‘A holiday to you, but it’s Christmas to me’
“It may be a holiday to you, but it’s Christmas to me.” So sings Don Murdock of Colbourne, Ont., who co-wrote “Christmas to Me,” which battles the “political correctness” that he says has taken over the season. The second verse makes his displeasure known: “Politicians try to tell us, take Christ out of the day/to hide all the symbols, we used to celebrate/they say it might offend, those who don’t believe/ let me tell you Mister, that you’re offending me.” Will this earworm be the sleeper hit of the season? Only time will tell, the country singer-songwriter told the Post’s Sarah Boesveld this week.
Q Happy holidays, Mr. Murdock.
A Thank you, Merry Christmas.
Q What inspired your song? Did a well-meaning store greeter say the wrong thing?
A Yeah basically. When I was a kid, I would sing Christmas carols door to door. Then, as you progress through the years, all of a sudden the Christmas spirit is starting to turn into the holiday season. People are wanting to take all of our traditions away. They’ve been trying to do this for quite a few years and I got talking to [the song’s co-writer] Brian Dolph, and said ‘ This is an idea I have for a song, what do you think?’ So we sat down together and wrote it. We both 100% agreed with the principles behind the song — why does everything have to be, like
we say in the song, politically correct? I’ve got no problem respecting everyone else’s opinion. Why can’t everyone respect mine?
Q That’s the explanation you get for ‘Happy Holidays’ — you have Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and so on, here’s our effort to ensure we don’t exclude anyone. What’s wrong with that?
A I’m going to refer it back to the politicians. I think we have a lot of people here in Canada that have had these traditions for years. Canada welcomes everyone and I agree totally with that, but I’m just feeling ‘Are we trying to win votes here or can we not just say this is a holiday we’ve had in this country, like, forever, why do we have to change it?’
Q People who bemoan polit-
ical correctness in general get especially riled up about it at Christmastime. Why do you think that is?
A I think it’s generational. You have a lot of baby boomers still out there — maybe not so much in the next few years as we start to pass away — but right now, I think, these were the traditions we always grew up with. I have all kinds of friends who have different religions. Even my Jewish friends, they’ve always said ‘We love Hanukkah, but we love Christmas too.’ I was raised Catholic. I remember going to church for Christmas mass on Christmas Eve, and that was a nice tradition. If we keep losing our values and our traditions, we’re all going to suffer for it in the end.
Q So now you’ve written this song. It’s catchy! Have you been trying to get it on radio rotation for Christmas?
A Yes, that’s what our plan is. We’re getting a good response so far, but we’d like to get another big push.
Q Some parents say they’ve noticed fewer Christmas songs in schools. What have you noticed?
A I’ve attended a few of my granddaughter’s Christmas pageants, let’s say. There was a little bit of Christmas stuff, but it was generic more towards the holiday.
Q How did you feel by the end — proud of your granddaughter but a bit dispirited?
A Yes. Because they’re so young, you can’t really explain your feeling about it.
Q But then you got in the car and sang Christmas carols all the way home.
A Oh, absolutely.