Fairytale of New York...

Christmas has finally arrived, and it feels pointless to wheel out my objections. They’ve all been said before, and sound as drearily predictable as Roy Wood’s probably certifiable request in wishing “it could be Christmas every day”. Most people seem to hold two contradictory ideas in their heads at once. They resent the stress and expense of the festivities, while demanding that Christmas this year is exactly the same as it was last year and the year before that. No wonder Christmas can inflict so much psychic damage.

I feel sorry for those who have been subjected to non-stop Christmas music for the last six weeks. There’s only one Christmas song I enjoy hearing, and I’m happy to hear it at any time of year: "Fairytale Of New York" by the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl. I can’t hear this bittersweet lament without wiping away a tear.

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 the corner
Then danced through the night

The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing 'Galway Bay'
And the bells are 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…

Here's the story of how the song was written, and here's the song itself (and original video)…