I personally am of the opinion that Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is one of the best, if not the best, Christmas songs any famous musician has ever given birth to — and I’m hardly alone in that sentiment. Warming Glow founding editor Matt Ufford agrees with me, and one of his SB Nation colleagues, Bill Hanstock, recently praised the song as “pure, unabashed glee.” He adds that it’s “pretty impossible to listen to this song and be in a bad mood. I’ve never heard a single other song off her Christmas album and I never need to, because nothing could live up to this track.”
Amen, brother.
With that said, backstage before a recent appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s show, Jimmy, Mariah Carey, and The Roots “grabbed some instruments you’d find in an elementary school classroom” and performed the song together. The result is honestly kind of magical. It may be the best version of the song I’ve ever heard. I defy you watch this and not feel warm inside. Enjoy…
And here’s the instrument breakdown…
Jimmy Fallon – wood block, tambourine, bass drum, kazoo
Mariah Carey – vocals
Questlove – wooden clacker w/ afro pick
Mark Kelley – Fisher Price xylophone
Kamal Gray – recorder
James Poyser – melodica
Captain Kirk – ukulele
Tuba Gooding Jr. – kazoo
Frank Knuckles – bongos
Black Thought – sleigh bells
(Via Fallon Tumblr)
