On seeing the video for 'Last Christmas' by Wham, the story behind the song was finally revealed to me. It was the first time I'd watched the video all the way through so forgive me if I haven't quite got the plot to the video quite right.
So they all meet up in a house in the middle of nowhere, and George comes face to face with his ex girlfriend who is now going out with Andrew Ridgeley. So he keeps flaunting his new trophy girlfriend, who is probably only with him because he's in Wham. I'm not entirely sure at which point during the year prior to this Christmas shindig that I felt the most sorry for his ex, it can't have been easy dumping George for Andrew only to be dumped at some point in the future (not seen in the video) for a member of Bananrama. Anyway, this is the woman who George gave his heart to the previous Christmas.
George keeps shooting her a look that says "I still want you" and she looks for all the world like a woman who doesn't give a shit what George Michael thinks. Then we get a flashback to the 'Last Christmas' where George bought her a brooch for her festive gift.
A Brooch! This was, for the sake of the continuity of the story, Christmas 1983. The year in which Wham had had a number eight single with 'Wham Rap (Enjoy What You Do)', 'Bad Boys' had gone to number two, and 'Club Tropicana' had gone to number four. (I'm not including 'Club Fantastic Megamix' because it was released by Innervision Records, against the wishes of Michael and Ridgeley, to raise money for a legal wrangle over unpaid royalties which led to the termination of their record deal and the dissolving of the record label). But with three top ten hits you would think he'd have come up with a better present than a brooch. Perhaps that's why she dumped him, although she was still wearing it this Christmas.
Of course he also gave her his heart, which as we know, the very next day she gave away. So what we learn here is that on Boxing Day 1983, Andrew Ridgeley received George Michael's heart as a late present. I would personally have preferred a soap on a rope, or a book token. BUT, this year to save him from tears, he'll give it to someone special. So we can ascertain that Ridgeley gave it him back. Which was nice of him, although he probably got fed up of it when he realised none of the talent was going to rub off.
