic Again was one of Kate Bush’s earliest exposures to Abbey Road Studio. The B-side of December Will be Magic Again, Warm and Soothing, was the first song she recorded there. Although it only reached number twenty-nine in the U.K., I do think it is a song that is stronger than its chart position. The reviews around the time were a little mixed. It was a Kate Bush single, so there were those who liked her that were happy to see it. Though there were those who felt Bush was this high-pitched or airy-fairy singer. December Will Be Magic Again did little to shift that. It does paint some traditional pictures with the lyrics. Lovers embracing and people by the tree. The snow falling. I do like how this was written and recorded at Abbey Road Studios. The song never got a music video, though Bush did record a live version of it for her 1979 Christmas special. The song did appear on other singles after 1979. It also featured on Elton John's Christmas album, Elton John's Christmas Party. So it did have this longer life. Now, December Will Be Magic Again is played on the radio. I wanted to explore it a bit for its forty-sixth anniversary. In terms of the chronology, this is a song that was heard first live before it came out as a single. It was released in 1980, though it was heard by the public the year before. I am not sure why it did not come out earlier.
This is from the Kate Bush Encyclopedia say about the first airing of December Will Be Magic Again: “On 22nd December, 1979, the BBC broadcast the Christmas Snowtime Special, which was probably a compilation (for export) of four TV specials made earlier in the year, including the Abba Easter Special and a programme called Disco in the Snow, featuring Boney M and guests. Kate Bush appeared in this special with a hastily recorded version of December Will Be Magic Again, in a version that has become known as the ‘Bongo Version”. The Christmas special, Kate, was broadcast on 28th December, 1980. I do wonder if many new Kate Bush fans know about this song. Christmas singles tend not to get great reviews, unless they are one of the classics. Hard to win much praise compared to conventional singles. Kate Bush did not get too much love when December Will Be Magic Again came out. “Sounding like she’s just been rutted from the rear with a particularly rampant reindeer, Kate reminds us of the joys of the season at considerable length and expense. Lush, sentimental, extravagantly produced… destined to become a Christmas irritation; and airwave itch you won’t be able to scratch”. That is what Allan Jones wrote in Melody Maker in December 1980. I do think about Kate Bush recording at Abbey Road Studios. She would use the studios a lot through her career, though this was new for her in 1979. This is the same year that she started recording her third studio album, Never for Ever. The privilege at recording at the studios. I will come to an article from Dreams of Orgonon that I have sourced before. In 2023, The Delete Bin provided their take on December Will Be Magic Again:
“The song namechecks Bing Crosby and his immortal Christmas anthem nearly in the same breath as she namedrops Saint Nicholas. Of course, being Kate Bush, the perspective in this song soon takes a unique turn beyond those holiday associations. “December Will Be Magic Again” provides a winsome, magical aura that has something to say about new ways to view things in a troubled world at the end of a year.
Sure there are further references to mistletoe and kisses, those things being staples in Christmas music that also hint at the pagan roots of the holiday. But what really makes this song a Kate Bush composition beyond her identifiable lead voice is its unique perspective. The song comes from the point of view of a force of goodwill toward all that falls with the snow. Like a white snowy blanket, it seeks to cover the city to turn its harsh surfaces into one’s that sparkle with beauty – and magic.
“December will be magic again.
Don’t miss the brightest star.
Kiss under mistletoe.
I want to hear you laugh.
Don’t let the mystery go now.”
-Kate Bush, “December will be magic again”
This is what lies at the center of this song which is one of optimism and hope that just because the world can be full of ugliness, it doesn’t mean that it’s devoid of beauty or beyond hope. Sometimes, something as simple as a snowfall on even the most troubled of places can make all the difference, introducing a new way to look at a place, and maybe even of a time and set of circumstances, too. With different perspectives, one can more easily find new paths through the dark and the muck.
That’s what we can all hope for as we go into a new year; that we find the magic again to lend us this kind of hope. This is not to trivialize the problems that continue to unfold in troubled times. But with learning to look at things from different perspectives, sometimes we can find beauty and meaning where we didn’t expect to find it”.
On 23rd November, 1979, Bush recorded December Will Be Magic Again in Abbey Road’s Studio 2. Dreams of Orgonon wrote about the song in 2019. Even though they say the single version is overproduced and it doesn’t have much meat on the bones, I do think it is one of Kate Bush’s more underrated songs. In terms of its timing, December Will Be Magic Again was released after more successful singles in 1980. Never for Ever came out in September 1980. Babooshka and Army Dreamers came out earlier and reached five and sixteen (in the U.K.) respectively. It was not the case that December Will Be Magic Again was the end of a golden run. Sat in Your Lap (the first single from 1982’s The Dreaming) reached eleven. In terms of sound and production, things did shift after December Will Be Magic Again, Certainly in terms of Bush’s vocals:
“Yet with “December Will Be Magic Again,” we see the end of a certain kind of Bush song. It’s her last track that can be feasibly reimagined as hailing from her pre-Kick Inside years, with its relish for childhood delights and simple attributes of a domestic environment. That approach has reached a breaking point. From now on her quiet songs will be more adult and introspective. She’s going to do silly songs in the future, of course — but even the silly stuff often carries plenty of weight. Bush’s earlier work is an ambitious testament to what youthful artistry can accomplish. Few songwriters are particularly mature early in their career. With Bush, a lot of her recurring themes from across her career are already in place on her first couple albums. For all its shortcomings, “December Will Be Magic Again” signals the end of Bush as prodigy as she moves into the era of the Fairlight, global conflict, and becoming a masterful singer to rival Peter Gabriel. Farewell, last of the Phoenix tradition. You’ve carried us far”.
I don’t think this song really got a lot of affection back in 1980. Its T.V. outings in 1979 are interesting, yet it is only in years since that it has received more exposure. December Will Be Magic Again does not sit with the all-time Christmas classics, though it is definitely one that warms the heart. You might well be hearing it on stations about now. Summoning the joy of Christmas, I think more should be written about this song. A single released on 17th November, 1980, this yuletide treat is…
WORTHY of praise and love.