A young adult male stands in a dimly lit indoor setting with two other individuals flanking him; one is a female on his left, another on the right. 4:39
WhamVEVO channel icon WhamVEVOOriginal creator 1.1B views Save

Here we go again with Wham!'s 'Last Christmas'

Most Christmas songs are about snow and presents. This one opens on a breakup: "Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away." more

The line comes in after a few bars of upbeat music and some wordless singing, and it sets up the whole story. He got burned once. This year, "to save me from tears," he'll give his heart to someone special.

Wham!, the pop duo of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, made the song in the '80s, and the music video looks the part. A group of friends in big hair and winter clothes spend a snowy holiday together, with a Christmas tree to dress.

Someone hangs gold tinsel. Everyone is smiling. But the song keeps hinting that two people in that room share a past. "Once bitten and twice shy," he sings. "I keep my distance, but you still catch my eye."

Two smiling people decorate a Christmas tree, and one of them holds a strand of gold tinsel. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Gold tinsel goes on the tree while the song hints at a past between two friends.

A year on, he is not sure the one he loved even recognizes him. "Tell me baby, do you recognize me," he sings. The saddest detail comes next, the gift. He wrapped it up and sent it "with a note saying 'I love you,'" and he adds, "I meant it."

Later he sets the scene in a single line, "a crowded room, friends with tired eyes," and puts himself in it, hiding from a "soul of ice." It's a lonely picture inside a warm party, and that mix is why the song still lands.

A young adult male stands in a dimly lit indoor setting with two other individuals flanking him; one is a female on his left, another on the right. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Most Christmas songs are about snow and presents.

Near the end he sounds like he has turned a corner. "Now I've found a real love," he sings. "You'll never fool me again." Then he hedges with "maybe next year," and his last words are "so long."

A man with dark hair in a white high-necked top smiles softly near a decorated Christmas tree. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
A gentle smile by the tree as the song turns toward a new love.

Listeners don't wait for December. Comments pile up in September and October, and one fan swears by it in the middle of July. Every year brings the same happy groan of here we go again, and thousands agree. Many also stop to remember George Michael, who died on Christmas Day.

One fan signed off with a plan to see everyone back here in 350 days or so. For this song, that sounds about right.

#christmas#singing