Rod's Ramblings
A podcast reminiscing about cultural events and how they affected this sixty something. Join me as we travel on a nostalgic journey through the cultural events that have shaped our lives. From classical composers, iconic music moments, rock stars and unforgettable TV shows. Let’s reminisce about how these events have influenced us all. Whether you’re a fellow baby boomer or just love a good story, Rod’s Ramblings offers a heartfelt, informative and entertaining look at the stories behind these great events. Cheers, Rod.
Rod's Ramblings
The Rewind Series - Shane MacGowan and The New York Fairy Tale
What makes a song last and linger in our hearts every holiday season? Remember Shane McGowan, his incredible musical legacy, and the timeless charm of "Fairy Tale of New York" as we explore its cultural impact and the heartfelt tributes from musical icons like Nick Cave, Bruce Springsteen, and Paul Simon. This journey takes us through the Pogues' evolution, from their gritty early days as The Nips to the serendipitous creation of a Christmas classic that still captivates listeners over three decades later. We promise an in-depth look at the song's journey to becoming a perennial favorite in the UK charts, all while evoking festive nostalgia and celebrating McGowan's lyrical genius.
As we revel in Shane McGowan's legacy, we also take you to the magical scenes of New York's Rockefeller Center. Discover the history behind the iconic Christmas tree tradition that began humbly in 1931 and has since grown into a symbol of holiday spirit for millions. With tales of simple ornaments and community gatherings, we reflect on the enduring magic of Christmas music and festive traditions. Embrace the warmth of the season and join us in celebrating a musical legend whose art continues to inspire joy and reflection.
Hello there and welcome to Rod's Ramblings, a podcast reminiscing about cultural events and how they've affected this 60-something. As you know, I've been reissuing episodes from previous series of Rod's Ramblings and have really been looking forward to broadcasting this one because of its obvious associations with the Christmas period. It tells the story of the most loved Christmas song of all time. However, following events of the last year, it has now become tinged with sadness, as we've now lost not one but two of the singers that made it famous. In July 2023, shane McGowan was admitted to the intensive care unit of St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin, suffering from a major infection. Following four months of treatment, he was discharged but had to be readmitted soon afterwards and, sadly, on the 30th of November 2023, he died from pneumonia.
Speaker 1:He was very popular as a member of the Pogues, through his work with the homeless and as a result of his extrovert personality. His funeral took place on the 8th of December, when his coffin was transported through the streets of Dublin on a horse-drawn carriage, with his many fans lining the streets. Later, at St Mary of the Rosary Church in County Tipperary, his many fans were accompanied by celebrities such as Nick Cave, johnny Depp and Bob Geldof. The President of Ireland, michael D Higgins, and the former Sinn Féin leader, gerry Adams. At the end of the service, the Pogues were joined by members of the Dubliners as they performed Fairy Tale of New York to a dancing congregation. It was, by all accounts, everything that Shane would have wanted. On the weekend of the funeral the record went to number one in Ireland and on the 13th of December it was re-released as a tribute to McGowan, with all proceeds going to the anti-homeless society, the Simon Community.
Speaker 1:Many tributes followed. Ireland's president said that he will be remembered as one of music's greatest lyricists. Nick Cave called McGowan the greatest songwriter of his generation with the most terrifyingly beautiful of voices. Bruce Springsteen said the passion and the deep intensity of McGowan's music and lyrics is unmatched by all but the very best in the rock and roll canon and added I don't know about the rest of us, but they'll be singing Shane's songs 100 years from now. Paul Simon said McGowan was that kind of artist that needed to burn very brightly and intensely. Some artists are like that they produce work that we treasure, but they pay for it with their health, their bodily health and their mental health. That was Shane. Whether or not you're a fan of the Pogues. I'm sure that you'll remember Shane from the single Fairy Tale of New York and, like me, you'll be singing along to it over the coming days. As my tribute, I'd like to share this episode of Rod's Ramblings with you, which was originally broadcast in December 2021. This is Fairy Tale of New York.
Speaker 1:As we're well into December and Christmas is just around the corner, I'd like to give this ramble a bit of a festive feel. So what do we think about as the big day approaches? I'm sure we've all got neighbours that light up the front of their houses with giant inflatable centres, sleighs and polar bears. We run around like dervishes, trying to find the right present for our loved ones whilst avoiding the crowds. But the one thing that we can't escape from is the Christmas single. Yes, be it. Noddy Holder screaming at us to have a Merry Christmas, roy Wood's Wizard wishing it could happen every day, or simply Cliff having yet another number one hit. We all have our favourites, and this is where this episode of Rod's Ramblings comes in.
Speaker 1:The other day, mrs C asked me Are you going to do a Christmas ramble? Possibly a bit about the boobly. I must be honest, my heart sank, don't get me wrong. The great Michael Buble is fine for a couple of days at the end of December, but do I really want to dedicate a ramble to him? Hmm, then, in a split second, I was saved, as Mrs C declared Fairy Tale of New York's my favourite. Yes, that's a great song. It's got to be one of the best and with Shane McGowan involved, it's got to have a lot of interesting material. My research confirmed that this is indeed the case, but before we get into the detail, let's share some trivia regarding its title Fairy Tale of New York.
Speaker 1:Firstly, a fairy tale can be defined as a story for children involving magical events and imaginary creatures containing the following five elements A moral lesson, good and evil characters, some form of magic overcoming obstacles or tasks and ending happily ever after. There are many of these stories that have been passed down from generation to generation. That have been passed down from generation to generation. So for the pub quiz enthusiasts out there, do you know what the Reader's Digest top five most popular fairy tale stories of all time are? Secondly, what about New York? The Rockefeller Centre in New York used to be the only building from which you can see Central Park to the north and the Statue of Liberty to the south. Each year it has a giant Christmas tree and ice skating rink in the plaza at the front of the building, giving a beautiful fairy tale-like scene. But do you know which year the first Christmas tree was erected there? I'll give the answers to both questions at the end of this podcast.
Speaker 1:Now back to our Christmas single. Believe it or not, fairy Tale of New York first entered the race for the Christmas number one spot 34 years ago, when it was released by the Pogues with Kirstie McCall on vocals in November 1987. The song has proved enduringly popular with both music critics and the public, reaching the UK top 20 on 17 separate occasions since its original release and every year over the Christmas period since 2005. Do you like the nation's favourite series that ITV has broadcast over the last few years? I do. I love comparing the results with my personal favourites and if I agree with the results, it's a great programme. But if not, well, we can't all be the same, can we? It's good to like different things. The programmes they've recently broadcast are the Nation's Favourite no 1, which was won by Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody A very good result. The single video and film were superb.
Speaker 1:The Nation's Favourite Motown song was won by Marvin Gaye's. I Heard it Through the Grapevine. I'm not a great fan of Motown but I'd have probably voted for either War by Edwin Starr or Heatwave by Martha and the Vandellas. This is probably because of the jam who I am a great fan of included Heatwave on their Setting Suns album and War on the Gift album. I do apologise to any Motown fans that are listening. You must think I'm a right heathen. Why are we talking about Queen and Marvin Gaye, you ask? Well, when they ran the nation's favourite Christmas song, the top five were All I Want for Christmas is you by Mariah Carey at number five. White Christmas by Bing Crosby came in at number four. Slade's Merry Christmas Everybody was at number three. Wizards I Wish it Could Be Christmas Every Day was number two, and at number one was yes, you've guessed it Fairy Tale of New York. It's allegedly the UK's most played Christmas song of the 21st century and yet, in spite of that popularity, it's become one of those classics that never quite reached the number one spot, being held off by the Pet Shop Buys cover of Always On my Mind when it was originally released.
Speaker 1:Shane McGowan, peter Spider-Stacey and Jen Finer were originally in a band called the Nips, who played in and around the London area during the late 70s and early 80s. In 1982, they were joined by pianist James Fernley and, as an early indicator that they weren't afraid to upset a few people, the four changed the name of the band to Pogue Mahone, which apparently, when translated from Gaelaelic, means kiss my arse. Following numerous complaints, they eventually succumbed to public pressure and changed their name to the Pogues. Stiff Records was the go-to record company for punk and new wave acts at the time, having released what is thought to have been the first punk single, new Rose, by the Damned in October 1976.
Speaker 1:After this initial entry into the music business, stiff Records went from strength to strength, signing future stars such as Nick Lowe, ian Dury and the Blockheads, elvis Costello and the Pogues. Elvis Costello is quite rightly famous for his recording career as an individual and with his band the Attractions, for his recording career as an individual and with his band the Attractions. But he was also successful on the engineering front, producing many acts, one of which was our Controversy Courting Quartet. It was during this time, in 1985, that the initial seeds of Fairy Tale of New York were planted. One school of thought is that their manager, frank Murray, suggested that it would be really interesting if they could write a Christmas hit, but Shane McGowan insists that the song came about as a result of a bet between Costello and the band that they couldn't write one in their particular style. In the following clip, shane recalls the challenge.
Speaker 2:Elvis Costello was producing us at the time, yeah, and he likes sort of giving me these challenges, you know. So he says to us. He says I bet you can't write a Christmas single which is a duet, right, yeah, like which isn't outside the normal post style. You know what I mean Of whatever it is. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:The song was written and rewritten by Jen Finer and Shane McGowan many times, with the band experiencing a run of misfortune before it reached the version that we're all familiar with. Stiff records went into administration. The band had major disagreements with Costello, forcing them to quit, and bass player Kato Reardon, who was to sing the female part of the song, chose to leave as she'd become romantically involved with Costello. In a short space of time the band had lost their record company, their producer, their bass player and their female singer. All was not well. The problems at Stiff Records were eventually resolved and the Pogues were finally able to re-enter a recording studio again in early 1987 to start work on their third album, now with Steve Lilliewight taking Costello's place as producer. A number of unsatisfactory recordings of Fairy Tale were made until it was suggested that Lilliewight take the track back to his home studio and let his wife, kirsty McCall, lay down a new guide vocal Kirsty had had previous success with there's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop swears, his Elvis reaching number 14 in 1981, and a cover of Billy Bragg's A New England, which peaked at number 7 in the UK charts in 1985. Having meticulously worked on McCall's vocals, lily White brought the recording back to the studio, where the band were impressed with her singing and realised that she would be the ideal vice for the female character in the song. Mcgowan later said Kirstie knew exactly the right measure of viciousness, femininity and romance to put into it and she had a very strong character and it came across in a big way. Despite appearing together many times in performances, the two singers never actually recorded the song together in the studio. Mcgowan simply re-recorded his vocals alongside the tape that Lily White had provided During his time as producer. Costello suggested naming the song Christmas Eve in the drunk tank after the song's opening lines, but the band were scornful of Costello's suggestion, pointing out that a song with such a title was unlikely to be favourably received and played by radio stations. The decision over the title of the song was finally made by McGowan after seeing JP Donlevy's 1973 novel of the same name lying around in the studio.
Speaker 1:I'm sure we've all had occasions when we've had one or two too many and woken the next day not recalling absolutely everything from the night before. My family teased me something rotten about a Christmas from a few years ago when we went around a friend's house for a few drinks and played the game Logo. Copious amounts of wine were consumed and we had an absolutely great time. A couple of weeks later, we were invited round again and the same board game was produced. Oh, this looks good, I said. Is it new? I honestly could not remember playing that game.
Speaker 1:In Fairy Tale of New York, mcgowan plays a character that's thrown in the cells for being drunk and disorderly and spends Christmas Eve dreaming about previous times spent with his girlfriend, played by Kirstie McColl. Whether he plays any board games during this stay is unclear, but he probably wouldn't have been able to remember anyway. The song takes the form of a call and response between the couple, starting with declarations of love followed by a romantic kiss, but then escalating into an increasingly vitriolic argument with their famously offensive and homophobic words, putting the average family's seasonal bickering into perspective. Over the years, complaints have caused broadcasters to act in different ways, some sticking to the original lyrics and some amending them to reflect the changes in attitude since the original was recorded. Recently, in the BBC's Gavin and Stacey Christmas special, on Christmas Day 2019, uncle Bryn and Nessa, played by Rob Brydon and Ruth Jones, sang a karaoke version of the song, including the original lyric. However, when the show was repeated a year later. The homophobic line was re-edited On the 19th of November 2020,. Pink News journalist Joss Milton described the seemingly annual argument over whether the lyrics were offensive or not as being Britain's worst festive tradition. For all the bickering between the couple, the song ends with an expression of love and hope, as McGowan's character promises McColls that, far from wrecking her dreams, he realises that he can't make it on his own and he's built his dreams around her.
Speaker 1:Ever since the Buggles had a hit with Video Killed the Radio Star, you haven't been able to have a hit single without an accompanying video, and I'd like to share a couple of stories about the video to our Christmas song. It was directed by Peter Doherty and actually filmed in New York. The camera never lies is a statement that I think we all realise isn't true anymore. Whether it's due to carefully chosen composition, software filters or just clever editing, what we see isn't always the truth. Our video begins with McGowan sitting at a piano playing the song's introduction. However, when the camera cuts to the close-up of the hands, it isn't McGowan's that are playing the piano, but James Fernley wearing McGowan's rings. Fernley later said that he found the experience humiliating, but accepted the fact that it looked better to show McGowan seated at the piano ago and seated at the piano.
Speaker 1:The second story I'd like to share with you relates to the chorus line, the boys of the NYPD choir still singing Galway Bay. In reality, the NYPD doesn't have a choir and the closest thing they have is the pipes and drums of their Emerald Society, who appear in the video. They didn't know Galway Bay and sang the theme tune for the Mickey Mouse Club television series. The footage was then slowed down and shown in brief sections to disguise the fact that they were singing a different song. Actors on the shoot also claimed that the pipes and drums had been drinking on the journey to the shoot and by the time they arrived they were more drunk than the band, refusing to work unless they were supplied with even more alcohol.
Speaker 1:Time hasn't been kind to the two singers. Sadly, kirsty McColl lost her life in a diving accident whilst on holiday in Casamal, mexico, with her sons, jamie and Louis, and her boyfriend, musician James Knight. On the 18th of December 2000, kirsty and the two boys went diving on the Chancanar Reef, part of the National Marine Park of Cozumel. It was a designated diving area that watercraft were restricted from entering. However, as the group were surfacing from a dive, a powerboat entered the restricted area, heading towards Jamie at high speed. Kirsty managed to push her son out of the way but was struck by the boat, suffering severe chest injuries and dying instantly. In 2015, mcgowan fractured his pelvis as a result of a fall whilst leaving a Dublin studio and, as of 2020, he continues to use a wheelchair.
Speaker 1:Christmas songs have always been a great source of income for songwriters. Christmas songs have always been a great source of income for songwriters, and Fairy Tale of New York is alleged to bring members of the Pogues an estimated £400,000 a year in royalties. I think it's safe to say that the Pogues and the late great Kirsty McColl can be assured that, even without a UK number one, they inarguably created the world's greatest Christmas song. Looking back to our original definition of a fairy tale, I think we can safely say that the story probably shouldn't be told to children. However, if we look at the five elements that make up a fairy tale, we can see that there was definitely a moral lesson about the dangers of alcohol. Mcgowan and McCall's characters had both good and bad attributes. Their relationship could certainly be described as magical and they overcame many obstacles. Although Kirsty McCall was to lose her life in such an horrendous way, the characters in the song did end up living happily ever after.
Speaker 1:At the beginning of the podcast, I asked you a couple of trivia questions regarding fairy tales and New York. The first was what were the Reader's Digest top five fairy tales? The answer, in reverse order, is number five, jack and the Beanstalk, number four, snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, number three, little Red Riding Hood, number two, beauty and the Beast and number one Cinderella. How do they compare to your top five?
Speaker 1:In answer to the New York question, the first Christmas tree to be erected at the Rockefeller Centre was a 20-foot balsam fir, funded by workers at the site and decorated with strings of cranberries, paper garlands and tin cans on Christmas Eve, 1931. Two years later, the centre officially adopted the practice and installed a 50-foot tree, which they continue to do today. Give yourselves a tick for either 1931 for the workers' version, or 1933 for the owners of the centre. Thank you for sharing my ramble through the history of Fairytale of New York. I hope you found it interesting and I hope that wherever you spend Christmas, may you spend it with loved ones and have a truly wonderful time. So until the next time on Rod's Ramblings, merry Christmas and take care.
