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And Finally Artist News
Noddy Holder insists he doesn’t mind people shouting “It’s Christmas!” at him 50 times a day
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 18 December 2020
Once, about 20 years ago, I pointed out Roy Wood to a friend in a bar. Said friend then immediately went over and asked him if he wished it could be Christmas every day. He apparently took it in good humour, but I’ve felt bad about it ever since. Surely that kind of thing gets annoying. Apparently, it doesn’t. Not according to Noddy Holder, anyway.
Holder appears on the latest edition of Robbie Williams and Ayda Field’s ‘At Home With The Williamses’ podcast. Among other things, he discusses Slade’s Christmas classic ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ and having people perpetually shout “IT’S CHRIIIIIIIIISTMAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!” at him.
“I like it every time I hear it”, he insists. “[That song] is going [to be] 47 years [old] this year. That’s a hell of a time. But I still get a kick when young kids come up to me in the street and they say, ‘Oh, you’re that Mr Christmas, ain’t you?’ and I say, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah’. ‘You sung that Christmas song?’ ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah’. And they say, ‘We’ve just done that at our carol concert at school’, so that’s a good legacy to have. That’s brilliant for us”.
Yeah, that’s all well and good, but what about the people who just randomly shout “IT’S CHRIIIIIIIIISTMAAAAAAAAAAAAAS”?
“There ain’t one day goes past in the year where I’m out and about that somebody don’t shout it at me”, he goes on. “And in December, of course, I get it 20/30/40/50 times a day. And everybody who shouts it out at me thinks they’re the first one to do it, they all think it’s the first time I’ve heard it. I’m used to it now. So, I just smile sweetly and accept it. Because you have to, don’t you?”
Williams, not buying this cheery disposition one bit, continues to probe further, eventually asking: “But wasn’t there a period like, I don’t know, late 80s/early 90s where you were just like, ‘Oh, fuck off’?”
“I mean, there probably has been”, says Holder, finally cracking. “The worst time it happens is if I’m in a restaurant, having a meal with my mates or my family or whatever, and they’re shouting it across the restaurant at the top of their voice”.
“I’m trying to hide in a corner, sort of thing, especially around December time, you get all the Christmas parties in”, he continues. “Because I know the Christmas tape’s going on the sound system in the restaurant… So, I’m sort of heads down”.
“And then, of course, somebody on their way to the bog, off the Christmas party, will pass my table. Then, it swiftly gets round the restaurant that I’m in, and then they all want it, you know? They all want me to sing along with it then, on a table or something. That gets really embarrassing, that”.
Yeah, that’s sounds really annoying. You should stop doing that. Let the man eat in peace. And will you please just let Roy Wood by a drink without hassling him. Keep your festive cheer to yourself.
Anyway, you can listen to the full interview, in which he also talks about things that don’t involve people shouting at him, here.
