The holidays aren’t always the easiest time for everyone. While most are being joyous and mirthful and festive, for those who have trouble getting into the spirit of the season it can be a constant reminder that they’re not living up to expectations. For those who have had painful experiences associated with Christmas, it can be downright wretched. Christina Martin’s own experiences made it difficult for her to enjoy the holiday, let alone write a song about it. When she was asked to perform at the Halifax Tree Lighting Ceremony she stepped up, penning “This Christmas,” but writing the song had its challenges.
“I remember saying to myself ‘I’m never going to write Christmas music,'” explains Martin. “I didn’t like Christmas, and that was getting in the way of enjoying some good Christmas songs that are out there. If you don’t want to be reminded of a holiday or event, you’ll avoid music associated with it.”
Martin says that a lot of her experiences were holding her back, not just from writing a Christmas song, but from enjoying the holiday at all.
“I was just hanging on to some crummy ‘stories’ in my head that were preventing me from enjoying this time of year. Everything seemed to be magnified around Christmas, of course that’s the time of year you are expected to be around family, think about family, be kind and have fun with everyone. There were many years I wasn’t very happy around family, but that’s changed thankfully.”
“This Christmas” comes off as a cheery tune, closer to Wham! than to Bing Crosby, and lyrically full of traditions, if not traditional French horns. But, like Bing Crosby’s 1943 classic “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” honouring absent soldiers stationed overseas during the holidays, Martin’s “This Christmas” is deeply melancholic at its root.
Martin explains that the song starts by telling a story of her own childhood, “Starting with the first Christmas my father wasn’t living with us. He had disappeared 3 months prior. I was 11. He did show up that Christmas for the first time in 3 months, but it was strange! He was ‘hiding’ and we were told there was a warrant for his arrest.”
A few years ago Martin also lost a brother, and for a time of year that’s best spent with family, absences can be intensely felt. Unsurprisingly, Christmas wasn’t a festive season for Martin.
“For years I wanted Christmas to pass quickly[…],” says Martin. “I also think of friends who we have lost and their loved ones. Although it can be very sad time of year when you miss someone, Holidays can be a time celebrate their memories.”
She explains that things only began to change, both for herself and in the song’s second verse, as she and her husband Dale Murray were touring through one of the most festive places on the planet: German Christmas Markets.
“You have to make a new story if you want to be happy again. […] New traditions and time, well, helped me come around to finding peace this time of year, even having fun!”
Rather that revisiting the ghosts of Christmas past, Martin puts an emphasis on the present even in the song’s title: “This Christmas,”
Working with Jordi Comstock (drums) and her musical/life partner Dale Murray (bass), Martin turned to her instincts once she heard the song’s bass line. While not the instincts of traditionally festive songs, she managed to strike a balance between Madonna’s “Material Girl” and The Jackson 5.
“I just asked if we could make it sound ‘cool’ for an x-mas song, not too cheesy. The way I wrote it on acoustic, it sounded too country. It doesn’t sound like anything we’ve recorded before, which was fun. I like letting the players and song dictate direction… that being said, we knew it had to resemble an x-mas song.
We didn’t want to obsess or over think it. I guess that’s what made the process so enjoyable. I was shocked that it wasn’t a stressful experience.”
Christina Martin will be performing Saturday November 24th 2018 during the Halifax Christmas Tree Lighting event at City Hall, and though she’s not making any promises, she does suggest that if it turns out to be fun there might be a Holiday album released for 2019.