Read more: Top Irish carols and hymns to get you in the Christmas spirit - SEE VIDEOS
It is the most famous Irish Christmas song ever written, arguably the greatest Christmas song of its generation, and it has only grown in popularity since it was released in 1987.
The Pogues "Fairtytale of New York” is a Christmas classic, yet it very nearly never got made.
The song is the story of two down on their luck Irish emigrants in New York around Christmas time. It depicts their stormy relationship but their deep love and affection behind it all.
It is a poignant, beautiful song that has stood the test of time and many believe is the greatest Christmas song ever. Even today it is the most requested Christmas song on the airwaves in Britain and Ireland. In America VHI voted it the greatest Christmas song of all time.
Described by the BBC in as the “oral antidote to tinsels and sleigh bells” the Fairytale began life as an attempt at a sentimental Christmas song, written by the band’s Jem Finer.
Then led singer and resident genius Shane MacGowan got invoved in the act and the song quickly became the most surprising Christmas hit ever, not about Santa and sleigh bells but drunken addicts and Irish immigrants down on their luck in new York.
A Christmas song that opens with a scene in a New York drunk tank seemed an unlikely hit but Fairty Tale was all that and more. It has entered the Christmas charts every year since its release, and is currently at No.19 in England.
Hollywood star Matt Dillon got roped in to the video as did the NYPD Irish pipe band impersonating the NYPD choir which is a main feature of the song but which actually did not exist.
Shane MacGowan was never going to settle for a feel good song. Born in Tipperary he had moved to London at an early age but kept his fierce sense of Irish pride even though it was a very bad time to be Irish in England with an IRA campaign going on.
MacGowan formed two bands, the Nipples Erectus and the Irish Republicans, neither of which lasted long.
The third one proved more lasting. The band was originally called Pogue Mahone from the Gaelic to ‘kiss my ass’ but immediately became known as The Pogues.
As the band became famous with Shane’s version of Irish folk punk it soon began eyeing America and the huge Irish American population here.
They made it to America in 1985 played their first gig on 2nd Street in the East Village and they were an immediate sensation.
Matt Dillon who was at their first gig later told a BBC documentary that “I really liked them, they reminded me of a mixture of the Dubliners, the Clash and the Clancy Brothers.”
In the summer of 1987 the group decided on a Christmas song and Finer and MacGowan began working on it .
They had been watching the movie “Once Upon a time in America” over and over about the American dream and immigrants and it heavily influenced them.
The title ‘Fairytale of New York’ came from a JP Donleavy short story of the same name. Shane says the inspiration for much of the haunting lyrics came from a period when he was delirious recovering from pneumonia in a sanitarium in Sweden.
The band had lost their main female singer Cait O Riordan who had left to marry Elvis Costello so Kirsty MacColl, married to the album producer Steve Lillywhite, filled in.
The video was shot on location in New York, with Matt Dillon playing a cop who arrests MacGowan for drunkeness. It was filmed in an actual police precinct but almost canceled because Shane and others in the band had too much to drink. Dillon however intervened on their behalf.
The NYPD choir is really a group of NYPD pipe and drum band members who showed up feeling no pain themselves near Washington Square Park on a bitterly cold night for their role. They were supposed to be be singing ‘Galway Bay’ but did not all knew the words so they sang the theme to Mickey Mouse instead.
Either way what emerged was a Christmas classic, perhaps one the greatest of all time.
It has also stood the test of time and is as famous and sought after today as it was when it was released in Christmas 1987.
Ironically it never made it to No 1 on release, finishing second in Britain to a Pet Shop Boys number, now long forgotten.
Read more: Top Irish carols and hymns to get you in the Christmas spirit - SEE VIDEOS
14 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.1irishgirl | Jan 02, 2011, 11:23 PM EST
Awesome Stuff!!! Always loved the Pogues!!
Searlit | Dec 23, 2010, 12:57 PM EST
It's "perfect" as the Irish like to say. ellenfromcork, I hope you saw that I translated the Irish from the other article on Christmas songs. I didn't see your post until later. Happy Christmas All! Nollaig Shona Daoibh!
ellenfromcork | Dec 22, 2010, 09:56 PM EST
'Tis lovely
seanomelbourne | Dec 22, 2010, 05:35 PM EST
Raw,emotional and beautiful what a song.
sirpeter | Dec 22, 2010, 01:38 PM EST
Great Song..Shane McGowan exploiting the stereotypical view of the Irish as drunks,and creating a magical Christmas song,that can only be hailed as pure genius and poetry. The realism of the lyrics is what connects it to all nations and people,only the Irish can do that with real raw style.
seamusmoore | Dec 22, 2010, 12:08 PM EST
FYI Dec 18th was the 10 year annniversary of the tragic and senseless death of Kirsty McColl in a boating accident in Mexico. It was a loss of a great talent, she is missed.
seamusmoore | Dec 22, 2010, 12:03 PM EST
Niall Given the recent tragic death of Gerry Ryan from cocaine abuse, I find it hard to glamorize a song about "drunken addicts". The BBC loves to use Shane McGowan as a prop for their stereotypical view of the Irish as drunks. To me, the Saw Doctors are much more my cup of tea. BTW, I like the Pet Shop Boys because they resurrected the career of Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O' Brien, whose grandparents were from Tralee. You might know her better as Dusty Springfield.
forflann | Dec 22, 2010, 12:00 PM EST
Niall, I read in a piece here that Colin Farrell sang baby Henry to sleep with this song. It has a lovely lilt. I hope he will get to sing to Henry again soon.
NOLAN651 | Dec 22, 2010, 11:40 AM EST
You were always on my mind by Pet Shop Boys . Elvis cover ,What a joke . PS I'm blind drunk !
luckysusan | Dec 22, 2010, 10:54 AM EST
Had never seen the video - terrific. Amazing song. The best cover we ever heard is by Billy McKenna and Trudy Goodman on their album The Road to Dingle.
Niall O'Dowd | Dec 22, 2010, 10:40 AM EST
wel seamus the Pet Shop boys version of it is long forgotten
Liamkeyes | Dec 22, 2010, 10:22 AM EST
It's true to life. This has happened to a lot of Irish Guys in New York and other nationalities also.
butlerreport | Dec 22, 2010, 10:06 AM EST
With all due respect you need to be blind drunk to think that this song is in any way 'good'; it's absolute crap.
seamusmoore | Dec 22, 2010, 09:46 AM EST
That "long forgotten Pet Shop Boys hit" wouldn't be their re-make of Willie Nelson's classic "You were always on my mind", would it?