John Lewis’s Christmas adverts have made an annual tradition of turning past hits into delicate yuletide singles, and this year’s commercial is no different, with rising talent Lola Young lending her voice to a stripped-back rendition of Together in Electric Dreams.

       But an alt-folk band from Somerset claims the retail giant lifted the idea from their own Christmas song, except they weren’t “cool or edgy enough” to front the campaign themselves.

       The Portraits, made up of the Anglo-Irish duo Lorraine and Jeremy Millington, recorded a downbeat cover of the 1984 hit by Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder last year to raise money for families affected by Covid-19.

       While it didn’t chart particularly well, the band - including daughter Ciara, 15, who sings on the track - were interviewed on This Morning and The Jeremy Vine Show.

       In March, they emailed a John Lewis marketing manager suggesting that the track could be used for their Christmas advert, accompanied by a call to donate to the charities involved.

       They did not receive a response.

       They were surprised, therefore, to hear Young’s version of Together in Electric Dreams on this year’s advert, which tells the story of a young boy falling in love with an alien who crash-lands on earth during the holidays.

       South Londoner Young, 20, is yet to release her debut album but has signed to Island Records, which has released music by the likes of U2 and Amy Winehouse.

       Inspiration came from walking

       She is enrolled at the arts-focused Brit School in Croydon, which counts Adele and Winehouse among its alumni.

       The idea for making a Christmas song out of the 80s classic came to Mr Millington while out for a walk during the height of the pandemic.

       He told The Telegraph that the message of connection over distance resonated during lockdown.

       The duo questioned how anyone might have the same idea. “How would you pluck a song like [the original] for a Christmas song? We did it first,” said Mrs Millington.

       Her husband told The Telegraph that John Lewis may have liked the track but not their image. “This is pure speculation, but they might have thought we either weren’t edgy or cool or young enough,” he said. “Maybe they wanted a fresh face.”

       The retailer has strenuously denied the band’s accusation and said that the marketing manager left in June, before the music for the advert was selected, and had no involvement in the ad campaign.

       The retailer also insisted that the two tracks are very different.

       John Lewis has previously used stripped-back versions of popular hits to soundtrack their Christmas adverts, including singles originally by Guns ‘n’ Roses and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

       A spokesperson for the retailer told The Telegraph: “There’s no substance to the claims as the person contacted by email left at the start of the summer and had no involvement in this year’s Christmas ad.

       “The music that accompanies the ad is always the final element to be added and this year was chosen at the end of October. The creation of advertising and music is carried out solely by our agency and we are unable to read or consider ideas from other external or internal sources.”

       Copyright battle

       The band said they were speaking to copyright lawyers about whether they had a case, but that they’d rather avoid a legal fight.

       Mrs Millington said she was calling on the department store company to “do the honourable thing” and make a contribution to the charities their single was created to support. “Make this donation and it’s closed, case closed,” she said.

       John Lewis pointed out that it already makes donations to Covid-19 charities, through its Give a Little Love initiative, including to Mind and Cruse Bereavement, the organisations that The Portraits are raising money for. The initiative has raised ￡8 million so far.

       Mark Mulligan, a music industry analyst, told The Telegraph that if the band did pursue their case it would be hard to prove, given that the original track was not their own. They would likely have to prove mimicry, which can be very difficult.

       Previous high-profile copyright cases have proved unpredictable, said Mr Mulligan who asked: “How do you prove something that is really quite subjective?”

       The Telegraph approached Lola Young’s agent for comment.