GH's Rick Springfield's New CD Is Dedicated To Those Who Won't Be Home For Christmas

Rick Springfield (Noah, GH) took time out of his busy touring schedule to check in with Soap Opera Digest regarding his new CD, Christmas With You. You can find more info on Springfield's very first holiday album in our gift guide in the December 25 issue, on sale December 18.

Soap Opera Digest: So, let's talk Christmas.
Rick Springfield: This whole thing came about as a way to do something for our troops. There's only one original song on the Christmas CD. It's the title track called "Christmas With You." Derek Hilland wrote it about the perspective of the troops being away from home at Christmas and the music video for it features photos and names of fallen soldiers. The song isn't long enough to put all of them in, but it does feature a lot of our fallen soldiers, men and women.

Digest: Where did the inspiration come from for that?
Springfield: We wanted to do something rather than complain. If I see one more "War isn't the answer" bumper sticker I'm going to drive my car right into the other car. It's not a political statement. It's just in support of the troops, the men and women who gave their lives in service to their country. My dad was a lifer in the army. I grew up on army bases. Derek's dad was in the Air Force and he fought in Vietnam. I played for the troops in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969, so it's something we felt honest and truthful about. I've been to Bethesda [National Naval Medical Center in Maryland] and talked to some of the guys who just came back from Iraq with serious head wounds. People ought to get out and actually do something other than just f---ing talking. I don't mean to get on my high horse. This is a little tiny thing that we thought we could do and the proceeds go to the gold star mothers, who are parents who've lost children over in Iraq.

Digest: How would you describe the rest of the tone of the CD?
Springfield: I wanted the stuff to be traditional sounding, but I never liked rock Christmas albums. I like stuff you can put on, light a fire and put up the Christmas tree by. They're all songs that I grew up with and loved. When people used to write songs back then, they wrote them for the church and for God — and that's basically what these are. These are some of the best pop songs of the day. Some of the music is staggering when you get into it, when you look at the chord structures and the melodies.

Digest: The tunes definitely have a Springfieldian twist to them.
Springfield [laughs]: Thanks. We don't just sing them like you've heard them a million times before. It's done very acoustically, with a lot of heavy backgrounds, kind of Beach Boys, kind of California. It's all done with real instruments. I lowered the keys so I would sing in a softer voice than my usual screams, so it was a different approach all the way around.

Digest: Like with "Deck The Halls (With Boughs of Longboards)."
Springfield: Yes. I've always loved that tune but I never felt comfortable singing, "Fa La La La La." That's one of the lamest lyrics in Christmas music history, so I made it instrumental.

Digest: What prompted the California feel?
Springfield: I live at the beach and thought, "How am I going to get a snow shot in L.A. in July?" so we built it around the beach thing, with a real Christmas tree on the beach, and this song fit. I always loved surf music. I was raised on surf music.

Digest: Merry surfing Christmas!
Springfield [laughs]: And to you and your readers!

Proceeds from the "Christmas With You" video will be donated to support Gold Star Mothers, Inc. (www.goldstarmoms.com). For more on the CD, check out www.rickspringfield.com.