CHRISTMAS just wouldn’t be Christmas without listening to Slade’s Merry Xms Everybody.
But despite the song being five decades old, fans have been singing the wrong lyrics for years.
Slade star Noddy Holder’s wife Suzan – who he married in 2004 – has today revealed the “right” to the Christmas tune.
Taking to X/Twitter, she tweeted: “Annual Christmas reminder … the CORRECT lyrics are… ‘does a ton-up on his sleigh’ NOT ‘does he turn up’ 🤦🏻♀️ (it’s Midlands slang for 100 miles an hour 😜) #MerryXmasEverybody.”
Fans immediately replied to her tweet, saying they were shocked that they had got it wrong all these years.
One wrote: “I never knew! Wow! 🤯 I love Slade and Noddy – I’m immediately back to my childhood when I hear Merry Xmas Everybody.”
read more on Slade
While another said: “We sang this in a school Xmas show in 1984. The lyric we learned was “does a ton-up”. Had no idea what it meant. When I more recently saw “does he turn up” my reaction was that music teacher misheard the lyric, as this version made *so* much more sense!”
This one tweeted: “For 50 years I’ve been singing “does it tug upon his sleigh”…this is a mindblowing revelation.”
Slade, formed in Wolverhampton in 1966, went on to become one of the most influential glam rock bands of the 1970s, scoring six No1s, including seasonal fave Merry Xmas Everybody.
The legendary band now consists of original lead guitarist and backing vocalist Dave Hill, 73, and new members Russell Keefe, Alex Bines and John Berry.
Most read in Music
Singer Noddy quit alongside bassist Jim Lea, 74, in 1992 amid feuding within the group.
Noddy and Jim are thought to share £1million a year in royalties thanks to their Christmas anthem — which followed up the band’s fourth No1 Cum On Feel the Noise.
Meanwhile, last month Suzan shared a health update on her husband after his ‘horrifying’ cancer diagnosis.
Noddy was given just six months to live when he was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer five years ago.
Suzan kept his cancer battle a secret from all but immediate family and close friends until last month.
He has since endured a gruelling course of experimental chemotherapy and is doing so well he’s returned to the stage.
In a new interview on GB News, the journalist and author has assured fans he’s doing well for the time being.
She said, “When he was given [chemotherapy] five years ago, they told him that it was something that they hadn’t really given to anybody.
“He was 72 when he was diagnosed and when they gave it to him, and they never make any promises with any cancer treatment, but he’s doing great.
“We’ve decided to talk about now to raise awareness of oesophageal cancer, which is not the same as throat cancer. It’s one of the gastric cancers and it’s not something that gets a lot of attention.
“We also want to help The Christie with the work they’re doing and the amazing treatments that they have.”
Noddy enlisted in a chemotherapy trial at The Christie Hospital in Manchester.
It went so well he joined pianist Tom Seals and his jazz band on a short summer tour.
Suzan added, “We know we shocked some people, that’s not what we meant to do, and we don’t want to upset anybody.
“We’re very aware that a lot of people are going through all sorts of different things and all sorts of different illnesses and we don’t have a magic answer, but we’ll do we can say to people, even with a devastating diagnosis like that, there is always hope.
“They’re bringing on treatments all the time and this treatment that he had, has kept him healthy now for the last four and a half years.”
Read more on The Sun
“One of the reasons we kept it private was because Noddy wanted to deal with it in his own way, which was to focus and to concentrate.
“He’s done it all with good humour, that kind of same naughty, that mischievous person has always been like that all the way.”
