| Date Performance |
1992-00-00 | | Running Time |
4:15 | | Performers |
Tom Petty (Lead Vocals), Tom Petty (Background Vocals), Tom Petty (Electric Guitar), Mike/Michael Campbell (12 String Electric Guitar), Mike/Michael Campbell (Bass Guitar), Ben(mont) (M.) Tench(, III) (Piano), Stan Lynch (Drums), Jim Keltner (Drums), Jeff Lynne (Background Vocal), Jeff Lynne (Bass Guitar), Jeff Lynne (Bells), Jeff Lynne (Timpani), Scott Troy Thurston (6 String Bass Guitar), Tim Pierce (Electric Guitar), Robbie Blunt (Acoustic Guitar), Kevin Dukes (Acoustic Guitar), Todd Sharp (Acoustic Guitar), Jimmy Ripp (Acoustic Guitar), Mitchell Froom(e) (Harpsichord), Gail/Gayle Levant/Lavant (Harp), Phil Jones (Percussion), Brad Dutz (Percussion), Efrian Torro (Marimba), Joel Peskin/Pesken (Saxophones), Phil Kenzie (Saxophones), Marti Krystall (Saxophones), Mike Turre (Saxophones), Scott Humphrey (Synthesizer), Richard Dodd (Background Vocal), Tom Petty (Produced By), Mike/Michael Campbell (Produced By), Jimmy Iovine (Produced By), Jeff Lynne (Produced By), Phil Kaffel (Engineered By), Thom Panunzio (Engineered By), Richard Dodd (Engineered By), Richard Dodd (Mixed By), Brian S(c)heuble (Assistant Engineer) | | Comments | Recorded at: A&M Studios. Mixed at: M.C. Studios, Los Angeles, CA (Courtesy of A&M Records and Special Olympics International) Jimmy Iovine had been after me since I don't know when, because he'd done one Very Special Christmas album already and I never came through for him. I didn't want to do somebody else's song. To me and Mike there's only one Christmas album in the pop field and that's Phil Spector's - that was the only one we could relate to. That really sounds like Christmas to me. So we thought we'd do something like that, eighteen guys, cut it all live." "The funny thing is I wrote the song on a ukelele. George Harrison had come by and given me a ukelele and spent a whole afternoon teaching me the chords. The ukelele is a really cool instrument, even though it doesn't have that image. I took the ukelele with me to my house in Florida in the middle of the summer and wrote this Christmas song. When I got back we had a rehearsal with the Heartbreakers. I think Howie was out of town so Scott Thurston was playing the bass. Then I told Jimmy what I wanted to do and he said, 'Wow, okay.' So he booked all the musicians. There's a really good film that's quite long of us doing that session and you see the whole thing, me taking five people aside at a time and teaching them their part and then going to the next four and teaching them. We had a harp and a harpsichord, Jim Keltner and Stan playing drums as well as a percussionist, we had two bass players, four acoustic guitars, just crazy shit going on. Michael on the 12-string. Just like we had heard it could be done. "It was a lot of fun, but when I finished with it, it was pretty much a mess. I called Jeff Lynne and he came and helped me redo the lead vocal and tidy it up just a little bit. I think Jeff had a good idea for a stop at one point where we put in that long drum fill that really made it happen. And I've always been happy because every Christmas I do hear it on the radio and I really like it." | | Appears On | |
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