Eric Clapton has released A Clapton Christmas, a special YouTube feature that includes a sit-down interview as well as performances of songs from his recently-released holiday album, Happy Xmas.
During the interview portion with producer Simon Climie, Clapton explains the process behind the decision to record a Christmas album. “When I started to seriously think about making a complete Christmas album I started to scour the internet and iTunes for specific Christmas songs,” he says. “And in the process of doing that I actually combed through Christmas compilations, including Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. You also had Slade. It would just be from one end to the other.”
Asked about whether the holiday standard “White Christmas” was initially on his list of songs to tackle, Clapton responds, “No. ‘White Christmas’ came I think close to the end. We thought, Well, if we’re gonna really make this a Christmas album we’ve got to do that one. But it was the most difficult one to arrange because it’s such a specific melody… And I didn’t think there was a way to do it without singing it as it was. Then I thought, Well, we’ll just make it like it’s a Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson track, with kind of raucous guitar… I think it came out really well.”
As previously reported, Happy Xmas features a mix of holiday standards, lesser-known Christmas songs and one original track, “For Love on Christmas Day.”
The album—Clapton’s first full-length foray into holiday music—is his first album since 2016's I Still Do.
You can check out its Clapton-designed cover art and track list below.
For more on Clapton, head over to EricClapton.com.
Happy Xmas track list:
1. White Christmas
2. Away In A Manger (Once In Royal David’s City)
3. For Love On Christmas Day
4. Everyday Will Be Like A Holiday
5. Christmas Tears
6. Home For The Holidays
7. Jingle Bells (In Memory of Avicii)
8. Christmas In My Hometown
9. It’s Christmas
10. Sentimental Moments
11. Lonesome Christmas
12. Silent Night
13. Merry Christmas Baby
14. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
“Jim Morrison was carried out. Jimi Hendrix was there. We were all getting drunk”: Ritchie Blackmore recalls the first time he saw two-hand tapping – at a wild show in 1968
“I was playing with the Scorpions, and I broke a string and had a solo coming up. My brother and I swapped guitars really quickly”: Michael Schenker talks Vs, his early flirtations with offsets, and how he joined one of hard rock's biggest juggernauts
