“We’d decided to write a Christmas song and I wanted to make it reflect a British family Christmas. Economically, the country was up the creek. The miners had been on strike, along with the grave-diggers, the bakers and almost everybody else. I think people wanted something to cheer them up – and so did I. That’s why I came up with the line ‘Look to the future now, it’s only just begun’.” — Slade’s Noddy Holder

For the line “Everybody’s having fun”, Holder stated “I want everyone to have fun. If you have fun and a sense of humour, you can get by in most situations. When I’ve had a few drinks, I like to have a good party. It takes me a bit of time to warm up these days, but my enthusiasm has not waned over the years. At parties, I tend to get too pissed to care what anyone else thinks, ha ha!”

A tongue-in-cheek view of Santa, basically saying referring to “every Santa” as the fathers of each family who buy the gifts for their children.

In the lyrics the singer relates how, as a poor young boy, he was summoned by the Magi to the nativity to give a gift to infant Jesus.

The meaning behind these lyrics is actually quite touching. The little drummer boy is so moved by the birth of Christ that he wants to offer a gift, but has nothing to give but his drum, so he plays his drum to honor the birth.

Heroin is typically mainlined into the veins.

Heroin is an opioid (narcotic), and like opiates that are actually legal, it has pain-relieving effects. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous.

When “There She Goes” was released, there were rumors that this song was about heroin. When asked about the rumour in 1995, the group’s bassist John Power replied, “I don’t know. Truth is, I don’t wanna know. Drugs and madness go hand in hand. People who you’ve known all your life… they’re steady, then they’re not. But you can’t ponder, ‘cause it kills you, la.’”

However, in the 2003 book In Search of The La’s: A Secret Liverpool by MW Macefield, ex-La’s guitarist Paul Hemmings denied the rumour and added, “Jeremy Fisher, you don’t know what you are talking about.” In an interview with the BBC, lead guitarist for the single John Byrne also denied the rumour, stating “It’s just a love song about a girl that you like but never talk to.”

It’s a clear “blue” summer, and there isn’t a cloud in the sky.

Gypsies are groups of nomadic people who live outside of conventional society. They have been known to play a key role in travel culture.

Rimbaud is comparing the countryside to a woman, meaning both are beautiful.

Interestingly, Rimbaud is better known for his homosexual than his heterosexual passions: he had a famous affair with fellow poet Paul Verlaine, though this ended up being anything but happy. (Verlaine, who was a little crazy, shot him in the wrist.)