'Ho-Ho-Yah-No-For-Sure-Yah’: A Canadian take on Christmas classic

This story was originally published on Nov. 16, 2021.

An Okanagan man may have just created the latest song that’ll stick in our heads for the next month.

Lake Country’s Jordan Wiberg, or Clark W. when he’s taking on his performing persona, is well known for the successful online songs like ‘Up here in Canada’ and ‘Marriage Is Always Sexy.’

He’s released a Canadian-themed holiday tune inspired by Bing Crosby’s 1950 song, Mele Kalikimaka (from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation) called, 'Ho-Ho-Yah-No-For-Sure-Yah’

"I took the classic Canadian confusing phrase to most of my American friends - ‘oh yah no for sure yah,’ which to us [Canadians] means ‘yes’ or ‘absolutely,'" Clark said. “I thought how would Santa Claus, Canada’s most famous citizen, say that phrase, ‘ho-ho-yah-for-sure-yah.’”

The music video also features vocals from his mom, as the voice of The Andrews Sisters’ from the Crosby version, which Clark noted was just one of the challenges when creating the song.

“I actually tried to get it to sound as close to the original instrumentation as I could, I used a bunch of vintage microphones that Bing Crosby and his band would have used back then,” he said. “The hardest part was figuring out the harmonies for The Andrews Sisters’ parts. I don’t think anyone’s figured that out. It took me seven to eight days to figure that out.”

With all the success from his hit singles, and other classic Canadian inspired videos, he said when it comes to his music, it’s all about having fun.

“If it was just me and my kids and my wife who ended up listening to these songs, and I’m sure my mom would too, I’d be just as happy,” Clark said. “To have other people like these songs and get a kick out of them, it’s a tremendous bonus.”

'Ho-Ho-Yah-No-For-Sure-Yah’ is out now on all major music platforms. More music featuring Clark W, including the music video for the Christmas song, can be found on his YouTube page.