"I Believe in Father Christmas" is a song by English musician Greg Lake with lyrics by Peter Sinfield.

[4] Lake wrote the song at his west London home, after tuning the bottom string of his guitar from E down to D.[5] The instrumental riff between verses comes from the "Troika" portion of Sergei Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé Suite, written for the 1934 Soviet film Lieutenant Kijé;[6] this was added at the suggestion of Keith Emerson (an adaptation of the same song was used on Emerson's later The Christmas Album (1988)).

"[7] The song was recorded by Lake in 1974 and released separately from ELP in 1975, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart.

So I can tell you from experience that it's lovely to get the old royalty cheque around September every year, but on its own, the Christmas song money isn’t quite enough to buy my own island in the Caribbean.

If Guardian readers could all please request it be played by their local radio stations, maybe that Caribbean island wouldn’t be so far away – and if I get there, you’re all invited.