Ed Sheeran Says He 'Almost Killed' Elton John While Filming 'Merry Christmas' Music Video

Ed Sheeran says his dream of working with Elton John almost became a nightmare.

After teasing the track during November, Sheeran and Elton John dropped “Merry Christmas” on Dec. 3, paying tribute to some classic festive songs from over the years in the official music video.

Speaking to Zane Lowe for Apple Music, the singer explained, however, they had a near-fatal miss while recording the music video.

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“I’m dressed up as sort of sexy Santa Claus and I kick a present, but the present had a big metal bell on top of it,” he recalled. “I showed him the footage of it today because we slowed it down, and the bell flew past his head and would’ve cracked him in the head – The horror that went through my body when it was flying through the air.”

While the accident left Sheeran a little shaken up, he still had a great time on the shoot.

“But man, the music video is wild. We parodied old great British music videos that came at Christmas,” the star acknowledged.

Sheeran flies with “The Snowman” in the fun clip and recreates East 17’s “Stay Another Day” video, as well as making snow angels and sipping on mulled wine.

In fact, the actual inspiration for the song fell on the holiday itself.

“I’ve got a voice recording of it from Christmas day, last year,” he later said.

“Wait, hold up. Hold up. Pause. Pause that big brain of yours,” Lowe reacted with surprise, exclaiming, “You wrote a Christmas song on Christmas day?”

The idea didn’t seem so strange to Sheeran who remarked that “it’s the time you feel most Christmas-y.”

The host conceded the point, but then chided, “I think because I was sort of expecting you to maybe not be working on Christmas day, but maybe that’s just what you do.”

“I’m always writing songs, there’s always a guitar about,” The 30-year-old singer answered.

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“Merry Christmas” with @eltonofficial is out now. All profits from this year’s Christmas period will go to the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation (https://t.co/Vq9UZtNIBP) and the Elton John AIDS Foundation (@ejaf)https://t.co/YWGL4zYU13