The Pogues & Kirsty McColl - Fairy Tale Of New York - Live St Patricks Day 1988 - HD Remaster

There are different accounts of how The Pogues came to contribute to pop’s festive songbook. Shane has said that, when Elvis Costello was producing their second album, he bet them they couldn’t write a festive track without it being ‘jingly-jangly, “Happy Christmas”’.
However, Jem’s recollection is that the idea originally came from Frank Murray -
‘There was a suggestion made to me by Frank Murray that it might be a good idea to do a Christmas song and he suggested a song by The Band “Christmas Must Be Tonight”,’ says Jem. ‘I can remember saying it would be better if we wrote our own one.”
Shane suggested they set the story in New York and together they decided to write about two Irish immigrants who were down on their luck and reflecting on their unfulfilled dreams.
“On the original demo, recorded during the sessions for Rum Sodomy & The Lash, Shane had duetted with Cait. There was then a discussion in the studio about what it should be called. Shane recalled: ‘Costello said, “What are you going to call it? ‘Christmas Eve in the Drunk Tank?’ Amazing imagination that guy! No, that’s not pretentious enough.
Yes, “Fairytale Of New York”! I was looking at the book cover, A Fairy Tale of New York, y’know?”
The song finally complete, there was now the conundrum of who would sing the female parts. Cait was now living an entirely separate life away from the band, as Mrs Costello, and there was no obvious candidate. Until, that is, they got into the studio with Steve Lillywhite, who was married to singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl.
Steve says: ‘I took the tape home for Kirsty to do the vocal. Not for the record necessarily, but just as a trial, because I think the band had slightly loftier pretensions. It was like, “Well, we want Chrissie Hynde”, or “We want so-and-so”. But maybe because I was producing the album and Frank had managed Kirsty before, it was a case of, “Oh, let me take it home. I’ve got a studio at my house, I’ll get Kirsty to do a vocal and then we can see what you think.”
Basically, Shane did a lead vocal singing all the parts and then he literally took the lyric sheet and ripped out the lines that he sung. He couldn’t have ripped out Kirsty’s lines because then she wouldn’t have known what to sing. So, he ripped out his lines and handed me the piece of paper and said, “This is what she has to sing.”
So, we did that, and I spent a whole day on Kirsty’s vocals and we really made sure every single note, every little nuance was in there, because it’s a very difficult song to sing. Other people who have done covers of that song have certainly not done Kirsty’s melody justice - her melody is very intricate, so we spent a long time working on it.
I’m very proud of what I came up with for Kirsty. When we took it back to the studio, Shane listened to it and said, “I have to sing the part again,” so he had pride.
He thought he had done it before, but when he heard how good Kirsty was, he thought, Oh, I’ve got to up my game.’
Fairytale Of New York
It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won't see another one
And then he sang a song
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you
Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
I've got a feeling
This year's for me and you
So happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true
They've got cars big as bars
They've got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It's no place for the old
When you first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me
You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night
The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing Galway Bay
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day
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
The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing Galway Bay
And the bells are ringing out
For Christmas day
I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone
I've built my dreams around you
The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing Galway Bay
And the bells are ringing out
For Christmas day