5 Reasons Why 'Fairytale of New York' Is the Greatest Christmas Song Ever

If you've never heard "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues (featuring Kirsty MacColl), stop what you're doing, grab yourself an eggnog, a hot toddy or an equally heartwarming beverage and prepare your ears for some Yuletide euphoria.

Released in 1987, and written by Pogues' founders Shane MacGowan and Jem Finer, "Fairytale of New York" is a sweeping ballad that follows the drunken Christmas Eve exploits of an Irish emigrant in New York City. As IrishCentral recently reported, the song is the "most played Christmas classic of the century."

So what is it about "Fairytale of New York" -- a song that National University of Ireland lecturer, Joe Cleary, once referred to as "a twisted love song" -- that makes it so popular? Here's what I've come up with: 

5. Unorthodox Narrative 

How many Christmas songs begin with the song's protagonist languishing away in a police station's drunk tank? Answer: none (although, that could change if I move forward with writing the much anticipated, "Fairytale of Boston"). In contrast to your typical Christmas songs, "Fairytale of New York" does not focus on the merrymaking of jovial characters, like Frosty, Santa or the mommy that kisses Santa. Instead, it focuses on two young people -- with a love/hate relationship -- who are struggling with alcoholism and drug addiction. Merry Christmas!

4. Underlying Social Significance

In addition to having an unorthodox narrative, the backstory to "Fairytale of New York" is unusual for a Christmas song. While one might argue that "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" is a vehicle for promoting racial equality, the message becomes a bit convoluted by the flying reindeer and nasal luminescence. In comparison, "Fairytale of New York" has very clear social undertones, as the two bickering lovers in the song are undoubtedly Irish emigrants, who are bewildered by the "cars big as bars." As the song progresses, we learn about the realities of Irish emigration and how fairytale lives are not always possible (even in a city with "rivers of gold").

3. Duet Dynamics 

Think of a popular Christmas song that is almost always performed as a duet. Exactly, "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Good job! Now, think of another one.

Apart from the 1944 Frank Loesser classic (mentioned above), "Fairytale of New York" is really the only Christmas song that unambiguously requires male and female  -- or low and high -- parts. The call-and-response portions of the song, when the two characters exchange blows, are especially entertaining. And in the original recording of "Fairytale of New York," the way MacGowan's crude, pagan voice contrasts with MacColl's sweet, angelic voice has a certain enchanting quality to it.

2. Memorable References

If you're going to write a song that references other songs, as well as a famous person, follow MacGowan's and Finer's lead: reference awesome, classic songs and an awesome, classic famous person. "Fairytale of New York" mentions two, well-known traditional Irish songs in the following lines: "And then he sang a song / 'The Rare Old Mountain Dew'" and "The boys of the NYPD choir /
Were singing 'Galway Bay'." By referencing these two classics, MacGowan and Finer illuminate the Irish roots of the characters, despite the fact that the all of the action takes place in New York. Conversely, to emphasize the New York setting, the songwriters' mention Frank in the memorable line, "Sinatra was swinging / All the drunks they were singing."

1. Offensive Language

Let's face it: Christmas songs suffer from a deplorable lack of profanity. MacGowan and Finer did their best to change that.

The first time you listen to "Fairytale of New York," you're swaying, you're getting in that Christmas spirit, you're feeling jolly and then all of a sudden you stop and think to yourself, "Wait, did he really just call her that?" And then soon after you think, "Holy crap, did she really just call him that?!?" Of course, the answer to both of these questions is "Yes." The lyrics are here for you to read. But before you label The Pogues a bunch of intolerant bigots, remember that the "F" word in question apparently has a different meaning in Irish/Liverpudlian slang: it refers to a lazy person.

Controversy aside, offensive language is a part of everyday life, both in New York and elsewhere. MacGowan and Finer use this language to bring a sense of realism to a genre of music that is typically overrun with whimsical, fairytale-like prose.

"Fairytale of New York" Chords and Lyrics 

Similar posts:

• The Most Controversial Content in Celtic Music: "The Patriot Game" 
• The Best Version Ever of 'Star of the County Down'? You Be the Judge  
• Can't Believe I Never Heard This Before Today: The Chieftains and Ziggy Marley Play 'Redemption Song' 
• A Wicked Bard Review of 'A Christmas Celtic Sojourn' in Boston

P.S. Hey there! If you liked this post, I have a hunch you'll love NEON DRUID: An Anthology of Urban Celtic Fantasy. It's a collection of 17 short stories all rooted in Celtic mythology.

P.P.S. You can also check out my new blog, Irish Myths, where I unveil the secrets of Celtic mythology, Irish mythology, and Irish folklore.

The Best Version Ever of 'Star of the County Down'? You Be the Judge

Question

What do you get when you take the most famous Irish traditional music group in the world, The Chieftains; add legendary Northern Irish singer/songwriter, Van Morrison ('Brown Eyed Girl,' 'Moondance,' 'Wild Night'); and task them with performing one of the most popular Celtic music tunes of all time, 'Star of the County Down'?

Click play to hear the answer:

There's something captivating about the arrangement... the whistles, the piano, the Northumbrian bagpipes and -- of course -- Van Morrison's distinctive voice. Unlike The Irish Rovers and The High Kings, who speed through their respective renditions of 'Star,' The Chieftains and Van Morrison let the song unfold organically, at a relatively slow (but steady) pace, like moss growing on an old stone wall in the Irish countryside.

A Little Bit of History

The melody of 'Star of the County Down' has English origins and dates back to at least the 1700s. It first appeared as 'Gilderoy' in Thomas D'Urfey's Pills to Purge the Melancholy III (1707), but became more 'Star'-like in the 1726 version of 'Gilderoy' that appeared in Musick for Allan Ramsay's Collection of Scots Songs by Alexander Stuart.

The 'Star'/'Gilderoy' melody has been used as a basis for numerous songs, including 'Dives and Lazarus,' 'Claudy Banks,' 'The Murder of Maria Martin,' and 'My Love Nell.' However, it was Cathal McGarvey (1866-1927) of Ramelton, County Donegal, who penned the 'Star of the County Down' lyrics that we know and love today.

Your Thoughts

So, what do you think of The Chieftains'/Van Morrison's rendition of 'Star'? Do you know of a better version? Leave a comment below!


Further Reading:
www.contemplator.com: Star of the County Down
Wolfgang David: Star of the County Down
'Star of the County Down' Chords & Lyrics

If you liked this post, you might also want to check out:
Can't Believe I Never Heard This Before Today: The Chieftains and Ziggy Marley Play 'Redemption Song'

P.S. Hey there! If you liked this post, I have a hunch you'll love NEON DRUID: An Anthology of Urban Celtic Fantasy. It's a collection of 17 short stories all rooted in Celtic mythology.

P.P.S. You can also check out my new blog, Irish Myths, where I unveil the secrets of Celtic mythology, Irish mythology, and Irish folklore.

Celtic Music's Top 10 Lines

10

Now Mari and her mother are an awful lot together

In fact you hardly see the one without the other

And people often wonder if it's Mari or her mother

Or both of them together I'm courting
 From: Mari-Mac, Chords and Lyrics

9

I'm gonna make me a big sharp axe

Shining steel tempered in the fire

I'll chop you down like an old dead tree

Dirty old town Dirty old town
From: Dirty Old Town, Chords and Lyrics

8

The sun was setting in the west,
The birds were singing on every tree.
All nature seemed inclined to rest
But still there was no rest for me
 From: Farewell to Nova Scotia, Chords and Lyrics

7

I go to the Clyde and I mourn and weep
For satisfied I ne'er can be
I write her a letter, just a few short lines
And suffer death a thousand times.
 From: Black is the Color, Chords and Lyrics

6

I looked out from under the blanket up at the fireplace.
The Pope and John F. Kennedy were starin' in me face.
 From: Delirium Tremens, Chords and Lyrics 

5

And when I'm dead and in my grave

No costly tombstone will I crave

Just lay me down in my native peat

With a jug of punch at my head and feet
 From: Jug of Punch, Chords and Lyrics

4

So drunk to hell I left the place
Sometimes crawling sometimes walking
A hungry sound came across the breeze
So I gave the walls a talking
And I heard the sounds of long ago
From the old canal
And the birds were whistling in the trees
Where the wind was gently laughin'
 From: A Pair of Brown Eyes, Chords and Lyrics

3

But my sons have sons, 

as brave as were their fathers
 From: Four Green Fields, Chords and Lyrics

2

I'm drunk today and I'm seldom sober,

a handsome rover from town to town
 From: Carrickfergus, Chords and Lyrics

1

And all I've done for want of wit,

to memory now I cannot recall.

So fill me to the parting glass

Goodnight and joy be with you all.

From: The Parting Glass, Chords and Lyrics

The Most Controversial Content in Celtic Music: "The Patriot Game"

While many Celtic songs describe the horrors and heartaches associated with The Troubles,  perhaps none so eloquently captures the emotional gravitas of the turbulent period as "The Patriot Game." The song tells the tale of an actual IRA volunteer, Co. Monaghan's Fergal O'Hanlon, who was killed on January 1, 1957 at the age of 20 during a New Year's Eve attack on the Brookeborough R.U.C. (Royal Ulster Constabulary) barracks. Apart from its controversial subject matter, "The Patriot Game" stirs up controversy for several other reasons.

Composer

Dominic Behan, the younger brother of Irish playwright Brendan Behan, wrote "The Patriot Game" in 1957 following the Brookeborough R.U.C. attack. As a youth, Behan had been a member of the IRA's youth organization, the Fianna Éireann, even publishing his first works in the organization's magazine, Fianna: The Voice of Young Ireland. In 1952, the notably cantankerous Irishman was arrested for protesting the British Crown's treatment of Ireland's working class.

The Verse

Many lyrics in Behan's "The Patriot Game" are capable of raising one's eyebrows, including the very first lines of the song: "Come all ye young rebels, and list while I sing / For the love of one's country is a terrible thing." But even this bold statement concerning the value of patriotism pales in comparison to the following:

I don't mind a bit if I shoot down police

They are lackeys for war never guardians of peace

And yet at deserters I'm never let aim

The rebels who sold out the patriot game

In 1957, decades before the rap group N.W.A. would infamously proclaim, "F*** tha Police," singing about police in a negative light was incredibly controversial. Singing about killing police was, as you can imagine, even more taboo. In fact, nearly all of the Celtic/folk artists who went on to cover "The Patriot Game," including The Clancy Brothers and The Dubliners, purposefully omitted the "shoot down police" verse (much to Behan's dismay).

The Bob Dylan Factor

If Dominic Behan were alive today, he would, in all likelihood, still hate Bob Dylan. The reason? Bob Dylan plagiarized Behan's folk masterpiece, "The Patriot Game," and used it as the underlying lyrical and melodic structure of his 1963-64 song, "With God on Our Side." Or at least that was Behan's point-of-view. The Irishman publicly stated that Dylan made "a complete parody" of his original work, "The Patriot Game."

Digging Deeper

A closer examination of the evidence shows that the originality of Behan's "The Patriot Game" is debatable. "The Patriot Game" is unquestionably an adaptation and reworking of an older folk song -- or perhaps more accurately, a folk song template --, which dates back to the 17th century. Over the years, this template has manifested itself as "The Grenadier And The Lady," "The Nightingale," and "Paddington Green." So while Behan may have considered Dylan a plagiarist, many Dylan fans -- and other folk music aficionados -- think of "With God on Our Side" not as a rip-off, but as the next incarnation of the original 17th century folk song template; just as "The Patriot Game," is an earlier incarnation of that template.


Resources:
Henry's Songbook: The Patriot Game
Chords & Lyrics

P.S. Hey there! If you liked this post, I have a hunch you'll love NEON DRUID: An Anthology of Urban Celtic Fantasy. It's a collection of 17 short stories all rooted in Celtic mythology.

P.P.S. You can also check out my new blog, Irish Myths, where I unveil the secrets of Celtic mythology, Irish mythology, and Irish folklore.

The Top 17 Celtic Songs For St. Patrick's Day

17. The Galway Races
Chords & Lyrics

16. Lannigan's Ball
Chords & Lyrics

15. Star Of The County Down
Chords & Lyrics

 

14. The Rare Old Mountain Dew 
Chords & Lyrics
 

13. Some Say The Devil Is Dead 
Chords & Lyrics
 

12. Jug Of Punch
Chords & Lyrics

 

11. Mary Mac
Chords & Lyrics

10. Nancy Whiskey 
Chords & Lyrics
 

9. Beer, Beer, Beer 
Chords & Lyrics 

 

8. Rocky Road to Dublin 
Chords & Lyrics
 

 7. Seven Drunken Nights
Chords & Lyrics
 

6. Sally MacLennane 
Chords & Lyrics

 

5. Tim Finnegan's Wake 
Chords & Lyrics

 

4. Whiskey In The Jar
Chords & Lyrics

 

3. The Orange And The Green 
Chords & Lyrics
 

2. The Black Velvet Band 
Chords & Lyrics

 

1. The Wild Rover
Chords & Lyrics

Way Hay And Up She Rises: The 5 Best Celtic Songs About Sailing And The Sea

Over the centuries, hundreds of Celtic songs have emerged that focus on the joys and heartaches of sailing and living life out on the open ocean. As with my post, The 6 Best Celtic Songs About Boston, I decided not to rank these Celtic songs numerically.  Instead, I've organized them according to theme and lyrical content. Please let me know of any other great Celtic seafaring songs in the comments section below.

Drunken Sailor  The Drinking Song

Drunken Sailor is a capstan sea chantey. Sailors would traditionally stomp their feet in time with the song as they pushed the levers of a ship's capstan round and round, weighing anchor or hauling heavy sails in the process. All of the verses of Drunken Sailor are a response to the question, "What do you do -- or what shall we do -- with a drunken sailor?" Examples can include, "put him in bed with the captain's daughter," "put him in a longboat until he's sober," and everyone's favorite, "shave his belly with a rusty razor." It is theorized that the melody of Drunken Sailor evolved from the Gaelic-language song, Oró Sé do Bheatha 'Bhaile. 

Chords & Lyrics
Further Reading: BBC: Sea Shanties, The Mudcat Cafe: Oro Se Do Bheatha Bhaile
 

The Irish Rover  Hyperbole On The High Seas

The Clancy Brothers (Pat, Liam and Tom) and Tommy Makem collectively copyrighted their adaptation and arrangement of The Irish Rover in 1962. However, despite what you may have heard, they did not compose the song: the lyrics have traditional origins and the melody likely stems from a 19th-century Irish tune. The Irish Rover follows a rag-tag crew -- including "Johnny McGuirk who was scared stiff of work," and "Slugger O'Toole who was drunk as a rule," -- as they sail for New York aboard the cargo ship, The Irish Rover. Sickness and stormy seas eventually claim the lives of all on-board, with the exception of the song's narrator. Some of the ship's mythical cargo included "five million hogs, six million dogs," and "Seven million barrels of porter."

Chords & Lyrics
Further Reading: The Mudcat Cafe: Irish Rover, The Session: Irish Rover

Back Home In Derry  The Voyager's Lament

In comparison to The Irish Rover,  Back Home In Derry has a tone that is much more somber. Instead of following a crew that is sailing joyously to New York, the song follows a group of prisoners being transported, amongst miserable conditions, to an Australian penal colony. The IRA activist and hunger-striker Bobby Sands penned the words to Back Home In Derry -- in a poem called "The Voyage" -- while in prison just prior to his death in 1981. Christy Moore added a chorus to the lyrics and borrowed the melody of Gordon Lightfoot's song, The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald, to form the finalized version of Back Home In Derry we know today.
 
Chords & Lyrics 
Further Reading: The Mudcate Cafe: Edmund Fitzgerald / Back Home In Derry, 3 Pints Gone: Back Home In Derry

Barrett's Privateers  A Canadian Maritimes Masterpiece

Canadian folk musician Stan Rogers wrote Barrett's Privateers in 1976 because his musician buddies would never give him the chance to sing lead in the sea chanteys they performed. Like The Irish Rover, Barrett's Privateers is sung from the view point of a sole survivor of a mythical, ill-fated ship, which in this case is The Antelope. Like Drunken Sailor, the song features call and response. Refrains include "how I wish I was in Sherbrooke now!," and "God damn them all!" Unfortunately, while all of the songs on this list can be considered yarns, Barrett's Privateers has one particularly glaring, historical inaccuracy: the town of Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia -- a focal point of the song -- was not known as Sherbrooke until the 19th century. The song takes place in the 18th century.

Chords & Lyrics
Further Reading: The Mudcat Cafe: Barrett's Privateers

The Downeaster "Alexa"  The Fishing Song

Alright, I know what you're thinking: Billy Joel is not a Celtic musician. And since Billy Joel wrote The Downeaster "Alexa," there's no way that The Downeaster "Alexa" is a Celtic song. Well you may be right, and of course, I may be crazy, but I implore you to listen to Phil Beer's version of the song (above) and reconsider your position. The song has something distinctively Celtic about it. Like The Irish Rover, the song features no clear-cut chorus, but is a sea of verses punctuated by the occasional refrain of the ship's name, which in this case is the Alexa. To dispel any confusion, downeaster is not part of the ship's name, but refers to the type of ship: a down east workboat. Such boats have hybrid planing and v-shaped hull deigns.

Chords & Lyrics
Further Reading: Ohio State University: Downeaster Alexa: A Fishery Story

Lyrical Time-line:

• 1778: The Antelope sets sail from Nova Scotia in search of "American gold"
• 1803: Unnamed ship departs from Derry, Ireland "for Australia bound"
• 1806: The Irish Rover sets sail from the "coal quay of Cork", Ireland for New York

Runners Up:

• Farewell to Nova Scotia (traditional)
• The Craic Was 90 In The Isle of Man (Barney Rush)
• The Mermaid (traditional)
• Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore (traditional)
• Thousands Are Sailing (Phil Chevron of the Pogues) 

The 6 Best Celtic Songs About Boston

Boston has served as the setting or central theme for several great songs, like Dirty Water by The Standells and Rock & Roll Band by Boston. This post is only highlighting Boston songs that have Celtic roots or "vibes." I found it difficult to rank them numerically, so instead I categorized them by lyrical content and style. Let me know if there are any other great Celtic songs about Boston out there.

The Boston Burglar  The Coming-of-Age Song

 

"I was born and raised in Boston, a place you all know well"

The lyrics of The Boston Burglar date back to 1881, but the melody is undoubtedly a bit older. A Bostonized version of the British folk song, Botany Bay, which is about a convict shipping out from England to a penal colony in Australia, The Boston Burglar follows a convict riding the train from Boston to a prison in Charlestown. While he was "brought up by honest parents," our protagonist got on the wrong side of the law at age 23, earning himself a 20-year sentence. I wonder what he did...

Chords & Lyrics

Further Reading: Mudcat: Origins: Boston Burglar

Charlie On The M.T.A.  The Political Song

"Now you citizens of Boston, don't you think it's a scandal?"

While some might call Charlie on the M.T.A., or simply M.T.A, a bluegrass, folk or Americana song, I've always thought of it as a classic Celtic voyaging tune, in the vein of The Irish Rover. The melody of M.T.A. comes from the 1865 Henry Clay Work song, The Ship That Never Returned, but Jacqueline Steiner and Bess Lomax Hawes reworked the lyrics in 1949, transforming the song into a campaign-booster for the mayoral candidate Walter O'Brien. M.T.A. follows the exploits of Charlie, who is unable to pay an exit fare on a Massachusetts [Bay] Transit Authority subway car and -- as a result -- must  "ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston." The Kingston Trio, originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, made the song famous with their 1959 recording.

Chords & Lyrics

Further Reading: MIT: Charlie on the MTA

Boston Rose  The Love Song

"There's a girl in Massachusetts, south of Boston town"

Boston Rose was written by Liam Reilly, an Irish singer/songwriter and one of the founding members of the Celtic band Bagatelle, which formed in Co. Louth in 1978. The song is a lament of the "girl in Massachusetts", who is originally from Ireland -- like the narrator -- but "had to fly across the ocean wide." The Wolfe Tones recorded the most popular version of the song in 1989. However, I couldn't bring myself to embed their music video due to its extreme creepiness. If you're up for a laugh, check out The Wolfe Tones Boston Rose music video on YouTube.

Chords & Lyrics

Further Reading: The Wolfe Tones website, kerry and raquel anderson blog,  Bagatelle website

I'm Shipping Up To Boston  The Romp

"Shipping out to Boston / To find my wooden leg"

I decided to show my Celtic/folk band -- Devaney's Goat -- playing this one at the Irish Embassy Pub on St. Patrick's Day 2010 in Montreal (I'm the one howling the lyrics into the mic, in case you were wondering). I think the clip, which also includes our take on Drunken Sailor, helps exemplify why I'm Shipping Up To Boston is such a romp: a romp being defined as "a spell of rough, energetic play." Legendary American folk singer/songwriter Woody Guthrie penned the lyrics, but it was the Dropkick Murphys, as you may already know, who put those lyrics to music and made a hit. 

Tabs, Chords & Lyrics

Further Reading: Woodie Guthrie website, Dropkick Murphys website

 Missing Galway  The Critical Song

 "People say that Boston is just one big Irish town"

A native of Co. Galway, musician Don Stiffe spent the 1990s in Boston and didn't necessarily enjoy himself. He writes, "Well it wasn’t like the Lisheen or the pubs up in Clonbur / But the people here in Boston like to make you feel as if it were." Despite commending Bostonians for their hospitality, the bottom-line is that Don wants to get the hell out of Beantown and go back to Ireland: "Each mornin’ when I wake up and I start a brand new day / I look forward to going back to Galway."  Regardless of its take on the city, the song has vibrant instrumentation and a great traditional Celtic feel.

Chords & Lyrics

Further Reading: Don Stiffe's Website

The Mermaid  The Best Name-Drop

"I have a wife in Boston by the sea"

Several Celtic songs mention Boston in a verse or chorus without elaborating much further or using the city as a central theme. Examples include Boys Of The County Cork (traditional), When The Boys Come Rolling Home (by Tommy Sands), Inter Milan (by Mick Chinford), Body Of An American (by Shane MacGowan), You're Not Irish (by Robbie O'Connell), No Time For Love (by Christy Moore), St. Patrick's Day (by Derek Warfield, founding member of The Wolfe Tones) and The Flight Of The Earls (by Liam Reilly). My favorite name-drop, in quotes above, comes from the traditional Celtic song The Mermaid. Also known as The Wrecked Ship and Waves On The Sea, The Mermaid dates back to at least the mid-18th century.

Chords & Lyrics

Further Reading: Francis J. Child Ballads, Child Ballad#289

P.S. Hey there! If you liked this post, I have a hunch you'll love NEON DRUID: An Anthology of Urban Celtic Fantasy. It's a collection of 17 short stories all rooted in Celtic mythology.

P.P.S. You can also check out my new blog, Irish Myths, where I unveil the secrets of Celtic mythology, Irish mythology, and Irish folklore.