Posted on 12/12/2020 7:42:17 PM PST by nickcarraway
Jon Bon Jovi's new cover of the classic Christmas song “Fairytale of New York” has resulted in a flurry of negative comments from listeners.
He performs the 1987 duet - originally sung by Kirsty MacColl and the Pogues' Shane MacGowan - all by himself, with apparent attempts at an Irish accent in some lines. He also replaced the controversial line “you cheap lousy ******” with “you’ve lost all your swagger.”
The performance, taken from a three-track release titled A Jon Bon Jovi Christmas, is available below for those who wish to listen.
The song currently has more thumbs-down than thumbs-up votes on YouTube, with a number of people not happy with Bon Jovi's take. Comments include “You give Christmas songs a bad name,” “If 2020 was a Christmas song … ,” “Graffiti on a Van Gogh” and “Everybody involved in the production of this should be tried at the Hague for crimes against humanity. This is a reprehensible and unjustified attack on music, Christmas, the Irish and all that is right with the world.”
Even Steve Lillywhite, who produced the Pogues' version of the song and was married to MacColl at the time, is not a fan of Bon Jovi's new version. "The worst ever version of this song," he tweeted. "Sorry Jon ... embarrassing and pointless."
While less well-known in the U.S., “Fairytale of New York” has returned to the U.K. Top 20 on 17 different occasions, including every December since 2005. Written in the style of a traditional Irish ballad, the song is often noted by British critics as the best-ever Christmas single. A public TV poll ranked it the most popular seasonal track of all time.
Rumors persist that "Fairytale of New York" was written as the result of a wager between MacGowan and Elvis Costello, who had produced the Pogues and asserted the band could never make a Christmas hit. The band rejected Costello's suggestion that the track should be titled “Christmas Eve in the Drunk Tank” because the members thought it would certainly flop under that name.
“I sat down, opened the sherry, got the peanuts out and pretended it was Christmas,” MacGowan told Melody Maker in 1985. “It's quite sloppy … but there's also a ceilidh bit in the middle which you can definitely dance to. ... But the song itself is quite depressing in the end.”
The removed insult means the Lavender Mafia now rules over fake music.
Have heard faggot goes back to a term
for a group of sticks...’group’ etc also
turned into word fascist. It has been
applied to cigarettes (Kinks:”and he likes
his fags the best”) but it became a
slur because of the association with
something or someone being burned.
The Pogues’ Shane McGowan btw is missing
more than a few teeth or something
and inspired the ditty Shane’s Dentist
by Mojo Nixon, in Irish pub song
style:
Shane’s dentist don’t work too hard
Always at the pub
Shane says he ain’t comin’ back
Till they’re down to a nub
Brooks drunk routine made him
popular at Dean Martin celebrity roasts.
One on youtube had him appearing as
the campaign manager for Hubert Humphrey.
“I don’t know how we lost.Just think,
instead of Tricky Dicky we could’ve
had Hubie the Boobie.”
Said in slurry voice with belches
and inability to say certain words.
“You’re a bum, you’re a punk”
“You’re an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead
On a drip in that bed”
“You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas, your arse
I pray God it’s our last”
Greg Lake - I Believe In Father Christmas (Original Version - 4K Restored)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfY4b1NszpY
Lyrics:
They said there’ll be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on earth
But instead, it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin birth
I remember one Christmas morning
A winter’s light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire
They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a silent night
And they told me a fairy story
‘Till I believed in the Israelite
And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked to the sky with excited eyes
‘Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise
I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave new year
All anguish, pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there’ll be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on earth
Hallelujah, Noel be it heaven or hell
The Christmas we get we deserve
I always heard, "Lying there almost dead with that drip in that bed"
I took it to mean that she was sleeping around.
As a songwriter, Bon Jovi isn't fit to tie McGowan's shoes, and Bon Jovi's presumptuousness in rewriting lyrics to fit his politically correct worldview is nothing but a sign of a horribly inflated ego.
“ Check out Richie Sambora’s stuff!”
Said every chick in the world. And some of the guys.
Bon Jovi’s people have had enough - comments on YouTube for this dumpster fire have been disabled.
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