Bittersweet Fairytale
As it is December, thoughts turn to Christmas songs, and one (slightly raunchy) example that I dearly loved for decades– and sometimes belted out when the eggnog flowed too hard– was Fairytale Of New York by The Pogues. I mean, being a quarter Irish, how could I not, right?
Sadly, news has come that flawed and often controversial Irish songsmith Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan, who co-wrote and performed the classic, has just passed at age 65.
And before you talk too much smack about him, listen to the Pogues’s version of Waltzing Matilda.
Pouring out the nog for Shane.
One of the true greats.
A loss and sad news indeed.
A small but important correction mate – that amazing cover by The Pogues, one that brings a tear to my eye every single time, is their version of the song “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda” written by Eric Bogle in 1971, not the traditional 1895 song “Waltzing Matilda” by Australian poet Banjo Paterson.
Over here the band does actually play Waltzing Matilda, often on parade, on Anzac Day, at the rugby… and in 1971 in the turbulent times just post Vietnam the WW1 diggers Bogle refers to would indeed have been old but still relatively commonplace. His commentary was poignant then, and even more so when listened to between 2014-2018 – no WW1 diggers, very few from WW2, but interestingly his prediction that ‘soon no one will march there at all’ was way off, with massive crowds at commemorative events.
Love your work, keep it up.
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