The story behind Fairytale Of New York: How an unlikely tale of drink, gambling, excess and abuse that Shane MacGowan worked on for two years became Britain’s favourite Christmas song ever

It is the nation’s favorite festive song, beating its rivals in the Christmas polls every year as it is sung in pubs and homes.

Amid a catalog of raucous hits, The Pogues’ 1987 Christmas tune Fairytale of New York struck a chord with audiences and cemented the band’s place in rock ‘n’ roll history.

The irreverent song, a folksy homage to old New York, features a shouting match between an old couple – parts memorably sung by Pogues’ frontman Shane MacGowan and the late Kirsty MacColl – as Christmas Day approaches.

When MacGowan’s death at the age of 65 was announced today, it was heartbreak for millions of fans around the world who serenaded the tune every Christmas.

But New York’s Fairy Tale, determinedly created over two years in a haze of drink, gambling, excess and abuse, is itself a story of unlikely success.

Recollections vary as to how the idea for recording the Christmas carol came about.

MacGowan himself, at the request of Dorian Lynskey of The Guardiandescribed a challenge from Elvis Costello – who bet he couldn’t write a Christmas duet to sing with The Pogues’ female bassist Cait O’Riordan.

But in his memoirs, accordionist James Fearnley recalled that the band’s manager Frank Murray had suggested in the mid-1980s that The Pogues cover the band’s 1977 song Christmas Must be Tonight.

“It was a terrible song,” Fearnley wrote. “We probably said, f*** that, we can do it ourselves.”

Whichever story is true, by 1985 the band had committed to creating their own Christmas song.

Banjoist and co-writer Jem Finer described it as a ‘no brainer’ as The Pogues were ‘rooted in all kinds of traditions’.

But the band had difficulty coming up with a concept. Finer’s first thought – that a sailor would miss his wife on Christmas Day – was dismissed as ‘corny’ by his own wife, Marcia Farquhar.

He shared, “I said okay, you propose a storyline and I’ll write another one. The basic storyline came from her: the idea of ​​a couple going through hard times and eventually finding some redemption.”

Although it was rumored that the band had based the dialogue on a real married couple, MacGowan said, “Really, the story could apply to any couple who went somewhere and were in trouble.”

For two years, MacGowan threw himself into composing the chorus and undulating verses of Fairytale of New York. Although he had never visited New York at the time, he had a strong sense of what it meant for the Irish diaspora around the world.

Another source of inspiration came from Ennio Morricone’s score for the 1984 film Once Upon A Time In America, which follows 1940s gangsters in the Big Apple.

The song’s first demo was recorded in 1986, with bassist Cait O’Riordan singing the role of the woman, although the lyrics – “It was a wild Christmas Eve on the West Coast of Clare,” O’Riordan sings – still remain was used. worked on.

MacGowan recalled, “Every night I had another bash at nailing the lyrics, but I knew they were wrong.”

At the time, the band hadn’t even decided on a title for the song, with Costello suggesting Christmas Day in the Drunk Tank. Ultimately, they settled on Fairytale of New York, the title of the 1973 novel by Irish author JP Donleavy, who happily gave permission for its use.

The band’s first visit to New York in 1986 exceeded MacGowan’s expectations. He recalled that it was “a hundred times more exciting than we ever dreamed it could be”.

U2 producer Steve Lillywhite came on board to oversee the Pogues’ next album. Sessions at the RAK studio in London in 1987 went well and the band decided to finally pin down Fairytale. Finer set on refining the strings and piano intro for the song.

But the band faced another problem: O’Riordan had left The Pogues the previous year to marry Costello and there was no woman left to sing the female role.

Several candidates’ names were thrown into the ring, including Chrissie Hynde and even Suzi Quatro, before Lillywhite’s own wife Kirsty MacColl stepped forward.

MacColl, whose father was the legendary Scottish folk singer Ewan MacColl, had enjoyed chart success in the early 1980s with the Billy Bragg-penned hit New England, but stage fright had caused her to withdraw from performing.

The band also had to be convinced. Lillywhite had his wife record her part in their home studio, “making sure every word had the right nuance,” before playing the tape for MacGowan and Finer.

MacGowan was so impressed that he decided to re-record his own vocals.

He later recalled: ‘Kirsty knew just the right degree of cruelty, femininity and romance. In operas, when you have a double aria, it’s about what the woman does. The man lies, the woman tells the truth.’

Since Kirsty MacColl’s tragic death in a boating accident in 2000, the role has been sung by many others – Sinead O’Connor, Katie Melua and Cerys Matthews to name a few, although MacColl’s recording remains definitive for many.

The song’s lyrics – in which the couple reminisce about their meeting and reflect on how life turned out – describe an argument that is as poignant as it is entertaining.

“I could have been anyone,” the husband enthuses, sung by MacGowan. “Well, anyone can do that too,” his wife says cheekily.

Elsewhere, another line from MacColl is etched in rock history: ‘You bastard, you maggot, you cheap, worthless fagot, Merry Christmas, you a*** and pray to God it’s our last’.

In 2018, the song sparked a debate among those who believe it is and is not acceptable to use fag – generally considered a homophobic slur.

MacGowan later addressed the criticism of his song, emphasizing that he was happy when the word sounded while singing.

He said: ‘The word was used by the character because it suited the way she spoke and her character. She’s not supposed to be a nice person, or even a healthy person.

“She’s a woman of a certain generation at a certain point in history, and she’s down on her luck and desperate. Her dialogue is as accurate as I can make it, but she doesn’t intend to offend!

“She’s just supposed to be an authentic character and not all characters in songs and stories are angels or even decent and respectable. Sometimes characters in songs and stories need to be bad or mean in order to tell the story effectively.

“If people don’t understand that I was trying to portray the character accurately and as authentically as possible, I’m fine with them bleeping the word, but I don’t want to get into an argument.”

Despite the song’s continued popularity, it seems that audiences have never quite learned all the words, with Fairytale Of New York’s lyrics being Googled an average of 22,000 times a month.