Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)

Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)
"Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)"
Single by The Darkness
Released 2003
Format CD
Genre Hard rock
Length 3:25
Label Must Destroy/Atlantic
Writer(s) Justin Hawkins, Dan Hawkins, Frankie Poullain, Ed Graham
Certification Silver (BPI)
The Darkness singles chronology
"I Believe in a Thing Called Love"
(2003)
"Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)"
(2003)
"Love Is Only a Feeling"
(2003)

"Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)" is a single released by The Darkness in the UK during December 2003, to fall in with the famous UK Christmas Number One Race.

Contents

Race for Christmas #1

The song was favourite with the bookmakers to reach number one in the official UK singles chart, but was beaten by the relatively unknown Gary Jules and Michael Andrews with a cover of Tears for Fears' "Mad World" and had to settle for the number two position, joining a list of acts including The Pogues, Mariah Carey and Cliff Richard to miss out on the top spot.

According to sales information from Music Week, The Darkness were at No.1 all week and lost out on Saturday sales - one of the closest battles for Christmas #1 in recent years.[1]

(-) 1 227,500 Gary Jules - "Mad World"
(-) 2 222,500 The Darkness - "Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)"
(1) 3 144,800 Kelly & Ozzy Osbourne - "Changes"
(-) 4 97,000 Bo Selecta - "Proper Crimbo"
(-) 5 73,000 The Idols - "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)"

It was quite a surprise considering the sombre nature of Jules and Andrews' song at a festive time.

The song was used to advertise Sky One's Christmas lineup in 2003.

The song has sold 385,000 copies in the UK as stated by the Official UK Charts Company.

Song details

The song is a take on the usual structure of Christmas songs. It features the usual mention of festivities, Santa Claus and bells, delivered with Justin Hawkins' trademark falsettos.

The school choir providing backing vocals, heard on the single and seen in the song's video, came from Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College school, in New Cross, London, which Justin and Dan's mother once attended.

Following the humour and tone of The Darkness' other work the song also includes a strong level of parody most notably the double meaning of the line 'Bells End' and 'Ring in peace' (ringpiece).

The song appears as the backing track for the Christmas version of Adult Swim's iOS game, Robot Unicorn Attack, to be released November 2010.[2]

Music video

The video features the band unwrapping presents. Justin Hawkins thinks of his girlfriend (played by his then-girlfriend and The Darkness's manager, Sue Whitehouse) as pictured in a bauble and in the fire. Then Justin goes outside and is joined by the rest of the band playing the song. Then Justin opens the door to find a choir standing outside singing the song. Justin joins in and invites them inside. Then Dan Hawkins gives Justin a present; a car key. Then Justin runs outside and into the car while Dan winks to the audience. And inside the car is Justin's girlfriend. They kiss as the spaceship seen in the videos for 'I Believe in a Thing in a Thing Called Love' and 'Growing on Me' (and on the cover of debut album Permission To Land) flies across the sky showing some glittery words saying 'Merry Christmas'.

Track listings

UK CD single

  1. Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)
  2. I Love You 5 Times

Enhanced DVD

  1. Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)
  2. I Believe In A Thing Called Love (live at Knebworth)
  3. Christmas Time... music video

Charts

Chart (2003) Peak
position
Dutch Singles Chart 10
Danish Singles Chart 9
Irish Singles Chart 2
Norwegian Singles Chart 20
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[3] 2
Chart (2005) Peak
position
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[3] 58
Chart (2008) Peak
position
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[3] 89
Chart (2010) Peak
position
UK Rock (The Official Charts Company)[4] 1
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[3] 87

Chart successions

Preceded by
"Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)" by My Chemical Romance
UK Rock Chart number-one single
11 December 2010 –
Succeeded by
Incumbent

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Christmas Time — or Christmastime may refer to: Christmas Time (Boney M. album), 2008 Christmas Time (Marcos Witt album), 2005 Christmas Time (Bryan Adams song), 1985 Christmas Time (Christina Aguilera song), 2000 Christmas Time (Don t Let the Bells End) , 2003… …   Wikipedia

  • Christmas number-two singles in the UK — Every year in the UK Singles Chart, there is a highly publicised race for the Christmas Number One spot. This is regarded as the most important one of the year [http://uk.news.yahoo.com/dotmusic/20071217/ten the battle for christmas number one… …   Wikipedia

  • Christmas number-one singles in the UK — Each year, record companies compete for the Christmas number one single spot on the British charts. Having the UK Christmas number one is very prestigious and leads to a lot of media coverage. Since people are buying gifts for the Christmas… …   Wikipedia

  • The Darkness (banda) — The Darkness Datos generales Origen Lowestoft, Suffolk …   Wikipedia Español

  • The Darkness — Infobox musical artist Name = The Darkness Img capt = The Darkness in concert, 2004. Img size = Background = group or band Birth name = Alias = Born = Died = Origin = Lowestoft, Suffolk, England Instrument = Genre = Hard rock [… …   Wikipedia

  • 100 Greatest Christmas Moments — The 100 Greatest Christmas Moments was a documentary which featured a poll conducted by the British television channel Channel 4.cite web |url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a17598/deks christmas crackers.html |title=Television Dek s Christmas… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Christmas carols — A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics center on the theme of Christmas or that has become associated with the Christmas season even though its lyrics may not specifically refer to Christmas. Both types of Christmas carols are included in this …   Wikipedia

  • One Way Ticket (The Darkness song) — One Way Ticket Single by The Darkness from the album One Way Ticket to Hell... And Back B side …   Wikipedia

  • Christmas worldwide — Christmas around the world redirects here. For other uses, see Christmas Around the World (Bradley Joseph album). The Christmas season is celebrated in different ways around the world, varying by country and region. Elements common to many areas… …   Wikipedia

  • Christmas Through Your Eyes — Studio album by Gloria Estefan Released …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”