Nov. 29, 2024

A Christmas Song: Wham! - "Last Christmas"

Show Notes
Transcript

This soulful narrative unwraps how Wham!'s 1984 smash "Last Christmas" became an immortal yuletide epiphany. Tracing George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley's unbreakable bond from working-class London youths experimenting with punk and ska to pop's cheekily subversive teen idols, it explores Michael's vocal genius elevating the song's nostalgic melancholy into profoundly relatable romantic lament. His exquisite vocals confronting past heartbreaks and yearning for new beginnings add gravitas missing from most holiday fare. Ultimately, Michael's boundless artistic evolution and tragic passing further enshrine "Last Christmas" as an eternal invitation to renew self-acceptance and loving all your truth each season.

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Unlock an ad-free podcast experience with Caloroga Shark Media! Get all our shows on any player you love, hassle free! For Apple users, hit the banner on your Apple podcasts app. For Spotify or other players, visit caloroga.com/plus. No plug-ins needed!

Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories’ with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show!

We now have Merch! FREE SHIPPING! Check out all the products like T-shirts, mugs, bags, jackets and more with logos and slogans from your favorite shows! Did we mention there’s free shipping? Get 10% off with code NewMerch10 Go to Caloroga.com

Get more info from Caloroga Shark Media and if you have any comments, suggestions, or just want to get in touch our email is info@caloroga.com

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Calarogu shark media. In the hallowed canon of contemporary pop's

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most indelible Christmas anthems, few spark as much annual cheer, nostalgia,

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and introspective melancholy as Wham's nineteen eighty four smash Last Christmas.

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From the opening descending synthesizer motif and George Michael's unmistakable vocals.

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Tenderly crooning Last Christmas, I Gave you My Heart, We're

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instantly transported to the sparkling lights and emotional complexities of

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the holiday season, an eternal swell of nostalgic cheer intermingling

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with wistful memories of love's lost and connections that couldn't

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quite mend. Despite our sincerest hopes to appreciate the emotional

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gravities anchoring this seemingly effervescent Christmas ditty, we must first

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revisit the multa creative core that catalyzed wham As meteoric

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rise as eighties pop's premier cheekily subversive teen idols, and

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Michael's ultimate apotheosis as a soulful visionary. While the giddy

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highs of wake Me Up, Before You Go Go and

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Everything She Wants defined their imperial pop stranglehold. The roots

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of Wham trace back to the friendship of two schoolmates,

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George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in the London suburb of Bushy,

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from their first musical explorations through local gigs to their

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eventual evolution into eighties pop icons. Michael and Ridgley's bond

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and love for melding groove with melody carried them through

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every stylistic shift and adversity. Even in their early days,

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Michael demonstrated an uncanny gift for heartfelt, soul bearing and

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a voice that could entrance arenas, and once the duo

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harnessed that pop synchronicity and Michael's signature smoldering charisma on

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their blockbuster debut, Fantastic Wham's place among the nineteen eighties

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most adored and impactful acts was cemented, which brings us

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full circle to Last Christmas, a melodic sliver of deceptively

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joyous pop perfection that expanded the emotional scope of what

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a holiday standard could embody. Upon release in nineteen eighty four,

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written solely by Michael at a time of personal reflection,

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Last Christmas may superficially sparkle with all the buoyant, soulful

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melodies Wham made their trademark, but beneath its chiming synths

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and harmonious backing vocals lurked far more introspective terrain than

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its deliriously chip a sound initially lets on from the outset,

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Michael's soaring, yet bruised delivery evoked the stinging ache of

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still carrying old emotional wounds into a supposedly fresh season

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of new beginnings, like grappling with faded connections and how

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they continue haunting each new chapter. We wish could remain unsullied,

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clean slates, free of yesteryear's scars. When matched with the

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mid song bridges pivot emotional exhalation, a face on, a

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lover with a fire in his heart, a man under cover,

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but you tore him apart, Michael unleashed an undercurrent of

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universally relatable romantic melancholia that few holiday hits had dared

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to explore. Last Christmas was no longer content to merely

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embrace the season's innocuous jovial cheer. Instead, through Michael's exquisite

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pathos and subtly yearning intonations, it harnessed the full nostalgic

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swell of joy, sorrow, regret, and life wisdom, converging during

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the end of year's magical glitterings. All those mixed emotions

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of facing your hopes, dreams, and ancient pains by holiday's

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soft glow. So, while deceptively simple in its melodic make up,

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Last Christmas represented a profound artistic statement in its ability

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to weave romantic vulnerability and cathartic introspection into the Christmas cannon.

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It distills the Yuletide's promise of soulful renewal while never

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denying love's enduring ache amid any revelry more in a moment.

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In hindsight, this exquisite emotional multi dimensionality was merely a

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harbinger of the life's worth of profound, boundary, expanding art

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still to pour from George Michael's spirit in the coming

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decades Before his tragic Christmas twenty sixteen, passing from his

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mainstream ascendants as an LGBTQ plus icon of identity celebration

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to immortal album statements redefining popular music's in motive parameters

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like listen without Prejudice, Michael's music only deepened its commitment

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to unvarnished emotional transparency while uplifting the most marginalized to

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fully inhabit their pride and wholeness. That's why Last Christmas

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feels destined to remain Michael's most beloved and universally cherished

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signature work generation after generation, because underneath the twinkling lights

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and effortless melodic charms, it contains multitudes of hard won clarity,

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a soulful invitation to embrace the Holidays from a revitalized

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prism of self acceptance, gratitude, and fearless authenticity, regardless of

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any psychic bruises the past may have inflicted. So gather

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your estranged hopes around the fireplace and feel that tender

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opening synth Progression's wistful invitation. Let Michael's immortal entreaty to

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feel every nuanced thrill and sting of this year's poignant

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reckonings wash over you in slow, restorative waves. Allow yourself

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to bask in the flickering radiance and wisdom gained from

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that endless prismatic spectrum where joy and melancholy endlessly commune

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each December. Because while love's echoes may reverberate with bittersweet longing,

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through these sacred halls Last Christmas reminds us that the

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culmination of all those mixed elegies is finding endlessly renewal

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to fearlessly chase down our truest destinies as we clink

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our eggnog toasts with the cosmic understanding that it's never

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too late to be born anew free of yesterday's emotional tethers.

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So let Wham's indomitable Christmas spirits sing you awake from

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nocturnal hauntings and into your soul's fresh epiphany. For it's

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not merely a modern Yule Tide overture being channeled, but

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an eternal serenade of the heart's most intrepid resilience in

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the face of life's fading luster. Wham ensured through Last

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Christmas that no matter how many pasted indignities, betrayals, or

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emotional raisings we've endured throughout the years, the true miracle

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of the holiday will always remain the promise of loving

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ourselves whole and unabashed into each dawn's reawakening. Thanks to

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George Michael's immortal voice and the sparkling wisdom coursing through

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these sublime grooves, Last Christmas guarantees we all may safely

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release our most lacerating burdens and finally let our t

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truest inner light blaze forth, unbounded, to greet the new

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beginning destined for each of us this December twenty sixth

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as our most authentically unwrapped selves yet. I'm Andrew Irons

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and this has been another engaging episode of The hit

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Maker Chronicles. Join us next week as we continue to

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uncover the stories behind the songs and artists that have

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left an indelible mark on the world. The hit Maker

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Chronicles is a production of Calarogus Shark Media Executive producers

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Mark Francis and John McDermott. Portions of this podcast may

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have been created with the assistance of AI