Written and produced by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, "Lonely This Christmas" was Mud's second number one single in the UK, spending four weeks at the top in December 1974 and January 1975.[2][4] It was the third number one single that year for the ChinniChap writing and production team, and was performed in the style of Elvis Presley's slower songs from his later career.[5][6]
In December 2024, a parody version was released entitled "Freezing This Christmas". A backlash against the means-testing of the Winter Fuel Payment by the Labour government in July 2024, it had lyrics by Chris Middleton, a freelance writer from Newcastle, and was performed by Dean Ager, a singer and Frank Sinatra and Michael Bublé impersonator, under the name Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers, with all proceeds going to elderly charities.[15][17][14] In the week before Christmas, the cover reached number one in the Singles Downloads Chart and number 37 on the singles chart.[18] The BBC received criticism from Middleton, as well as Conservative MP Greg Smith, for not playing the song, with it being skipped on Radio One's chart show.[16][18]
