Music

25 Things I Didn’t Know About the Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York”

After playing this song for 25 years, I thought I knew everything there was to know about this modern Christmas classic.  Apparently not.  From The NME:

1.  Despite the wintery subject matter, the song was actually recorded in July, in sweltering heat.

 

2.  The song started life as a bet. Pogues producer Elvis Costello bet Shane MacGowan and co-writer Jem Finer, the band’s banjoist, that they couldn’t come up with a Christmas record that wasn’t slushy.

 

3.  The song was originally planned as a duet between Shane MacGowan and Pogues bassist Cait O’Riordan. However, O’Riordan married Costello and left the band in 1986, before the song was recorded.  

 

4.  Costello was replaced as producer by Steve Lillywhite, who asked his wife, Kirsty MacColl, to record

test vocals to help the band hear how the duet could work. They were so astounded by her performance they had to keep it.

 

5.  Before hearing MacColl, MacGowan had suggested Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde as a possible partner for the duet.

 

6.  The song was recorded not in New York, but at RAK Studios near Regents Park in London.

 

7.  Due to illness, guitarist Philip Chevron had to drop out of the American tour that coincided with the video shoot for ‘Fairytale Of New York’. He was replaced by Joe Strummer, and the band added ‘London Calling’ and ‘I Fought The Law’ to their encores.

 

8.  Although Shane MacGowan appears to play the piano in the video, the instrument was actually played by James Fearnley. Much to his chagrin, Fearnley had to wear Shane’s rings for the close-up shots of his hands.

 

9.  When the band arrived back from their American tour they went straight onto Top Of The Pops to perform the song with MacColl. It features some spectacularly bad miming:

 

10.  The lyrics mention: “The boys of the NYPD choir still singing ‘Galway Bay’.” The NYPD doesn’t actually have a choir, but it does have an Irish pipe band who are featured in the music video. They didn’t know ‘Galway Bay’, so they played the ‘Mickey Mouse Club March’ instead, and the video was later slowed down to fit the beat.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 37974 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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