The title is intentionally ironic, and the characters say horrid things to each other, but it remains a favorite Christmas song for many, myself included. In the opening lines we picture an old timey New York City, the land of opportunity where immigrants arrive to make new lives for themselves, and young people come to pursue their dreams.
Then reality happens. And I think this is what gets to my heart about this song. Somewhere between Shane MacGowan’s lyrics, the music, and he and the singers’ voices, we get a deep sense love, a history of longing, and some moving details of this pair’s love story.
Not Kirsty and Shane’s, but the characters whose voices they take up. And that’s an important point. This song has seen some controversy in it’s time. I would think that calling the woman a slut would have been as bad as the gay slur in the original lyrics, but the verbal abuse of the woman seemed less important to the censors than the slur. I say this as a gay man: I was never offended by any words in this song because they were all completely in character for the people the song portrays.
I understand and appreciate people’s desire to be sensitive. But are these same people sensitive about cop shows and gangster movies where murder and mass blood shed appear on the the TV screen almost nightly? It’s a story. It’s not real, but it is an image, a portrait of a reality, and if in context, it makes the story more able to grip our hearts, well, so be it. That’s my opinion, at least.
We mentioned Kirsty MacColl back in October when we played Tracy Ulman’s cover of her song “They Don’t Know,” and I promised we’d hear Kirsty for Christmas, so some of you knew to expect this song, and at least one said you were looking forward to it. I know I’m not along in my love for the song.
I don’t care for dwelling on death anniversaries, but it may be of interest to know that Kirsty was killed in a boating accident in Cozumel twenty three years and three days ago. Shane MacGowan, lead singer of The Pogues died of complications from pneumonia just last month. His birthday is coming up on Christmas Day. He would have turned 66.
I’m including the original video, though I think the slur was overdubbed with “you’re cheap and you’re haggard.” Below that, you’ll find Irish singers Glen Hansen and Lisa O’Neill with their performance at MacGowan’s funeral last month at Saint Mary of the Rosary Church in Nenagh, Tipperary. That one was sung in its original form.
Jeff's Song of the Day 