Songfacts®:

• You don't hear many Christmas songs with rowdy gang vocals, a sizzling guitar solo, and a bit of honky-tonk piano, but that's what Billy Squier delivered in 1981 with "Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You." At first the song was merely a B-side, issued as the flip side of his single "My Kinda Lover," issued that November just in time for the holidays. There weren't many modern rock-and-roll Christmas songs back then, especially by American artists like Squier (he's from the Boston area), so many rock radio stations put it in their playlists for some festive flavor. Squier's label responded by releasing it as an A-side single with a kazoo-cover of "White Christmas" on the B-side. The song never charted but holds a place as one of the best-loved rock Christmas songs.
• Looking at the title, you would peg this as a sappy song Celine Dion would put on one of her Christmas albums, but it's low on sentimentality and high on festivity, with a party vibe throughout the song. It also branches out from a lot of the Christmas clichés, so no mistletoe or sleigh bells. There are carolers, but also some musical stocking stuffers like "moonlight and brandy, sweet talk and candy."
• 1981 was a good year for Billy Squier. His album Don't Say No landed hits with "The Stroke," "In the Dark," "Lonely Is The Night" and "My Kinda Lover." He had plenty to celebrate when he put out "Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You" at the end of the year.
• The only official credits on this song are to Billy Squier as writer and performer, and to "Mack & Billy" as producer - that would be Squier and Reinhold Mack, known for his work with Queen.
  
  According to a story in the magazine Cash Box (a Billboard competitor in the '80s), Squier recorded the song in August 1981 in New York City's Power Station studios, where there were libations and revelry. Likely contributors to vocals include Doug Fieger of The Knack, Steve Priest of Sweet, Robert Fripp of King Crimson, and Meat Loaf backup singer Karla DeVito.
• If you were lucky enough to work for MTV when they launched in 1981, you got to be in a video for this song, singing along with Squier as part of the "MTV Chorus." In the clip, it's clear that everyone is having a good time, especially VJs like Martha Quinn and JJ Jackson.
  
  MTV didn't have many music videos for Christmas songs, so they had to get creative, even digging up a clip of David Bowie and Bing Crosby duetting on one of Bing's holiday specials. Squier was a familiar face on the network and based in the Northeast, not far from MTV's New York City studios. Bringing him in gave them another video to air during the holidays and created a memorable moment for the staff.
• Katharine McPhee released an album called Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You in 2010 that includes her take on the song. Others to cover it include Darlene Love and the punk band SR-71.
• This is the first song we know of to mention the island of Bimini:
  
  From rooftop to chimney, from Harlem to Bimini
  
  It's part of the Bahamas, but more importantly, it rhymes with "chimney."