‘Fairytale of New York’ the most played Christmas classic of the century – VIDEO

Greatest Christmas song of all time. Shane McGowan is a genius.

IrelandNorth, Shane McGowan was born in County Tipperary and was taken to England as a child

Christy Moore once describe Shane McGowan's voice as the purest channel of Irishness he ever heard. And Christie's been around since the early 1960's. It's definately a classic. Makes me feel homesick even when I'm at home! I wish Shane well in his struggle with alcohol addiction. He once described himself depreciatingly as a "plastic Paddy" (i.e. and Irishman born in England). And Kirsty - RIP!

Best christmas song ever written! love when this comes on the radio It gets me feeling all christmasy even though I hate christmas and all its hallmark card crap.

I raise my glass to Searlit and ballyhip and sirpeter and to all who posted here. What a dull old world it would be if we all agreed. There would be no craic at all.

I think it's a great song.

Yes, ellenfromcork, I remember the St.Stephan's Day song from the album. Elvis Costelloe I believe. We appear to be in the minority on this forum but who cares. It is the essence of discourse and we see the person revealed by the rhetoric. To be fair, it is over time. I learn a lot from the responses and hope that everyone else does.

peterson.That's the whole point of the song.You can't turn on happiness in a person because society decides this is a time to be happy.That's the meaning.I'll put it another way.A good looking confident teenage girl enjoys the attention she gets from all the boys at a party.But a fat ugly under confident girl who is left alone in the corner at the same party is miserable but is still forced to be there.Some suffer Christmas.

ballyhip, I believe you have grasped the essence of this song.For many, Christmas is wrapped up in pain because the reality of some peoples lives does not match the presumed joy of the season. I love this song as an antidote to the syrupy sweetness of Christmastide. Another good one is The St Steven's Day Murders on The Bells of Dublin by The Chieftains.

If this trash is the most played Christmas song, I just want to cry. The line that stood out to me was her calling him a S__bag. This garbage has nothing to do with the sacred day of Christmas. This is a drunken pub song and even then, it's ugly and degrading. If Bing Crosby doesn't cut it, how about John Lennon's "So this is Christmas"? At least he was connected to humanity and had morals. God Bless Us All.

You have got to be kidding!!!!

Very poor taste !! Where is the real meaning of Christmas in this tale !!

'Fairytale' doesn't jump the pond too well. Associating Christmas with drunkeness and lover's tiffs doesn't gel with the Coke endorsed version so accecpted in the States.

I get a kick out of some of these comments. I'll be 71 in March and have been listening to F...of...NY for years. As a matter of fact, heard it yesterday on WMVY (Martha's Vineyard & Newport, RI) which is also available on the internet. Love to play it to shake up the toora loora IA's out there. You could not have not heard it before! Second best Xmas song is Tom Lehrer's Christmas Carol. Here are some of the lyrics: Hark the herald tribune sings, Advertising wondrous things. God rest ye merry, merchants, May you make the yuletide pay. Angels we have heard on high Tell us to go out and buy! Catch him on YouTube.

HUH??