"Christmastime is Here Again," The Beatles (Apple)

Phil Spector notwithstanding, John Lennon had a few years of practice doing Christmas records himself with his fellow Beatles before he got around to doing "Happy Xmas (War is Over)." Those records, however, were only ever released as acetates to fan club members, or bootlegged, except for a briefly issued album in 1970. This partial song was used as a motif for one of the later Christmas records and was released on the 1994 CD/vinyl single of "Free as a Bird." Despite its incomplete state, many bands have covered it -- even Ringo did a version on his Christmas album. A proper release of the Beatles' series of Christmas records has been an oft-rumored possibility for the past 35 years, but the prospect remains remote. As in the case of Elvis, the Beatles spawned a number of cash-in novelty records; Christmas-oriented ones cited by Dave Marsh and Steve Propes' book Merry Christmas Baby include "Ringo Bells" by the Three Blonde Mice, "All I Want for Christmas Is a Beatle" by Dora Bryan, "Christmas with the Beatles" by Judy and the Duets and "I Want the Beatles for Christmas" by Jackie and Jill. That's just the holiday ones, of course; such folks as Sissy Spacek and Cher recorded non-holiday ones as well.