NEARLY 40 years after it first stormed the charts, The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York remains one of the most popular Christmas songs never to have reached Number One.
It does, however, make an astonishing amount of cash every year for the band.
The duet about a couple who have fallen on hard times is still considered by many to be the greatest Christmas song ever.
That’s not a bad legacy given it’s up against other festive favourites such as Wham!’s chart-topping Last Christmas, Slade’s perennial favourite Merry Christmas Everybody and East 17’s iconic Stay Another Day.
A homophobic slur in the lyrics hasn’t dampened the song’s appeal either.
It was voted the most popular Christmas song in the UK in a survey by PRS for Music in 2019 and was the most played Christmas track on radio in 2018.
Yet even after nearly 40 years, Fairytale of New York remains the most controversial Christmas record ever released.
In 2020, BBC Radio 1 announced it would not play the original version of Fairytale of New York because its audience “may be offended by some of the lyrics”.
A new edited version changed two lines – one swapped for an alternative version in which MacColl sings “You’re cheap and you’re haggard” in place of the original lyrics.
In Radio 1’s new version, another line, bintanog by Shane MacGowan in the second verse, had a word removed entirely.
At the time, a BBC spokesman said the broadcaster knows “the song is considered a Christmas classic and we will continue to play it this year, with our radio stations choosing the version of the song most relevant for their audience”.
The duet is one of the most enduring Christmas pop songs, having returned to the UK top 20 every year since 2005.
Originally released in 1987, the song was written by Pogues singer Shane MacGown, who was born on Christmas day, and the band’s banjo player Jem Finer.
As the songwriters, they are entitled to the publishing royalties, with some estimates putting the annual returns on the track at £400,000.
Fairytale of New York reached number two on its release and was kept off the top spot by the Pet Shop Boys’ Always on My Mind.
After Shane MacGowan died in November 2023, the band’s fans launched a campaign to get it to number one but the single stalled at number three.
Kirsty MacColl, whose husband Steve Lillywhite produced the track, died in a boating accident a week before Christmas in December 2000.
This week, Fairytale of New York is currently number eight in the UK charts.
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