Video: 'Beatles Christmas 1965 - The Beatles Third Christmas Record'

(Friday, December 17, 1965) — The Beatles released “The Beatles Third Christmas Record,” a spoken and musical message by the English rock group released on flexi disc to members of their official fan-clubs in the United Kingdom.

Video: 'The Beatles: 1965 Christmas Message Recording Session Out-Take'

Several off-key, a cappella versions of “Yesterday” are dispersed throughout the record, which was taped Nov. 8, 1965, alongside Lennon’s “Happy Christmas to Ya List’nas”, “Auld Lang Syne” (which briefly morphs into an impression of Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction”), then begin singing the Four Tops’ “It’s the Same Old Song” (but stop after George tells them they can’t continue because the song is copyrighted), and an original poem titled “Christmas Comes But Once a Year.”

Members of the Beatles US fan-club did not receive this (or any) Christmas flexi-disc in 1965. Rather, they received a black and white postcard, with a photo of the Fab Four and the message “Season’s Greetings – Paul, Ringo, George, John.”

The Beatle Bulletin, the publication of the US fan-club, explained in its April 1966 edition that the tape arrived too late to prepare the record in time for Christmas