"A Winter's Tale" is a song performed by David Essex on the 1983 album The Whisper. First released as a single in 1982, it reached #2 in the UK singles chart in January 1983, kept off #1 by Phil Collins's cover version of "You Can't Hurry Love".
"A Winter's Tale" | |
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Song by David Essex | |
from the album The Whisper | |
Language | English |
Released | 11 December 1982 (1982-12-11) |
Recorded | 1982 |
Genre | Soft rock, Christmas |
Length | 4:10 |
Composer(s) | Mike Batt |
Lyricist(s) | Tim Rice |
Producer(s) | Mike Batt |
"A Winter's Tale" was written by Mike Batt and Tim Rice in late 1982 in response to a request from Essex.[1] It was released as a single in December 1982. It spent ten weeks in the UK chart, peaking at #2 on 15 January 1983.[2] Later in 1983, the song was included on Essex's album The Whisper.[3]
Some time after the song's release, Tim Rice wrote an additional, third verse.[4]
"A Winter's Tale" was used to open the musical All the Fun of the Fair, launched in 2008, in which it was performed by Louise English.[5]
A 2008 article by Asian News International saw "A Winter's Tale" placed as the fourth worst Christmas song.[6] However, in 2014 The Independent reported a list of 50 Best Christmas songs by PRS for Music, ranking "A Winter's Tale" as the 34th best Christmas song.[7]
David Essex rang me late in 1982 - just after my return from Australia, and asked if I could write him a Christmas hit. It was already late October so we didn't have much time. I was due to be writing with Tim Rice the following day- and was hoping to develop my idea for a musical about the Aztecs...anyway so I told Tim about the David Essex request, and we started thinking of ideas. ... we wrote a bit of the chorus and two lines of the verse, and then when Tim had gone home I sat and worked on it, coming up with the finished chorus and the second verse lyrics.
David Essex | |
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Studio albums | |
Compilation albums | |
Singles | |
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