Vaguely remember hearing about The Pogues in the late 80's.
Never knew this is the UK's most popular Christmas song.
The official video of the song is at the link.
Looks like Matt Dillon in the Video................
England doesn’t play the same ol same ol at Christmas. So they have way better Christmas music than us. We only ever seem to add something to the Christmas catalog when something truly awful like Santa Baby comes along.
Never heard of it before. Listened to it just now for the first and last time. Not sure what the appeal is, but to each his own
“Fairytale of New York” always reminds me of the J.P Donleavy novel of the same name. The book must have been the inspiration for the song?
Like the “Die Hard” debate, is this a Christmas song or a song set during Christmas time. I vote for the latter as the song is so depressing.
If anyone stops at this song as their range for the Pogues, I encourage them to listen to Turkish Song of the Damned, If I should Fall from Grace With God, Irish Rover with the Dubliners, Poor Paddy, and Shane MacGowan and the Popes Paddy Public Enemy Number One and Paddy Rolling Stone.
May not be every ones cup of tea, but Its good fun Irish music. Yes I am a fan and listen to this song at Christmas at least once as well as the similar themed Ramones Merry Christmas, I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight.
On 18 December 2007, BBC Radio 1 edited the words "faggot" and "slut" from the track to "avoid offence". MacColl's mother described the ban as "too ridiculous", while the Pogues said they found it "amusing". The BBC stated, "We are playing an edited version because some members of the audience might find it offensive"
See first 2 paragraphs within division with the heading of: Lyrical controversy and censorship
I love the song. Have performed it many times.
After 35 seconds I’d had enough. Bloody awful.
My favorite Christmas song.
RIP Shane MacGowan. A true original!
Singing with him on “Christmastime” is Kirsty MacColl
-— Her Tragic death (2000) in Mexico, killed by a wealthy boracho idiot there. Got run over by his power boat propeller while out swimming. She was mostly a folk singer.____Her father was Ewan MacColl. He was a well-known communist folk singer.
Wikipedia:
The powerboat involved in the collision was controlled by Guillermo González Nova, multimillionaire president of the Comercial Mexicana supermarket chain, who was on board with members of his family. The boat was owned by Carlos González Nova, brother of Guillermo and founder of Comercial Mexicana. An employee of Guillermo González Nova, boathand José Cen Yam, said he was in control of the boat at the time of the incident.[19][20] Eyewitnesses said that Cen Yam was not at the controls and that the boat was travelling much faster than the speed of one knot that González Nova said.
Cen Yam was found guilty of culpable homicide and sentenced to two years and ten months in prison. He was allowed under Mexican law to pay a punitive fine of 1,034 pesos (about €63, £61 or US$90) in lieu of the prison sentence. He was also ordered to pay approximately US$2,150 in restitution to MacColl’s family, an amount based on his wages. People who said they spoke to Cen Yam after the killing said he received money for taking the blame.[20][21]