Fairytale of New York

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Fairytale of New York
The Pogues
publication November 1987
length 4:33
Genre (s) Folk punk , folk rock
Author (s) Shane MacGowan , Jem Finer
Publisher (s) Pogue Mahone
album If I Should Fall from Grace with God

Fairytale of New York is a song by British folk punk - band The Pogues . It was released as a single in December 1987 and reached number two on the UK charts. The song became a number one hit in Ireland.

history

The piece was originally planned as a duet between Shane MacGowan and bassist Cait O'Riordan , but the band left in 1986 before the recordings were completed. The Pogues were then produced by Steve Lillywhite , who asked his wife, Kirsty MacColl , to do a test recording of the female vocals. The band liked the singing of MacColl so much that they kept MacColl on the later recordings.

The song follows the thoughts of an Irish immigrant who sleeps in a prison cell after being intoxicated with alcohol. While a man locked up with him sings the song The Rare Old Mountain Dew , the protagonist begins to dream of the woman in the song. After the band started in the middle of the song, the call-and-response principle is used, which here represents the dialogue between the couple whose hopes have been destroyed by alcohol and drugs .

The lyrics “Sinatra was swinging” and “cars big as bars” seem to place the song in the 50s. However, it is also possible that the action took place in the early 80s, as Frank Sinatra released his last hit single ( Theme from New York, New York ) in 1980. The title of the song was taken from the novel A Fairy Tale of New York written by the Irish-American writer JP Donleavy . The book is based on a play of the same name, also written by Donleavy.

style

The song consists of elements of Irish folk as well as elements of a Christmas carol . In addition to the band's instruments, string arrangements by Irish musician and composer Fiachra Trench can be heard. Kirsty MacColl's melodic singing contrasts with MacGowan's rough voice.

Music video

The music video for the song is completely black and white and begins with a drunk Shane MacGowan, who is led away by a police officer ( Matt Dillon ) and taken to a prison cell. Also in the cell is Terry Woods , another member of the Pogues. The band is later shown while playing the song, with recordings of New York and Shane MacGowan with Kirsty MacColl in between.

During the line of text "The boys of the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay" recordings of the NYPD Pipes and Drums are shown because the NYPD did not have a choir. The NYPD Pipes and Drums didn't know Galway Bay, so they played a different song that was slowed down for the music video.

publication

The single was released in Ireland and the UK in November 1987 and reached number one in the Irish and second in the UK charts. On December 17, 1987, the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl played the song on the TV show Top of the Pops , which made Fairytale of New York even more popular. The BBC insisted that MacColl should use the word "ass" instead of the more provocative "ass".

Although the song was ranked forty-eighth best-selling singles of the year after just a month of sales, Fairytale of New York missed first spot on the Christmas charts as the Pet Shop Boys' Always on My Mind sold better. MacGowan commented: "We were beaten by two queens and a drum machine" ("We were beaten by two gays and a drum machine").

Fairytale of New York was re-released in 1991 and reached # 36 on the UK and # 10 on the Irish charts. The single was released for the third time at Christmas 2005, reaching third place in the UK and Ireland. With the ability to download music from the Internet, the song hit the charts a further six times in 2006–2011 and was ranked third in the UK and fourth in the Irish charts in 2007.

Overall, the single stayed in the charts for 52 weeks, reaching the top 20 eight times, including seven times in consecutive years and four times in the top 10, including three times in consecutive years. This enabled Fairytale of New York to place itself on the twenty-second place of the singles with the longest lasting chart success. These accomplishments are exceptional for a single, especially a folk punk single .

On December 22, 2005, the Pogues played the song live on television for the first time since 1988. The performance was part of a Christmas special hosted by Jonathan Ross and broadcast by BBC One . Katie Melua took over the female vocals of the late Kirsty MacColl .

The song could be placed in several lists that were created on the basis of surveys:

  1. The VH1 greatest Christmas song chart three years running, 2004, 2005 and 2006: First place
  2. The Hits' The Nation's Favorite Christmas Song countdown: First place
  3. The Music Factory ’s favorite Christmas song
  4. Number 1 song of the 80s by voters of The Radcliffe & Maconie show
  5. Channel 4 ’s 100 Greatest Christmas Moments: Eleventh place
  6. VH1's greatest lyrics: Twenty-third place
  7. VH1's Greatest Songs Never to Make Number One: Twenty-seventh place
  8. 4Music's Noddy Holder's Big Christmas 50: Twenty-ninth place
  9. Q Magazine ’s 100 Greatest Ever Songs: Eighty-third place
  10. BBC Radio 2 ’s top 100 greatest songs of all time poll: Eighty-fourth place

Chart placements

year Chartpl.
SwitzerlandSwitzerland CH United KingdomUnited Kingdom UK IrelandIreland IE
1987/88 - 2
(11 weeks) 		1
(7 weeks)
1991/92 - 36
(5 weeks) 		10
(3 weeks)
2005/06 - 3
(5 weeks) 		4
(8 weeks)
2006/07 - 6
(7 weeks) 		30
(1 week)
2007/08 - 4
(6 weeks) 		3
(7 weeks)
2008/09 - 12
(7 weeks) 		8
(6 weeks)
2009/10 - 12
(6 weeks) 		13
(6 weeks)
2010/11 - 17
(7 weeks) 		11
(6 weeks)
2011/12 - 13
(6 weeks) 		7
(6 weeks)
2012/13 - 12
(7 weeks) 		9
(9 weeks)
2013/14 - 14
(6 weeks) 		8
(7 weeks)
2014/15 - 11
(6 weeks) 		10
(7 weeks)
2015/16 - 13
(5 weeks) 		6
(5 weeks)
2016/17 - 15
(5 weeks) 		6
(5 weeks)
2017/18 - 5
(5 weeks) 		2
(6 weeks)
2018/19 92
(1 week) 		4
(5 weeks) 		3
(5 weeks)
2019/20 67
(1 week) 		4
(5 weeks) 		6
(3 weeks)
All in all 67
(2 weeks) 		2
(104 weeks) 		1
(96 weeks)

Controversy

On December 18, 2007, BBC Radio 1 censored the words " fagot " and " slut " because they thought they were too provocative. The words were then copied over. Kirsty MacColl's mother, Jean, called the censorship "ridiculous", while the Pogues said it was "amusing". After the criticism of the censorship, Radio 1 played the original version again on the same day. The other BBC radio stations, including the conservative Radio 2 , played the song without changes during the censorship period. MTV censored the words "fagot", "slut" and " ass ".

In his Christmas podcast, comedian Mitch Benn pointed out that “fagot” in Irish and Scouse dialect meant a lazy person.

Cover versions

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chart sources: UK IE1 IE2
  2. ↑ https://www.universal-music.de/santiano
  3. ↑ https://www.vox.de/cms/sing-meinen-song-2018-mark-forster-laedt-zum-weihnachtskonzert-ein-4237396.html
  4. ↑ https://www.gerd-koester.de/texte/texte-abc/w/weihnachtsmaerche-us-koelle.html