December 24, 2024
Hands down, thanks especially to his crucial role in "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" over the years, the immortal Clarence "Big Man" Clemons remains and will forever be the greatest representation of the spirit of Santa Claus on E Street. Clearly, he was destined for this role, having received his first saxophone as a childhood Christmas present from ol' St. Nick himself. Heck, even Big Man's middle name was Anicholas! (The name for his credits on the back-cover of The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle reads, "Clarence 'Nick' Clemons.")
This holiday season, thanks to the generosity of our friend Mark Fromm, we're pleased to welcome back exclusively for our readers "Santa Big Man" in a... well, a BIG way, of course. Earlier this year, for Clarence Clemons Day 2024, Mark, who is a California-based psychologist and musician, shared with us the very interesting story of how he and Clarence came to collaborate on some of Mark's music back in the 1990s. (You can click here to read more about that.)
One of the tracks they recorded together was "What Can I Give For Christmas?", which also featured the late, great Rick Danko - with whom Clarence previously had worked in the original lineup of Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band - and Maria Muldaur.
It's a fun, upbeat song about how giving can be just as important and rewarding as receiving during the holidays. In addition to lending some of his powerfully stellar sax-playing, Big Man also provided the singing/speaking voice of Santa Claus, of course. "What Can I Give For Christmas?" was released on a 2002 CD-EP entitled What Can I Give?, which has long been out-of-print and hard to find, and the track hasn't been made available officially in any other form since then.
Until now, that is. For this 2024 holiday season, Mark has agreed to allow Letters To You to present an exclusive limited-time streaming EP of "What Can I Give For Christmas?", along with two other Mark Fromm tracks featuring Clarence Clemons and two previews of new Mark Fromm tracks that have yet to be released officially. Furthermore, "What Can I Give For Christmas?" is presented here in never-before-heard form, with a special "Happy Hanukkah" message from "Santa Big Man" - recorded during that same recording-session - tagged on to the end of the track.
The other tracks in the EP are: "People Come Back Home", which also was part of that 2002 What Can I Give? CD-EP. It's a song that, much like Springsteen's "Long Walk Home", has grown greatly in its meaning and relevance, given current events. And just as he did on "Long Walk Home", Clarence Clemons delivers another crucial saxophone solo that gives the track such an intense emotional punch. Next up is "Keys", a track from Mark's 2023 album Preparation of the Bridegroom that he also shared with us as a limited-time download earlier this year. It again features Maria Muldaur along with Clarence, who provides a bit of a rapping-style vocal along with his sax work. Finally, Mark allows us an advance listen to two tracks from the album on which he's currently working: "Telegram" and "Something That Matters".
Here for your holiday listening pleasure is the embedded What Can I Give For Christmahanukwanzakah 2024? 5-track EP, presented as a playlist on our SoundCloud platform:
For this holiday season, Mark Fromm has generously shared all of this music for our readers to stream free of charge through early January, but is also asking all of us who are streaming to please donate whatever you can to HomeSafe, a Florida-based child-abuse/domestic-violence-prevention organization that was strongly supported by Clarence Clemons for many years. Please click this link to learn more about HomeSafe and to make your donation.
Remember, good people, the important question that Santa Big Man reminds us to ask ourselves, this year and every year... "What can I give for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc.?" Happy Holidays, peace, love, fun, and good will to all.
All images above courtesy of Mark Fromm and used with permission; to learn more about Mark Fromm and his work, including his music, visit MarkFromm.com
Special thanks to Gayle Morrison of the Clarence Clemons Trust