“Merry Christmas, Emily” ought to be a nice stocking stuffer for diehard Cracker fans. This hungover alternative to the more charged-up version on 2002’s Forever trades Johnny Hickman’s punchy, playful lead runs for some ambling, bittersweet steel guitar from Matt “Pistol” Stoessel.
“Going through some old tracks, I found a demo of this entirely different version I’d completely forgotten about,” says David Lowery, who cofounded Cracker with Hickman more than 30 years ago. “It struck me as a better musical frame for what’s essentially a dark comedy: a washed-up rocker getting drunk on Christmas Day with his younger girlfriend, who’s likewise estranged from her family.”
Adding to the pity party, singer/songwriter Megan Slankard throws in as a more developed vocal counterpoint to Lowery’s sad-sack protagonist. “The unreliable narrator’s rosy recollections thus become even more unreliable,” says Lowery. “Megan took the opportunity to essentially give voice to Emily. It’s almost like an entirely new song.”
We’re proud to premiere “Merry Christmas, Emily,” which is included on the new three-LP/two-CD Alternative History: A Cracker Retrospective, out tomorrow on Cooking Vinyl.
—Hobart Rowland
