Fairytale of New York

"Fairytale of New York" is a popular Christmas song by Irish folk-rock group The Pogues, and featuring the English singer Kirsty MacColl. The song is an Irish folk style ballad, written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan, and featured on The Pogues' album If I Should Fall from Grace with God. The song features string arrangements by Fiachra Trench.

Overview

"Fairytale of New York" was released as a single in 1987 and reached #1 in the Irish charts and #2 in the British charts, over Christmas (the time of peak sales). The song has become a festive classic in the UK and Ireland over the years, and was voted the best Christmas song of all time three years running in 2004 and 2005 and 2006 in polls by music channel VH1 UK, despite not achieving Christmas Number One when it was released. It was also voted as the 27th greatest song never to reach UK#1 in another VH1 poll, and also voted as the 84th greatest song of all time by BBC Radio 2 listeners in their "Sold on Song" top 100 poll.

The song takes the form of a drunken man's Christmas Eve reverie about holidays past while sleeping off a binge in a New York City drunk tank. After an inebriated old man also incarcerated in the jail cell sings a passage from the Irish drinking ballad The Rare Old Mountain Dew, the drunken man (MacGowan) begins to dream about a failed relationship. The remainder of the song (which may be an internal monologue) takes the form of a call and response between two Irish immigrants, lovers or ex-lovers, their youthful hopes crushed by alcoholism and drug addiction, reminiscing and bickering on Christmas Eve in New York City. MacColl's melodious singing contrasts with the harsh sound of MacGowan's voice and the lyrics are sometimes bittersweet, sometimes plain bitter: "Happy Christmas your arse/ I pray God it's our last". The lyric "Sinatra was swinging" has been taken by some to suggest an unspecified period after World War II; however, it is possible that the song is actually set in the early 1980s, when one of Sinatra's last chart hits, his 1980 recording of John Kander and Fred Ebb's theme from the movie "New York, New York", was a fixture of New York City airwaves and a standard singalong record in the city's many neighborhood bars. The title, taken from author J. P. Donleavy's novel A Fairy Tale of New York, was chosen after the song had been written and recorded.

MacColl was not originally to have appeared on the song, the female vocal being intended for the band's bassist, Cait O'Riordan. However, she left the band in 1986, before the song was completed. The Pogues were at the time being produced by Steve Lillywhite, MacColl's then-husband, who asked his wife to provide a guide vocal of the female part for a demo version of the song. The Pogues, however, liked MacColl's contribution so much that they asked her to sing the part on the actual recording.

The song was released in the United Kingdom in early December 1987, and swiftly became a hit. On December 17, 1987, the Pogues and MacColl performed the song on the BBC's popular television show Top of the Pops, and it was propelled to #2 on the UK charts. For the Top of the Pops appearance, the BBC insisted that MacColl's singing of "arse" be replaced with the less offensive "ass", although as she mimed the word MacColl slapped the relevant part of her body to make it clear what was meant. There has also been controversy about the song's use of the word "faggot", with some radio stations choosing to play a censored version omitting the word.

In December 2007 BBC Radio One decided to broadcast the song with the word "faggot" bleeped out. A spokesman for the BBC said: "This step has been taken as this is a word that members of our audience would find offensive." However, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Local Radio stations continued to broadcast the full version of the song.

Although the song finished 1987 as the #48 song based on a single month's sales, it was denied the Christmas #1 spot by the Pet Shop Boys' cover of "Always on My Mind". MacGowan commented on this in his typically forthright manner: "We were beaten by two queens and a drum machine."

The song was re-released by The Pogues in the UK in 1991 (reaching #36), and again in the UK and Ireland for Christmas 2005, reaching #3 in the UK. All proceeds from the latter release were donated towards a mixture of homeless charities and "Justice for Kirsty", a campaign to find out the truth behind MacColl's death in 2000. In December 2006 the song entered the UK Top 10 for the third time, reaching #6 on that occasion, and returned yet again in December 2007, so far reaching #8. It has now made the Top 10 on four separate occasions including three times in successive years.

On December 22 2005, The Pogues performed the song on a Jonathan Ross Christmas special on BBC One in the UK, with the female vocals taken by singer Katie Melua. This was The Pogues' first television performance of the song since 1988. It was also their first ever live television performance of the song, previous television performances having been lip-synched.

In recent years, the song has featured in many UK-based surveys and polls, most notably topping the VH1 greatest Christmas song chart three years running, featuring at number 11 in Channel 4's 100 greatest Christmas Moments, Number 27 on VH1's Greatest songs never to make number one, number 23 on VH1's greatest lyrics, Number 83 in Q Magazines 100 greatest ever songs, and number 84 on BBC Radio 2's top 100 greatest songs of all time poll. The Hits music channel rated Fairy Tale in New York number one in 'The Nations Favourite Christmas Song' countdown.

Cover versions

Since its original release, "Fairytale of New York" has been covered by numerous artists, including Christy Moore, Ronan Keating and Moya Brennan, Third Eye Blind, Pilot Speed (formerly Pilate), No Use for a Name, The Filberts, The City on Film, Stars, Johnny Borrell of UK band Razorlight, Kevin Evans, Dustin the Turkey with Dervla Kirwan, KT Tunstall, and the Irish Tenors (who leave out some of the racier verses). There is a German version featuring Wolfgang Niedecken from BAP and Nina Hagen. At the Kirsty MacColl tribute concert at the Royal Festival Hall in 2002, the song was performed by Mark E. Nevin and Mary Coughlan. It has been covered live by artistes such as The Chavs (a one-night only supergroup including Carl Barat and Andy Burrows), Dirty Pretty Things, Razorlight and Lisa Moorish.

There is also a live version by Swedish pop singer Håkan Hellström on his 2005 album "Nåt gammalt, nåt nytt, nåt lånat, nåt blått" from 2005, which is not a Christmas album. In 2001, Swedish quartet Ainbusk covered the song in Swedish as "En julsaga" ("A Christmas fairy tale"). There is a spoken version, adapted and performed by Gerry McArdle, with Colette Proctor and Aodán O'Dubhghaill, released by EMI, which reached no.7 in the Irish Top 10 Christmas 2000, and is requested every year on Irish radio.

A Catalan version has also been made. It has also been performed by the lead singers of Gossos and Sopa de Cabra, which does not feature a female vocal.

BBC Radio 1 controversy

On December 18, 2007 BBC Radio 1 made the decision to put a ban on the word "faggot" from the song to 'avoid offence'. The word, sung by the late Kirsty MacColl as she trades insults with Shane MacGowan, was dubbed out. MacColl's mother, Jean, called the ban "too ridiculous", while the Pogues said they found it "amusing". The BBC said: "We are playing an edited version because some members of the audience might find it offensive." The ban has been heavily criticised by fans and listeners because the song has been played uncensored for the past 20 years, and many have said that the word is not offensive. BBC Radio 2 continued to play the full, original, unedited version of the track. Radio 1 later reversed the decision to censor the song the same day, with the station editor claiming "within the context of the song, the use of the word 'faggot' is not offensive". However, in the evening of December 18, 2007, BBC Radio 1 backed down and said that after a day of criticism from listeners, the band, and the mother of singer Kirsty MacColl, they changed their minds and would reverse the decision, and from the night of December 20, 2007, would play the original version of the song un-edited. Controller Andy Parfitt said the original decision was "wrong" and that "Radio 1 does not play homophobic lyrics or condone bullying of any kind," he also continued saying that "It is not always easy to get this right, mindful of our responsibility to our young audience. The unedited version will be played from now on," and, "While we would never condone prejudice of any kind, we know our audiences are smart enough to distinguish between maliciousness and creative freedom. In the context of this song, I do not feel that there is any negative intent behind the use of the words, hence the reversal of the decision."Vorlage:Fact

Trivia

• Despite the lyrics "The boys of the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay", the New York Police Department does not have a choir, though they do have a Pipes and Drums unit that is featured in the video for the song. According to the BBC documentary "Fairytale of New York" the band didn't know the words to "Galway Bay" and sang the Mickey Mouse Song instead, although you can't tell in the video.
• The song's music video features actor Matt Dillon playing a policeman. Dillon claims that the part was the best moment of his career.[1]
• MacGowan cannot play the piano, but in the video (at the urging of record company executives) James Fearnley reluctantly wore MacGowan's jacket and rings [2].
• The song was referenced in the song "Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night" on the album Separation Sunday by the Hold Steady. (They faked their way through "Fairytale of New York"/When the band stopped playing we howled out for more).
• The first Christmas strip of the popular webcomic Megatokyo featured two of the characters singing the song at a karaoke bar, while the other characters looked on drunkenly.
• One issue of Preacher by Irish author Garth Ennis is titled "Fairytale of New York." The issue takes place in New York City around Christmas time.
• Is the favourite Christmas song of Cliff Richard, Jack McMorrow, Matt Dillon, Dermot O'Leary, Pete Doherty, Ricky Olarenshaw, Carl Barat, Bob Geldof, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Chris Moyles, Tim Hames, Sue Johnstone Chris Martin (Who went as far as to say that if he could have written any song, Fairytale of New York would have been it) and The Office creators, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, with Gervais even going as far to say, when covering Jonathan Ross' BBC Radio 2 show on Christmas eve 2005; "The best Christmas Song ever and one of the best songs ever - it's just brilliant".

See also

• List of songs about New York City
• Christmas number two

External links

• Fairytale of New York lyrics — The Pogues' discography
• Lyrics and chords
• "Sold on Song" article — BBC Radio 2