The Killers have been doing Christmas songs for nine years, but none of them have captivated the nation quite like "Joel the Lump of Coal," their newly released Christmas anthem co-written by Jimmy Kimmel. Apparently, the late-night host is longtime pals with Killers singer Brandon Flowers, and two recently sat down with Entertainment Weekly to discuss their new hit.
"I don't know if Brandon even knew this, but I wrote a lot of Christmas songs when I worked at KROQ, the radio station here in Los Angeles," Kimmel said. "So I was very excited when Brandon called and asked if I wanted to be involved in directing the video for it. I said I'd really like to help write the song, and then we talked about what we would do, and we wanted to write something that was kind of like 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,' and we just happened upon a lump of coal named Joel."
The song is a lengthy tale about — you guessed it — a lump of coal named Joel who lives at the North Pole with Santa Claus. The little piece of anthracite becomes horrified when he realizes he is going to a naughty kid's house, but everything turns out OK in the end.
Flowers said writing Christmas songs like Joel's story is a much simpler process than penning Killers albums.
"A lot of the pressure is off, and it's a lot more lighthearted," Flowers said. "I always feel like I wish I could approach a Killers record in the same way we approach the Christmas songs. We have more fun recording the songs."
Ever the funny guy, Kimmel threw in plenty of Nevada-related jokes during the interview.
"In Vegas, Elvis comes down the chimney," Kimmel said. "He doesn't deliver coal, he just s---s in the living room. It's a weird thing. We wish he would stop."
Check out the collaboration below:
