My kind of holiday song : NPR

The holiday music season has begun in stores, on radio stations and on the speakers in our living rooms, and I’m back to the holiday favorite “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues. This isn’t exactly “chestnuts roasting over an open fire.”

“It was Christmas Eve babe
in the drunken tank
An old man told me, “I will not see anyone else…”

It is based on a time period of black-and-white films and Sinatra songs, in which an Irish immigrant man is sleeping rough in a New York City jail during the holidays. On that cold floor, he dreams of the woman who shares his dreams of life in America:

“They have cars as big as bars

they have rivers of gold

But the wind passes right through you

This is no place for old people

when you held my hand for the first time

on a cold christmas eve

you promised me

broadway was waiting for me

you were beautiful

you were beautiful

queen of new york city

when the band finished playing

And screamed for more…”

Kirsty McCall and Shane McGowan are a couple who soon send curses and abuse into each other’s hearts about how they ruined their dreams.

Versions by some other artists over the years have rewritten some of the more pointed refrains, with the band’s consent, in order to allow the song to be played more widely.

And “Fairytale of New York” has become a kind of holiday standard. It lends a voice, sometimes harsh and sometimes sweet, to those who feel anxious, lost, alone, or deprived of all the fun songs about good news, herald angels singing, and ho-ho-ho.

Yet, even as the couple bickers, they realize how they have changed with each other, and move in together.

“You took my dreams…” She says.

He answers, “I kept them with me…”

Nearly 40 years later, The Pogues’ “Fairytale in New York” may remind us how sailing in a sea of ​​troubles can bring us closer to each other:

“I could have been someone

Well anyone can do that

you took away my dreams from me

when i first found you

I kept them with me babe

I kept them with me

Can’t do it all alone

I built my dreams around you

NYPD Choir Boys

still singing galway bay

and the bells are ringing

For Christmas Day.”