Let me begin by saying thanks to Unnecessary Umlaut for keeping the magic alive with his “Last Christmas” picks from our site’s years of collecting. If you just wanna cut to the chase, head to his site and grab his offerings, they are certainly some of the more top tier covers we’ve featured!

Today we’ve got a good set. I mean that too; I’ve no reason to lie at nearly 450 versions, do I? Well fine, don’t believe me, just listen for yourself!

First we have indie duo Oh! Atoms trying to entrance with their British charm and stripped down, yet still upbeat take on “Last Christmas.” This back and forth they have going had me thinking for a minute we might have the dual perspective type thing going, but no. I don’t think they’re singing about the same lost love though, they’re just covering the song. That’s it. Let’s not read too much into this people!

Oh! Atoms – Last Christmas


Hot on the sweet take heels of Oh! Atoms we have the super produced, radio friendly K-Pop vet 1sagain with Ju Bora. It looks like his first big hit came in 2002, and he is on some kind of comeback, thanks in part to this little ditty I’m sure. If you’re into the Ashley Tisdale, Foxxi MisQ or any of the international rap versions, then give this a listen! It’s kind of a combo platter of those, in spirit anyways.

1sagain feat. Ju Bora – Last Christmas
1sagain feat. Ju Bora – Last Christmas Instrumental


When we first posted Feeling Left Out back in year one, it was with some regret that we only posted the original version of their Wham! cover. We can now put that regret to rest as here, finally, is the alternate, and ridiculous, Quicksand Jesus version of “Last Christmas.” It’s a reprise of sorts, but mostly some kind of six minute holiday frustration outlet. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Feeling Left Out – Last Christmas, Quicksand Jesus Version

Feeling Left Out is a now defunct acoustic indie duo led by Joe Wilson who’s still pumping out tunes. Check out the FLO website, which now just redirects to his new work.


Oh Juju! What a cute name. At least to me anyways, that’s what my wife calls our cat Julius. So you can see my fondness for the version based on name alone. Juju the singer is a cute Japanese singer who mixes a bit of reggae and lounge in her cover. This is from her 2007 release, Wish for Snow. Have a listen.

Juju – Last Christmas


Lastly, an interestingly named, and sounding, remix of the original…well done sirs…

Wham! – Last Christmas (Rynecologist Christ-Must-Jam Mix)

Yes! The literal version of “Last Christmas!” Thanks Jeff!

Oi vey, here we go! We hope to make amends here as we kick 2009. Waaaaaay back in ’06 we hastily labeled Dalida, “some french lady” without fully realizing her musical accomplishments. Dalida not only does she have the world first diamond record, 55 gold records and been honored on a postage stamp, but she also has what we’re calling the earliest cover version of “Last Christmas!” Her single for “Reviens Moi” was released in 1985, which beats Alex Montez & Centerfold’s 1989 cover. Dalida’s success story is also full of tragedy, but today we hope to make up for our past dismissiveness.

Dalida – Reviens-moi

Reader Daniel tipped us onto this version by Ukrainian boy band 4 Kings. A little funky, a little dancey, a little like many of the others we’ve heard. At this point in game boys, you’re going to need to do something to stand out.

4 Kings – Last Christmas

Take I’m So Look You for instance. This cute little Japanese DJ gives us one of the best takes yet, in my opinion. You have to remember, we’re pushing a 400 song count, so anything that isn’t a straight cover will make an impression. +1 to I’m So Look You!

I’m So Look You – Last Christmas


Here’s another great one by German (!!!) Michael Jackson impersonator, Giuseppe Ruisi that merges “Last Christmas” with “Billie Jean!” A total protonic reversal! I think MJ would have been proud. Also check out his appearances on Das Supertalent below.

Giuseppe Ruisi – Last Christmas
Giuseppe Ruisi – Last Christmas (karaoke version)

So in our bandwidth post, Tom asked about an actress in the original Last Christmas video, and during our search, we found out the Bliss version of the video we featured was shot in the same location! So it’s quite nearly as close to an exact replica as we’ve seen, right down to the hairdos. Here’s a link to the story.

The answer to the original question lay in the painfully obvious source, Wikipedia, with an equally obvious answer: The video also featured the duo’s erstwhile backing singers Pepsi and Shirlie and Spandau Ballet bassist Martin Kemp, the boyfriend and future husband of Shirlie Holliman.

And for another great “Last Christmas” video, Jason sent us his own stop motion video, including his own audio! Lots of hardwork, blood, sweat, tears, eggnog and obviously love, went into this die hard production. Kudos Jason! Click the image below to check it out!

So that’s that. And for this post, we’re offering versions featuring the number 4. Neat huh? Starting with 4-Ever, a version we’re ashamed to know nothing about. It’s from somewhere, we know that much. Our westernized ears can’t place the language this is sung in, but we can tell you musically, it’s pretty close to GM’s original vision.

4-Ever – Last Christmas


We know slightly more about about VD4 fortunately. He’s a German comedian known for his terrible singing and mash-ups, and mostly notably his Chocolate Rain UMBREmix. The best part is that you can download all his music free on last.fm, especially his White Rum on Christmas EP that features Last Christmas, and among other hits, Silent Night, performed with David Hasselhoff (maybe not really)!

VD4 – Last Christmas


7th Heaven obviously doesn’t have 4 in the name, but the album this comes from is the Eurobeat 4 Christmas compilation, which contains the more dancey version of this song we posted previously. This is the “unplugged” version.

7th Heaven – Last Christmas (unplugged)

First of all, thanks to Whitney at Pop Candy, USA Today’s culture blog, for the 3rd year in a row, she’s been kind enough to give us a mention! If you’re visiting us from there, “hello!” and keep checking in throughout the month for amazing awesomeness. The M-Z set from 2006 is acting strange, but we’ll fix that asap.

Secondly, I’ve been thinking for sometime about the original version. Without it, we wouldn’t be here, obviously, but what sort of status does it take now that so many other artists have covered it? Is it the bar by which all other versions are measured? That’s likely debatable, as opinions are mixed on whether the original is even worth ONE cover. Has it become the Helvetica of Christmas music, the ultimate form of holiday music perfection through which all other artists are now free to express themselves? Or does it suffer the opposite, where it is now the blank canvas from which we hope other artists to work over top of? For instance, at this point, for us at LCHQ, there’s a definite plus to hearing something new being done with the song. Have we stripped the original from all it’s qualities that first made it so appealing? Are we completely over-thinking this ridiculous Christmas song? Maybe, but we wouldn’t be here without it!

Ok, now that we’ve composed ourselves, let’s get down to business…Exile must be one of Japan’s hottest acts. Their intro page claims 2008 as the year of perfection! This page even shows that their single for “Last Christmas” is already out of print and unavailable after being out for less than a month. Japan and Germany simply cannot get enough of this song, that’s for sure. At any rate, Exile deliver a pretty straightforward pop cover sung in Japanese. They sound good.

Exile – Last Christmas


Ok so, reflecting on what we were saying earlier, about what’s become of the original version, well, this next version feels like it picks up on that notion musically. And more likely, is trying to say something about pop music in general by labeling it as “Meaningless Name” and having a vocal bit at the end about people falling dead in the streets. Of course, we could be over-thinking this as well, and maybe this was made to trick people into thinking their cd players are broken.

Meaningless Name – Last Christmas


This one is labeled as Wham!, but it’s not, and we can’t place the female vocals it comes from. After three years, can you blame us?

Wham! – Last Christmas (Electro Mix)