In 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono band recorded the single “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” with the Harlem Community Choir. The track is both a holiday standard and a protest song, and it stands as the best Christmas single from any ex-Beatle. (Sorry, “Wonderful Christmastime.”) Next month, Arizona indie veterans Calexico will release Seasonal Shift, their first-ever Christmas album. We’ve already posted first single “Hear The Bells,” and now Calexico have also shared their take on “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).”

Calexico’s version of the song is pretty faithful. It’s a warm, fond take on a song that inspires warmth and fondness in a whole lot of people. In a press release, Calexico’s Joey Burns says:

I love this song, and I love the universality of the lyrics and the call and response sea of voices. I decided to start as quiet as possible and find out how loud and massive we could make this song build.

There’s a touch of bittersweet added with Connor Gallaher’s slow bending pedal steel that combined with the trumpets that frames this song in a very southwestern, familiar tradition for us, but it’s the vocals that really carry this tune for me and the way the chorus keeps going. We decided to not stop as the original had and see what would happen if we kept the trance and mantra going. This is something that we would do live onstage a lot, and felt really good to try it at home in our makeshift studios scattered around the globe. I love how spread out we all are. Gives a sense of pride especially in these times.

Hear the Calexico cover and the original below.

Seasonal Shift is out 12/4 on ANTI-. Pre-order it here.