Ed Sheeran and Elton John released their hit holiday song “Merry Christmas” earlier this month, and now Sheeran has revealed he “almost killed” his mentor during the filming of the track’s music video. Speaking to Apple Music, the redhead crooner quipped, “Oh, mate. “I almost killed him with a bell on the video.”
Going into more detail about the incident, Sheeran explained exactly what went down that nearly led to John being injured. “I’m dressed up as sort of sexy Santa Claus and I kick a present, but the present had a big metal bell on top of it,” he explained. “I showed him the footage of it today because we slowed it down and the bell flew past his head and would’ve cracked him in the head. Oh my God, the horror that went through my body when it was flying through the air.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
The pair of Brit-crooners debuted their new duet on Dec. 3, just weeks after Sheeran teased the collaboration during a late-night talk show appearance. While chatting with Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon about the new track, Sheeran shared that they almost changed the name of it, but decided not to when they realized how surprisingly unique it was. “
So get this,” he began. “We write it and I title it, ‘Merry Christmas,’ but we’re probably going to need to change that title because there’ll be loads of songs called ‘Merry Christmas’. I went on Spotify, typed in ‘Merry Christmas,’ nothing.” Sheeran then added, “There’s ‘Merry Christmas Everyone,’ there’s ‘Happy Xmas’, there’s ‘Merry Xmas’…there’s not a song called ‘Merry Christmas.’”
The new duet is not John’s first this year, as the legendary singer released a collection of collabs titled The Lockdown Sessions, back in October. One of those collaborations was a cover of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” with Miley Cyrus, legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Los Angeles-based musician/producer WATT, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, and Metallica bassist Robert Truillo. Following its release, John made a surprise appearance on The Howard Stern Show with Metallica, and he hailed the tune as “one of the best songs ever written.”
Elaborating on how the haunting cover came together, John recalled, “That idea came from Andrew Watt, who produced the track and played guitar on it. He said, ‘I want you to start the song and finish the song because I don’t want it to start with the guitar because that’s how the original record started.’” John continued, “Listen, this is one of the best songs ever written, to me. It’s a song that never gets old. And playing on this track, I just couldn’t wait. The chord structure, the melodies, the time changes, it’s got drama written all over it.”
