Pogues' Fairytale is not a good Christmas song
Posted on Friday, December 24, 2010 at 06:40 AM
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As I write this I'm listening to the "Top 100 Christmas songs" countdown on ChristmasFM, Ireland's Christmas-only radio station. The countdown is only now in the 90s so there is a long way to go before they get to Number 1, but I'm sure it will be Fairytale of New York by the Pogues & Kirsty MacCool.
How can I be so sure that Fairytale will be Number 1? Well, this isn't the first of these polls. In fact, it is one of the annual features of the Christmas season that some media outlet will release a poll of either Irish or British people and invariably Fairytale is Number 1.
I am at a loss to understand how this can be. Fairytale of New York is a good song; I like it. However, it is a cynical, hopeless song that seems devoid of anything that makes Christmas special.
Now I know there are some people who don't like Christmas and probably enjoy the gritty "realism" that Fairytale evokes. Yet there is no way that most people feel this way about Christmas otherwise there'd be no way that It's A Wonderful Life would regularly feature as the best Christmas movie of all time.
I really don't understand why anyone would want to listen to Fairytale of New York at Christmas time. It's so depressing.
I used to think maybe it was a case of people not really listening to the lyrics, as happens (happened) with couples who love The Police's Every Breath You Take. I don't think that is the case with Fairytale, however. It really is inexplicable to me.
Springsteen's Santa Claus is Coming to Town is fantastic and just about any Christmas song from Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra hits the right note at Christmas time.
If it has to have "grim reality", I prefer Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas, which is an upbeat song despite the story behind it. And I really like Garth Brooks' Belleau Wood, which is an excellent song about the 1914 truce during WWI (although full of historical inaccuracies).
Both Do They Know It's Christmas and Belleau Wood contain that essential Christmas ingredient - hope. Fairytale starts with hope, but spits it out.
I have to say, however, that my favorite Christmas song is none of those above. It is Good King Wenceslas, which is the very opposite of Fairytale. The story of the man of wealth and power trudging through the snow on a dark, stormy winter's night to bring "flesh", wine and pine logs to a poor man is the essence of what Christmas is about. Hope. Hope was born 2010 years ago and Good King Wenceslas is a great summary of what tomorrow should mean to all of us.
How can I be so sure that Fairytale will be Number 1? Well, this isn't the first of these polls. In fact, it is one of the annual features of the Christmas season that some media outlet will release a poll of either Irish or British people and invariably Fairytale is Number 1.
I am at a loss to understand how this can be. Fairytale of New York is a good song; I like it. However, it is a cynical, hopeless song that seems devoid of anything that makes Christmas special.
Now I know there are some people who don't like Christmas and probably enjoy the gritty "realism" that Fairytale evokes. Yet there is no way that most people feel this way about Christmas otherwise there'd be no way that It's A Wonderful Life would regularly feature as the best Christmas movie of all time.
I really don't understand why anyone would want to listen to Fairytale of New York at Christmas time. It's so depressing.
I used to think maybe it was a case of people not really listening to the lyrics, as happens (happened) with couples who love The Police's Every Breath You Take. I don't think that is the case with Fairytale, however. It really is inexplicable to me.
Springsteen's Santa Claus is Coming to Town is fantastic and just about any Christmas song from Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra hits the right note at Christmas time.
If it has to have "grim reality", I prefer Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas, which is an upbeat song despite the story behind it. And I really like Garth Brooks' Belleau Wood, which is an excellent song about the 1914 truce during WWI (although full of historical inaccuracies).
Both Do They Know It's Christmas and Belleau Wood contain that essential Christmas ingredient - hope. Fairytale starts with hope, but spits it out.
I have to say, however, that my favorite Christmas song is none of those above. It is Good King Wenceslas, which is the very opposite of Fairytale. The story of the man of wealth and power trudging through the snow on a dark, stormy winter's night to bring "flesh", wine and pine logs to a poor man is the essence of what Christmas is about. Hope. Hope was born 2010 years ago and Good King Wenceslas is a great summary of what tomorrow should mean to all of us.
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Silling | Dec 29, 2010, 10:53 AM EST
Why do you ask me what I think and then erase what I wrote.
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Silling | Dec 29, 2010, 10:31 AM EST
I was an active alcoholic/addict for most of my adult life to date and The Pogues Fairytale Of New York was my Christmas anthem, as it was to all those I associated with. White Christmas and all those other pap songs were not representing the full cross section of society. I am clean and sober now, but I still rate The Pogues Christmas song as my number one.
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jamieLM | Dec 28, 2010, 10:42 AM EST
Everyone has their own favorite Christmas songs. I have favorite religious carols and favorite secular Christmas songs. I don't care if anyone likes them or not - I enjoy them immensely. I say "to each his own." My favorites put me in the "Christmas spirit" and that's all that matters.
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sirpeter | Dec 27, 2010, 08:25 PM EST
Bing Crosby for you then Mr.Yank for the auld positive Christmassy mood. ;)
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imeldarice | Dec 27, 2010, 07:23 PM EST
I have to say that Fairytale of New York ALWAYS reminds me of Christmas. I can still remember being in a bar in Woodside New York in 1987 I think it was having listened to it over and over again and then going to midnight mass and standing in the back of St. Sebastians Church and crying while they were singing Silent Night. God I miss New York.
Moved back to Ireland 8 years ago. Anyone want to swap house in New York/New Jersey for home in Roscommon?.............
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TheYank | Dec 27, 2010, 01:25 PM EST
Okay, I said above it's a good song and I like it, but it's not a good Christmas song, a song that puts you in a positive Christmassy mood. I like the Pogues & Fairytale, but I don't want to hear that song on Christmas Eve.
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mavolina | Dec 27, 2010, 09:29 AM EST
Has this journalist 'critiqueing' this song never attended a Punk hall show? The songs offered in comparison are apples to oranges. This is a fine song, showcases the range of the Pogues. I once got into a near brawl with my youngest brother that there was such a thing as Polka in Irish music, I sent him a link to the Pogues vid of one back in the day and shut my stubborn brother down, not a mean feat. If you don't care for the entire culture of Irish diaspora, pub/bar life included, this is not your song. Teada's "Irish Christmas in America" this is not, but I'm sure after the show even those lively boys from Sligo heard this somewhere over here. But to each his own, slainte' to all.
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CitizenWhy | Dec 26, 2010, 11:50 AM EST
Single people listen to music the most. It's a song for them, loneliness and disappointment yet some sort of human connection and hope through it all. Besides, it reminds of a drink fueled night out, and the Pogues remind people of all their great songs of celebration and defiance. It's also set in NYC, the center of the commercialization of Christmas, and the cops singing Galway Bay in the background provide a good chorus for the nostalgia the Irish feel when away from home.
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AlunPalmer | Dec 25, 2010, 09:21 PM EST
This is one of my favourite sings. I love both the singers, the slightly plump Kirsty MacColl who has sadly passed on and Shane MacGowan with his missing teeth and sticking out ears. Two massive talents found in two very ordinary looking people. A love duet between people who could never be mistaken for film stars. To me it has a message of hope at Xmas. I don't find it depressing and the insults they trade are in fun. Of course, I know the romance wasn't real, but you can see they were friends.
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Tedmiller | Dec 24, 2010, 07:45 PM EST
Fairytale of New York is an interesting,quirky, nostalgic song, and it's been endorsed by many of the acknowledged greats in Irish music, but I don't rank it as one of the great Christmas Songs. My favorite depressing song is Stan Rogers' "First Christmas Away From Home". John McCutcheon's "Christmas in the Trenches" in another good one. Check them out on You Tube. I like White Christmas too. I guess I'd rank "Fairytale" right after "Hodie Christus Natus Est." To each his own. Merry Christmas.
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Ballyphehane1 | Dec 24, 2010, 12:16 PM EST
I think you are overthinking things here. From my point of view, the reason people like this so much in Ireland is it brings memories of christmas nights out - always gets people up singing and dancing, arms around each other in a big circle. It makes for a happy moment where friends and strangers share a laugh and have some fun - what's the harm in that...
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sirpeter | Dec 24, 2010, 11:59 AM EST
Liam..That's a big turn around from your first post.lol.Your second post was why the song was written.It's a reminder that it's not all Jingle Bells for a hell of alot of people.Out of the thousands of happy Christmas songs.A Fairytale of New York has some deep connections to some harsh realities, and it's the only one i can think of that does that.I think the song is pure genius and that a depressing song can be so popular around Christmas.
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Liamkeyes | Dec 24, 2010, 11:22 AM EST
I would have to say that the song has some realism to it. How about young Irish in New York for their first Christmas away from home. It's not uncommon for some of them to have one over the top and end up in the drunk tank. That's the reality of the situation not to mention Half way houses and soup kitchens. It's awesome to have "Uncle Tim" dressed as Santa and show up Christmas Eve. On ther other hand, there are more suicides on Christmas than any other time of the year. Fairytale of New York focuses on one aspect of Christmas. If you look it up on You Tube(fairytale of New York (Part 4 of 6) you will see the amount of work put into this song. I can understand why it means something to a lot of People especially around Christmas Time. Nollaig Shona agus Blian nua fe mhaise Dhuit.
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Liamkeyes | Dec 24, 2010, 11:17 AM EST
Fairytale is utter crap.
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