"Mistletoe and Wine" is a Christmas song made famous as a chart-topping

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

in 1988. The song was written by Jeremy Paul,

Leslie Stewart Leslie Matthew Stewart (born 21 March 1961) is a retired Trinidadian boxer. A former world champion and two-time world title challenger, Stewart held the WBA light heavyweight title in 1987. Professional career Known as "Laventille Tiger", S ...

and

Keith Strachan Keith Strachan (born 21 January 1944) is an English composer and theatre director. He co-wrote the song " Mistletoe and Wine", which got Cliff Richard the 1988 UK Christmas number one. His TV work includes the theme music for the worldwide franc ...

for a musical called ''Scraps'', which was an adaptation of

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

's "

The Little Match Girl "The Little Match Girl" (, meaning "The little girl with the matchsticks") is a literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. The story, about a dying child's dreams and hope, was first published in 1845. It has been ...

" set in Victorian London.

Background

''Scraps'' was first performed at the

Orange Tree Theatre The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style. Th ...

, Richmond, London in 1976. The musical was renamed ''The Little Match Girl'' and adapted for television by HTV in 1987, and featured

Roger Daltrey Sir Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is the co-founder and lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band the Who, known for his powerful voice and charismatic stage presence. His stage persona ear ...

Paul Daneman Paul Frederick Daneman (29 October 1925 – 28 April 2001) was an English film, television, and theatre actor. He was successful for more than 40 years on stage, film and television. Early life Paul Daneman was born in Islington, London. He a ...

Jimmy Jewel James Arthur Thomas Jewel Marsh (4 December 1909 – 3 December 1995),Gifford, Denni''The Independent'', 5 December 1995. Note: This obituary wrongly gives the year of birth as 1912, which is contradicted by the Ben Warriss obituary. Retrie ...

and

Twiggy Dame Lesley Lawson (''née'' Hornby; born 19 September 1949), widely known by the nickname Twiggy, is an English model, actress, and singer. She was a Culture of the United Kingdom, British cultural icon and a prominent teenage model during th ...

. As originally conceived, "Mistletoe and Wine" had a different meaning from that for which it has come to be known. The writers wanted a song that sounded like a Christmas carol, intending it to be sung ironically while the little matchgirl is kicked out into the snow by the unfeeling middle classes. By the time the musical transferred to television, the song had become a lusty pub song sung by the local whore, as played by Twiggy.

Cliff Richard version

Richard liked the song but changed the lyrics to reflect a more religious theme (which the writers accepted). Richard's ninety-ninth single, it became his twelfth UK number-one single, spending four weeks at the top in December 1988 and selling 750,000 copies in the process. In the short six-week period since its release, it became the highest-selling single of 1988. Simultaneously, it also spent four weeks at the top of the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

. In December 2007 the single re-entered the UK Singles Chart by virtue of

downloads In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar systems. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote s ...

, peaking at number 68. The single went platinum in December 2024, some 36 years after its release. According to analysis of

PRS for Music PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertake ...

figures, it was estimated that the song generates £100,000 of royalties per year. Richard's version of the song was also used in a British

public information film Public information films (PIFs) are a series of government-commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the United Kingdom. The name is sometimes also applied, ''faute de mieux'', to similar films from other countries, ...

about

drink driving Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash. In the United States, alcohol is in ...

. The film was part of the Drinking And Driving Wrecks Lives campaign, in which films were shown during ad breaks over the Christmas period. This version also appeared in BBC Two's 2015 comedy-drama '' A Gert Lush Christmas'' in the scene where Dan (

Russell Howard Russell Joseph Howard (born 23 March 1980) is an English comedian, television presenter, radio presenter and actor. He has hosted his own television shows, ''Russell Howard's Good News'' and ''The Russell Howard Hour'', and appeared on the topi ...

), his girlfriend Lisa (Hannah Britland) and his family are having Christmas Dinner. It became 1988's Christmas number one single on 18 December 1988, beating the likes of

Petula Clark Sally "Petula" Clark (born 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child actor, child performer and has had the longest career of any British entertainer, spanning more than 85 y ...

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...

Jason Donovan Jason Sean Donovan (born 1 June 1968) is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap ''Neighbours'', playing Scott Robinson, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 millio ...

(who got 1988's Christmas number two with "

Especially for You "Especially for You" is a song performed by Australian recording artists Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan from Donovan's debut album, '' Ten Good Reasons'' (1989). The song was released as his album's second single on 28 November 1988 and was w ...

" and who ended up spending three weeks at number one in January 1989 with that song),

Erasure Erasure may refer to: Arts and media * Erasure (duo), an English pop group * ''Erasure'' (album), 1995, by the British group Erasure * Erasure poetry, a form of found poetry created by erasing words from an existing text * ''Erasure'' (novel), ...

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...

, U2 and

Angry Anderson Gary Stephen "Angry" Anderson (born 5 August 1947) is an Australian rock singer, songwriter, television personality and actor. He has been the lead vocalist and the longest-tenured remaining member of the hard rock band Rose Tattoo since 1976 ...

to the Christmas top spot. The music video depicts a Christmas setting with Richard singing the song alongside carollers and a marching band.

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 1988 singles UK singles chart number-one singles British Christmas songs Cliff Richard songs 1976 songs EMI Records singles Carola Häggkvist songs Christer Sjögren songs Christmas number-one singles in the United Kingdom