| Fairytale Of New York |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK | |
| christmas songs | |
| 1987 singles | |
| number-one singles in ireland | |
| the pogues songs | |
| kirsty maccoll songs | |
| songs about new york | |
| vocal duets | |
"Fairytale of New York" is a popular Christmas Song by Anglo-Irish Folk-rock group The Pogues , and featuring the British singer Kirsty MacColl . The song is an Irish Folk style ballad, written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan , and featured on The Pogues' album '' If I Should Fall From Grace With God ''. The song features string arrangements by Fiachra Trench . OVERVIEW ''Fairytale of New York'' was released as a single in 1987 and reached #1 in the Irish charts and #2 in the British charts, over Christmas (the time of peak sales). The song has become a festive classic in the UK and Ireland over the years, and was voted the best Christmas song of all time in both 2004 and 2005 in polls by music channel VH1 UK . It was also voted as "The 27th Greatest Song Never To Reach Number One" in another VH1 poll, and also voted as the 84th greatest song of all time by BBC Radio 2 listeners in their "Sold on Song" top 100 poll. The song features two Irish was swinging" suggests an unspecified period after World War II . The title, taken from author J. P. Donleavy 's novel '' A Fairy Tale Of New York '', was chosen after the song had been written and recorded. MacColl was not originally to have appeared on the song. The Pogues were at the time being produced by Steve Lillywhite , MacColl's husband, who asked his wife to provide a guide vocal of the female part for a demo version of the song. The Pogues, however, liked MacColl's contribution so much that they asked her to sing the part on the actual recording. The song was released in the United Kingdom in early December 1987 , and swiftly became a hit. On December 17 , 1987 , the Pogues and MacColl performed the song on the BBC's popular television show '' Top Of The Pops '', and it was propelled to #2 on the UK charts. For the ''Top of the Pops'' appearance, the BBC insisted that MacColl's singing of "arse" be replaced with the less offensive "ass", although as she mimed the word MacColl slapped the relevant part of her body to make it clear what was meant. Although it finished the year as the #48 song based on a single month's sales, it was infamously denied the Christmas #1 Spot by the Pet Shop Boys ' cover of " Always On My Mind ". MacGowan commented on this in his typically forthright manner: "We were beaten by two queens and a drum machine" "Fairytale of New York" has since been covered by numerous artists, including . On December 22 2005 , The Pogues performed the song on a Jonathan Ross Christmas special on BBC One in the UK, with MacColl's part taken by singer Katie Melua . This was The Pogues' first television performance of the song since 1988 . It was also their first ever live television performance of the song, previous television performances having been Lip-synched . Trivia
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