IT’S regularly voted the greatest Christmas song of all time and for many it is the official soundtrack to the festive period.
And over three decades later after the tragic news of Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan's death, Fairytale of New York could become Christmas number one in the UK for the first time.
The enduring popularity of The Pogues’ classic duet with Kirsty MacColl shows no sign of abating.
Fairytale of New York was first released in 1987 but famously failed to top the charts that year, thanks to The Pet Shop Boy’s cover of You Were Always On My Mind.
Since then, however, it has gone on to achieve success that The Pogues would never have imagined, as member James Fearnley admitted: “It’s like Fairytale of New York went off and inhabited its own planet.”
For such a cultural institution, the origins of the MacGowan-MacColl collaboration – which sees two Irish abroad showing their disdain for one another before reuniting – are disputed.
MacGowan maintained that Elvis Costello, who produced album Rum, Sodomy & the Lash, bet the Tipperary singer that he couldn’t write a Christmas duet to sing with bass player (and Costello’s future wife) Cait O’Riordan.
But accordian-player Fearnley, who later published a book, Here Comes Everybody: The Story of the Pogues, claimed band manager Frank Murray suggested they cover a single called Christmas Must be Tonight.
He wrote: “It was an awful song. We probably said, f*** that, we can do our own.”
Whatever the precise details of the beloved ballad are, legendary Pogues member Jem Finer insisted it was the right move for the London-Irish rockers, who were famously proud of their Gaelic roots.
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He reflected: “For a band like the Pogues, very strongly rooted in all kinds of traditions rather than the present, it was a no-brainer.”
It comes as..
- Legendary singer Shane MacGowan has died age 65
- Shane's loving wife paid tribute to her 'beautiful angel'
- The rock wildman defied critics who said he had ‘death wish’
- Fans have shared their heartbreak for the loss of the Irish frontman
- Last ever pic of the Pogues icon revealed
Banjo player Finer first came up with the melody and the original concept for the song, which was set in Co Clare, involving a sailor in New York looking out over the ocean and reminiscing about being back home in Ireland.
But Finer’s wife Marcia did not like the original, calling it corny, and suggested new lyrics regarding a conversation between a couple at Christmas.
Finer later told an interviewer: “I had written two songs complete with tunes, one had a good tune and crap lyrics, the other had the idea for Fairytale but the tune was poxy, I gave them both to Shane and he gave it a Broadway melody, and there it was.”
He discussed his battles with co-writer MacGowan and said: “Shane and I batted arrangements around for ages and we’d periodically try and record it. Shane’s a tireless and meticulous editor.”
Iconic singer-songwriter Shane later told how he sat down to add his own magic to the single following sherry and peanuts.
'QUITE SLOPPY'
He explained: “I sat down, opened the sherry, got the peanuts out and pretended it was Christmas.
“It’s even called ‘A Fairy Tale of New York’, it’s quite sloppy, more like (Pogues songs) ‘A Pair of Brown Eyes’ than ‘Sally MacLennane’, but there’s also a céilidh bit in the middle which you can definitely dance to.
“Like a country and Irish ballad, but one you can do a brisk waltz to, especially when you’ve got about three of these [drinks] inside you…
“But the song itself is quite depressing in the end, it’s about these old Irish-American Broadway stars who are sitting round at Christmas talking about whether things are going okay.”
He also spoke of his musical struggles with the project from time to time and revealed: “Every night I used to have another bash at nailing the lyrics, but I knew they weren’t right.
COMPLICATED SONG
“It is by far the most complicated song that I have ever been involved in writing and performing. The beauty of it is that it sounds really simple.”
The song ultimately took two years to produce in total after a series of changes, including introducing ballad star Kirsty MacColl to replace O’Riordan.
The original plan to record with O’Riordan fell through when she married Costello and left the band.
But as it became an annual favourite and gained massive popularity, the song also became increasingly controversial.
This was due to language contained in its second verse, where MacGowan’s character refers to MacColl’s character as “an old s*** on junk”, to which MacColl responds with a tirade that includes the words “f****t” and “a***”.
LYRIC CHANGE
When the song was performed on Top of the Pops on its initial release, the BBC requested that MacColl’s singing of “a***” be replaced with “a**”.
MacGowan addressed the controversy in recent years and said: “The word was used by the character because it fitted with the way she would speak and with her character.
“She is not supposed to be a nice person, or even a wholesome person.
“She is a woman of a certain generation at a certain time in history and she is down on her luck and desperate.
“Her dialogue is as accurate as I could make it but she is not intended to offend!
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“She is just supposed to be an authentic character and not all characters in songs and stories are angels or even decent and respectable, sometimes characters in songs and stories have to be evil or nasty to tell the story effectively.
“If people don’t understand that I was trying to accurately portray the character as authentically as possible, then I am absolutely fine with them bleeping the word, but I don’t want to get into an argument.”
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