0:00:02 > 0:00:08This programme contains very strong language.
0:00:08 > 0:00:12The opening line's good. "It was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunk tank."
0:00:12 > 0:00:16You know it's not an ordinary Christmas song when you start a song with that.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19- # You're handsome!- You're pretty... #
0:00:19 > 0:00:25For the first time, all eight Pogues go back to the studio where they recorded it 18 years ago.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29It's the first time they have been into any recording studio in 14 years.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33Discover what happened when Matt Dillon got completely Pogued.
0:00:33 > 0:00:38There was a lot of drinking going on. That is the Pogues - drinking.
0:00:38 > 0:00:39# For Christmas Day. #
0:00:41 > 0:00:45It's the great Kirsty MacColl song that nearly wasn't.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50When we started recording it, we didn't have anyone lined up to sing it.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53# You're a bum, you're a punk... #
0:00:53 > 0:00:57- 'Meet the man who brought it all together...'- Now we have a harp.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00There is no harp player in the Pogues!
0:01:00 > 0:01:02# You scumbag, you maggot... #
0:01:02 > 0:01:06'And we find out why Shane MacGowan enjoys Christmas so much.'
0:01:06 > 0:01:09You can't enjoy Christmas. Christmas is hell.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12HE SNIGGERS
0:01:12 > 0:01:15# And the bells are ringing out for Christmas Day. #
0:01:15 > 0:01:19This is the story of Fairytale Of New York.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29# Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down
0:01:29 > 0:01:34# Never gonna run around and desert you... #
0:01:34 > 0:01:391987. Britain's worst hurricane leaves boats on the beach and trees in houses.
0:01:39 > 0:01:45'This pile of flotsam is all that's left of the famous Shanklin Pier on the Isle of Wight.'
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Billions are wiped off shares on Black Monday.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52Tea boy Rick Astley cruises up the charts, and professional drinker Shane MacGowan
0:01:52 > 0:01:58finally stumbles into the studio to record the song that will keep him in Long Island Iced Teas for life.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04# The boys in the NYPD... #
0:02:04 > 0:02:07What they recorded is one of the greatest Christmas hits.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10It's the aural antidote to tinsel and sleigh bells.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14You don't normally get Christmas songs that are so utterly hopeless.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17A sentimental song of booze, bars and massive cars.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20It's like a little symphony. Every little bit is bang on.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24The Irish jig that leaves Emerald Islanders crying into their Guinness.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27It was one of those songs that you held on to tightly
0:02:27 > 0:02:29cos in the video, you imagined that's how New York looked.
0:02:29 > 0:02:35And a lasting testament to singer Kirsty MacColl, killed in a boating accident in the year 2000.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40Whenever I hear Kirsty singing, it gives me pleasure and joy.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44# And the bells are ringing out for Christmas Day. #
0:02:44 > 0:02:49To tell the fairytale, our handsome prince must meet his beautiful princess.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52To do that, we must travel back to London in the late '70s
0:02:52 > 0:02:55where both Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl's careers began.
0:02:57 > 0:03:04First up, Shane MacGowan - an angry young punk with an idea for a band, seen here at an early Clash gig.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07We used to basically want to sound like the Pistols.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10# You, I need you... #
0:03:10 > 0:03:14Shane's first band was the Nipple Erectors, or the Nips.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18They made lots of noise, but no hits.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21They were a brilliant band and I really liked his songs.
0:03:21 > 0:03:26I thought they were funny and clever, and very catchy as well.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29# You gotta let go You gotta come
0:03:29 > 0:03:31# I need you! #
0:03:31 > 0:03:33It's a classic of its type.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35It became number one in Italy.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38We broke up the same day.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42With the Nips in tatters, Shane went back to his first love,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46Irish folk music, but with an inspired dose of the Sex Pistols.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50It was a combination that provided the foundations for Fairytale Of New York.
0:03:50 > 0:03:56# I'm sick to my guts of the railway... #
0:03:56 > 0:04:00Shane had a lot of Irish records - Dubliners, the Furies and so on.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03He would often play them.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07And there's this misconception - people all think we come from Dublin.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09Actually,
0:04:09 > 0:04:16Shane is the only sort of thoroughbred Irish person in the band, really.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19And he'd spent most of his life in England.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22# In 1843, I broke my shovel across my knee... #
0:04:22 > 0:04:26One day, we went round to a friend's house and he picked up a guitar
0:04:26 > 0:04:31and started playing Poor Paddy On The Railway. And it was kind of...
0:04:31 > 0:04:35like about 900mph, I should say.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40Shane had discovered the elusive Pogues formula - Irish folk punk.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44# In 1845, when Daniel O'Connell he was alive
0:04:44 > 0:04:47# When Daniel O'Connell he was alive and working on the rail... #
0:04:47 > 0:04:53We went through every fucking stylistic fucking rock'n'roll thing you could go through...
0:04:53 > 0:04:55except for that.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59It really was so glaringly obvious
0:04:59 > 0:05:03that the most surprising thing about it was that nobody had thought of it before.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07BANG!
0:05:05 > 0:05:07- TANNOY:- Get out of Oxford Street!
0:05:07 > 0:05:12Unfortunately for the embryonic Pogues, the UK was in the middle of an IRA bombing campaign.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Playing Irish republican war songs was asking for trouble.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21The first version of the Pogues were the New Republicans.
0:05:21 > 0:05:2725 years later, Pogue Spider Stacy, takes us back to where they played their very first gig.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29And it's now an Irish theme pub.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33This is where the New Republicans did their one and only gig.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37I couldn't see that anyone would actually take us seriously.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41And then I sort of realised that of course they would, because
0:05:41 > 0:05:43we were actually really good.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48When we played here and we were doing Irish rebel songs in 1980, 1981, whenever it was,
0:05:48 > 0:05:51it was definitely not a good thing to be Irish.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54There was a lot of racism against Irish people.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58To make matters worse, the club was full of British soldiers.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02Fortunately, the only weapons they had were fish and chips.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04There was a bunch of squaddies in the audience.
0:06:04 > 0:06:11I mean, like, it was a perfect ending - the squaddies started pelting us with fish and chips.
0:06:15 > 0:06:20# There's a guy works down the chip shop, swears he's Elvis... #
0:06:20 > 0:06:25While the New Republicans were dodging fish and chips, Kirsty MacColl was singing about them.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29She started her career in a punk outfit called the Drug Addix.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31But life in a band was not for her.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34She soon signed as a solo artist to Stiff Records.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38She was with one band who were all boys. She used to come back
0:06:38 > 0:06:41very depressed that they didn't listen to what she had to say.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46It was quite funny when Stiff heard them...
0:06:46 > 0:06:49they only wanted Kirsty and they didn't want the boys!
0:06:49 > 0:06:53# But he's a liar and I'm not sure about you. #
0:06:53 > 0:06:55She really understood country-music.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58She understood a lot of folk music, really.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02She understood blues music, she loved Ray Charles.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05She kind of got all the different elements.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08# I went up to Monto town To see Uncle McArdle... #
0:07:08 > 0:07:14As Kirsty ditched the Drug Addix, so Shane and the group changed their name from the new Republicans
0:07:14 > 0:07:17to Pogue Mahone, Gaelic for "kiss my arse".
0:07:17 > 0:07:24By now, they were a six piece, with drummer Andrew Ranken, bassist Cait O'Riordan,
0:07:24 > 0:07:29accordionist James Fearnley, Jem on banjo, and Spider on beer tray.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32A recording contract followed,
0:07:32 > 0:07:37mainly on the strength of their raucous live shows and charismatic lead singer.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41# Your aul' wan to my aul' wan I'll hawk the old man's braces... #
0:07:41 > 0:07:46Shane was incredibly shy. There was a rehearsal in West Hampstead,
0:07:46 > 0:07:50and I remember sitting there and there was no music happening.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55I was waiting and I looked, and I saw Shane was looking at me really uncomfortably.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59He didn't want to sing with me in the room. He was just shy, you know.
0:07:59 > 0:08:05I said, "You better get used to it. I'm your manager. I'm going to hear you sing a lot of times!"
0:08:05 > 0:08:10From the start, they mixed traditional songs with Shane's originals.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13Shane was just a brilliant songwriter.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17But their reputation was that they were just cracking live -
0:08:17 > 0:08:20exhilarating, boisterous noise, basically.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23Where's Spider? I'll focus before I start being bossy.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26OK, I'm going to take a picture.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30Bleddyn Butcher first photographed the Pogues in 1982.
0:08:30 > 0:08:36Today, he's taking publicity pictures for the 2005 reissue of Fairytale Of New York.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39Acting the goat?
0:08:39 > 0:08:41Caught!
0:08:41 > 0:08:42Beautiful.
0:08:42 > 0:08:47The band is now an eight-piece. The current line-up includes Terry Woods on mandolin,
0:08:47 > 0:08:53Philip Chevron on guitar, and Darryl Hunt who replaced Cait O'Riordan on bass.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56It doesn't look better.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00I did their first photo session as a band, yes.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03I took the photos behind King's Cross.
0:09:05 > 0:09:11I didn't know anything about them then, although the experience was sufficient to make me follow up.
0:09:11 > 0:09:12They were very weird.
0:09:12 > 0:09:18Jem wanted to have his banjo in it, so I just went, "OK",
0:09:18 > 0:09:22and Shane wanted to have his pint glass in it.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26The Pogues' live reputation helped sales of their first two albums -
0:09:26 > 0:09:30Red Roses for Me and Rum Sodomy and the Lash.
0:09:32 > 0:09:40By 1985, manager Frank Murray wanted to turn them into an international act. It was time to visit America.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46Shane had never visited before, but it was a place that was already
0:09:46 > 0:09:50alive in his imagination through films, books and music.
0:09:50 > 0:09:55The experience of touring America would inspire the Pogues' greatest song.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02Shame was pretty obsessed with America. He had never been before the band went,
0:10:02 > 0:10:09so he had this whole mythological America in his mind from films and books and music and so on.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13New York turned out to be pretty much the way I imagined it would be.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Fact and fiction merged into one on the tour bus.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21Shane and Spider were totally into Once Upon a Time in America, and were in character the whole time.
0:10:21 > 0:10:27We were watching that round the clock for the purposes of memorising the script.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30It was just "motherfucker this and motherfucker that".
0:10:30 > 0:10:34# In 1845
0:10:34 > 0:10:37# When Daniel O'Connell he was alive... #
0:10:37 > 0:10:43This previously unseen footage of their first American concert was shot by Pogues fan Peter Dougherty.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49This is Second Street, and just here on the corner
0:10:49 > 0:10:54is what used to be a club called The Whirl. That's where I first saw the Pogues.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57They played their first American gig there and it was fantastic.
0:10:57 > 0:11:04# I'm sick to my death of the railway... #
0:11:04 > 0:11:08I do remember having a good time, and the woman I was with was saying,
0:11:08 > 0:11:14"Let's go. Why d'you wanna go backstage? What's your problem? Why would you wanna talk to them?"
0:11:14 > 0:11:20But Peter did go backstage and another part of the Fairytale of New York jigsaw was in place.
0:11:20 > 0:11:26Peter would go on to direct the song's video and he was about to meet its Hollywood star.
0:11:28 > 0:11:34Matt Dillon was in the dressing room. There wasn't that much interest in me.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39Backstage was packed with celebrity fans, many of them Irish American.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43It was the kind of thing I liked. It reminded me of the Dubliners
0:11:43 > 0:11:48or the Clancy Brothers mixed with the Clash. Immediately I was a big fan.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Their blend of nostalgia and punk had struck a chord
0:12:00 > 0:12:05with Irish-Americans like Matt Dillon and Peter Dougherty.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10At the same time, Shane MacGowan had been inspired by stories of ancestors who had struggled
0:12:10 > 0:12:14to make a new life thousands of miles away from Ireland.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19In Ireland, like, you were either dead or in America.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22If you're in America, you're not coming back.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37# Why d'you never listen to me?
0:12:37 > 0:12:41# I could be invisible to you... #
0:12:41 > 0:12:45Three years before the Pogues' trip to America, Kirsty MacColl
0:12:45 > 0:12:51had caught the eye of the man who would go on to produce Fairytale Of New York.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54I met Kirsty when I was producing Simple Minds.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58She came down to do some backing vocals
0:12:58 > 0:13:01and she was a big fan of Simple Minds.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06She was out doing the vocals and I thought, "I'm gonna marry that girl".
0:13:06 > 0:13:09The couple were married within months.
0:13:09 > 0:13:15Kirsty's career was also going well thanks to a string of bittersweet songs about relationships.
0:13:15 > 0:13:22A lot of her songs were quite vitriolic about men and people would always say, "Is that song about you?"
0:13:22 > 0:13:28I would go, "No". She would always say, "They're not about anyone - they are mixtures of people I meet".
0:13:28 > 0:13:32You know, great social comments, a great girl's girl.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36# Anyway it doesn't matter... #
0:13:36 > 0:13:41While Kirsty was getting married, the Pogues were getting famous.
0:13:41 > 0:13:42They were growing all the time.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45They kept going from strength to strength.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Every time we got...
0:13:48 > 0:13:54we caused enough damage to get barred from a club, we moved up a notch, you know.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58But the band needed a big single to break into the mainstream.
0:13:58 > 0:14:03I thought it'd be really interesting to see what they would do on a Christmas song.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07So that's why I asked them initially to do one, and we were supposed to be covering a song.
0:14:07 > 0:14:14Instead of looking for a song to cover, banjo player Jem and Shane attempted to write a duet.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17But at the time, they didn't have Kirsty MacColl in mind.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20It was written for the Pogues' female bassist, Cait O'Riordan.
0:14:20 > 0:14:25She was a great singer and she had an amazing pair of...
0:14:25 > 0:14:31She was a beautiful looking girl, and none of the rest of us were, by any stretch of the imagination.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35Jem started with a traditional approach.
0:14:35 > 0:14:36I wrote one Christmas duet,
0:14:36 > 0:14:42which was actually - the words were crap and the whole idea behind it
0:14:42 > 0:14:47was sort of sentimental Christmas rubbish.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52He came up with something more Pogue-like about a couple down on their luck at Christmas.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56Then took it to Shane, who came up with the New York connection.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01We decided to make it about two Irish immigrants on the way out -
0:15:01 > 0:15:05you know, they had had their glory days in...
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Well, it explains it in the song.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11# They've got cars big as bars... #
0:15:11 > 0:15:16Here, exclusively, is the demo of Fairytale Of New York.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20It also features original vocalist, Cait O'Riordan.
0:15:20 > 0:15:27With the song taking shape and demos laid down with producer, Elvis Costello,
0:15:27 > 0:15:33all that remained was the final recording session and the small matter of a title.
0:15:33 > 0:15:39Elvis Costello said, "What are you gonna call it? Christmas Eve in the drunk tank?"
0:15:39 > 0:15:40With...
0:15:40 > 0:15:42you know...
0:15:42 > 0:15:45amazing imagination, that guy.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47"That's not pretentious enough," I thought.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52Yes, Fairytale Of New York. I was looking at the book cover here -
0:15:52 > 0:15:55A Fairy Tale Of New York.
0:15:57 > 0:16:03A Fairy Tale of New York was written by Irish-American JP Donleavy in 1973.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07It is a story of a young man who arrives in America from Ireland.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10Shane met Donleavy in Dublin.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12He explained that his father was a big fan of mine
0:16:12 > 0:16:17and read most of the books, I believe.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21He did this as a favour to his father
0:16:21 > 0:16:27to recognise the fact that his father read my books and was a fan.
0:16:34 > 0:16:40I was surprised. I thought it was a really striking piece of music with wonderful overtones.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45I realised straight away that it didn't really have anything to do with my book at all.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48The Pogues' Christmas single was really coming together.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51It had lyrics, a tune and a title.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57But despite repeated attempts, they weren't happy with the recordings.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00The song wasn't really whole.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04It was a great song, but we hadn't given much thought to it.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07The band couldn't play it very well, either.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10I think time kind of ran out.
0:17:10 > 0:17:16If you're gonna have a Christmas song, it has to be out for Christmas.
0:17:16 > 0:17:22The band went back on the road, becoming tighter and more ambitious,
0:17:22 > 0:17:26but they kept working on their Christmas single.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28# Five o'clock in the evening... #
0:17:28 > 0:17:33We started putting the sets, so it became a different song - very tight.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47But the constant touring was too much for bassist Cait O'Riordan.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51She married producer Elvis Costello and decided to leave the band.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56That was extremely distressing cos they didn't really know what to do.
0:17:56 > 0:18:02They deputised Daryl, and it worked, but I think it was just basically from partying too hard.
0:18:02 > 0:18:07The band replaced their bassist, but in 1986, Fairytale had lost its female voice.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10It was never gonna be scrapped.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14It was just... You know, Shane was always tinkering.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17I was trying to finish the bloody song.
0:18:21 > 0:18:27Whenever we got together to rehearse and there was a new fiddle about, we would try and play it again.
0:18:27 > 0:18:33Shane finally nailed the lyrics in Scandinavia after a bout of pneumonia.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37You get lots of delirium and stuff
0:18:37 > 0:18:42and so, I got quite a few good images out of that.
0:18:48 > 0:18:54The Pogues' New York Christmas epic was about to be recorded,
0:18:54 > 0:18:58but when they arrived at the studio in the summer of 1987,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01there was still no female vocalist to sing alongside Shane.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03When we started recording it,
0:19:03 > 0:19:07it was still written as a duet, but we didn't have anybody
0:19:07 > 0:19:10really lined up to sing it.
0:19:15 > 0:19:21Despite this, the band went into the studio in London with their new producer, Steve Lillywhite.
0:19:21 > 0:19:28Steve was used to working with stadium rock acts like Simple Minds and U2,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31not with penny whistles and banjos.
0:19:31 > 0:19:37If you had have said beforehand that we would get Steve Lillywhite, it would have been a no.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40We wouldn't have thought of using Steve.
0:19:40 > 0:19:47But when the band came off that 18 months of touring, they had become this really, really tight unit.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51I knew I was getting a band who were at their best.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55I was very lucky to get them when I got them
0:19:55 > 0:20:00cos there was a great feeling of momentum towards the Pogues. I helped ride that crest.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04# You can have my husband, but please don't mess with my man... #
0:20:04 > 0:20:10Steve didn't only bring top-end production to the Pogues, he also brought his new wife.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17Kirsty MacColl had tried out a range of musical styles across a number of albums
0:20:17 > 0:20:21but had never managed a mainstream hit.
0:20:21 > 0:20:22# Used to buy me some rights... #
0:20:22 > 0:20:27Kirsty just had her own way. She was a great singer she wrote great songs.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29They didn't have mass appeal.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34If you listen to her album, Galore, which is like her greatest hits,
0:20:34 > 0:20:38it's a great album. There are really great songs on it.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42One of the many great things about Kirsty was the fact that she had
0:20:42 > 0:20:46a great understanding of all sorts of music. There were no musical barriers.
0:20:46 > 0:20:51# Walking down Madison I swear I never had a gun... #
0:20:51 > 0:20:55Despite her strengths, Kirsty was never comfortable performing live.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00She suffered from stage fright which was at its worst on a tour of Ireland.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02I was concerned for her.
0:21:02 > 0:21:09I got a postcard which really worried me because it wasn't written by Kirsty at all.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12It was written by one of the band.
0:21:12 > 0:21:13And it was...
0:21:13 > 0:21:16"Dear Mum,
0:21:16 > 0:21:21"things are going rather better. I have stopped throwing up."
0:21:21 > 0:21:24# I saw two shooting stars last night
0:21:24 > 0:21:28# I wished on them but they were only satellites... #
0:21:28 > 0:21:32It took her a long time to feel at home on stage.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34It really did.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37She wasn't a natural performer.
0:21:37 > 0:21:43# I don't want to change the world I'm not looking for New England
0:21:43 > 0:21:46# Are you looking for another girl... #
0:21:46 > 0:21:52In 1985, she hit the top 10 with a cover of Billy Bragg's "New England".
0:21:52 > 0:21:56Two years later, Kirsty would discover a cure for her stage fright
0:21:56 > 0:22:03when she recorded an even bigger single in a duet with Shane MacGowan.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08Kirsty's contribution to Fairytale Of New York happened almost by accident.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10She would often pop into the studio to see Steve
0:22:10 > 0:22:15and on one visit Shane suggested she had a go singing the female lead.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17Shane sung the whole song
0:22:17 > 0:22:23and he gave me a set of lyrics and said, "This is where Kirsty sings - this bit that bit".
0:22:23 > 0:22:25It was good that he did that.
0:22:25 > 0:22:31Steve had a recording studio at his house and took the demo back for Kirsty to try out.
0:22:31 > 0:22:37So I played it to Kirsty and then cleaned the sections of where she should sing,
0:22:37 > 0:22:44so she responded to his vocal as if he was there but he wasn't there and she didn't ever sing it with him.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48# You promised me Broadway was waiting for me
0:22:48 > 0:22:49# You were handsome... #
0:22:49 > 0:22:51SILENCE
0:22:51 > 0:22:54# When the band finished playing they held out for more... #
0:22:54 > 0:23:01They did some work on the home studio and they came in with this vocal and it just sounded perfect.
0:23:01 > 0:23:06# The boys of the NYPD choir still singing Galway Bay... #
0:23:06 > 0:23:13Then he brought it back and played it to us and we thought it was really good. That's it. Bingo!
0:23:13 > 0:23:16Finally, Fairytale had its female lead.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20Producer, Steve Lillywhite, takes us through the master tapes.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22Now we have a harp...
0:23:22 > 0:23:26There is no harp player in the Pogues! How did this come about?
0:23:28 > 0:23:29Rak Studios, North London.
0:23:29 > 0:23:35For the first time in 14 years, the instruments are being set up for the arrival of all eight Pogues,
0:23:35 > 0:23:38including notoriously unreliable Shane MacGowan.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42Shane thought he was going to a rehearsal tomorrow...
0:23:42 > 0:23:47Um...maybe it's best to let him keep thinking that, actually.
0:23:47 > 0:23:52But maybe not, cos usually when it's a rehearsal, he turns up six days later.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56The band started work here in July 1987 and spent four weeks
0:23:56 > 0:24:00working on their third album, "If I Should Fall From Grace With God".
0:24:00 > 0:24:04It was these sessions that produced Fairytale Of New York.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07Hopefully, today, all eight musicians are back.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17Andrew Rankin on the drums.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Darryl on the bass.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23Terry Woods.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26James Fernley.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28And Philip Chevron.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30Jam...
0:24:32 > 0:24:36..and Spider Stacy.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40And just two hours late, Shane MacGowan.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45Still going despite extraordinary rock-and-roll indulgences.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52Rak Studios represented a move up in the world for the Pogues.
0:24:52 > 0:24:57Before recording here, we had recorded in Elephant Studios
0:24:57 > 0:25:00which is kind of a cold, damp basement in Wapping.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Being here with a bit of light coming in was quite nice.
0:25:06 > 0:25:11Also because the place is quite big, you can play live as a band.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17We're just learning the song that we didn't learn the first time round.
0:25:17 > 0:25:24Recording wasn't always easy for the band - their DIY punk roots means they don't all read music.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31We had countless arguments because people would count things in different ways.
0:25:31 > 0:25:37So you'd say, "Right, there is eight of that bit and then there is four of the other bit",
0:25:37 > 0:25:40and their one is twice someone else's one.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45Our communication of musical ideas was sometimes quite fraught.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56I do know it.
0:25:56 > 0:26:01I think all we need to know is the first one is the one that goes...
0:26:01 > 0:26:04- The first one when there's still the singing?- Not at that point.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12Once I had no idea how to play this. I don't know if it was not on the set list, or something like that.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14I couldn't get past the first couple of notes.
0:26:14 > 0:26:19I beseeched Phillip to tell me how it went.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24And he kept shouting it to me but I couldn't hear because the crowd was just going mad. It was hopeless.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28HE PLAYS INTRO
0:26:28 > 0:26:31HE HITS WRONG NOTE
0:26:31 > 0:26:33LAUGHTER
0:26:33 > 0:26:38It's all Bohemian Rhapsody, you know what I mean?
0:26:38 > 0:26:42This was a new level of sophistication. It took a while to get it.
0:26:42 > 0:26:47People always say the Pogues are a rabble-rousing drinking bunch,
0:26:47 > 0:26:51but they're so serious about their music. I learnt a lot.
0:26:51 > 0:26:58Their arrangements were very good in terms of keeping the listener interested.
0:26:58 > 0:27:04Steve now lives in Manhattan, but he has gone into a studio in America
0:27:04 > 0:27:09to revisit the multi-track master recordings of Fairytale Of New York.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14I've not heard this song for about 18 years.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17I'm going to attempt to give you some idea
0:27:17 > 0:27:20of what it was like to record the song.
0:27:20 > 0:27:26PIANO INTRO
0:27:22 > 0:27:26What a fantastic start! I think that was James Fernley.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31# It was Christmas Eve, babe... #
0:27:31 > 0:27:35It's a song of three parts.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38I think we recorded this intro separately
0:27:38 > 0:27:43and the voice was recorded at the same time as the piano.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46If I solo the voice, I'll find out.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48SILENCE That's not the voice.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52VOCAL Hear the piano in the background.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55# I turn my face away... #
0:27:55 > 0:27:59It is a performance between piano and voice only.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04The piano opening was recorded separately to the main body and the two where edited together.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06An edit coming up here.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11MANDOLIN COMES IN
0:28:11 > 0:28:14Terry Woods there!
0:28:19 > 0:28:25During the recordings, certain instruments like Terry Woods' mandolin
0:28:25 > 0:28:29were multiplied to help give the song an epic feel.
0:28:29 > 0:28:35# The boys of the NYPD choir Were singing Galway Bay
0:28:35 > 0:28:37# And the bells... #
0:28:37 > 0:28:40That mandolin there, we did some masked mandolins...
0:28:40 > 0:28:43I think maybe even at half speed.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47We slowed the tape down and it goes like "B-r-r-r...",
0:28:47 > 0:28:51and when you speed it back up, it goes, "BRRRR..." - much faster.
0:28:51 > 0:28:56Very nice. I had forgotten about that. Damn, I need to remix this song.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02PENNY WHISTLE PLAYS
0:29:02 > 0:29:05Everyone talking in the background.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08PENNY WHISTLE CONTINUES
0:29:10 > 0:29:12Pristine recording(!)
0:29:15 > 0:29:18FROM TAPE: "Agh!"
0:29:19 > 0:29:23You have got to use that, haven't you?!
0:29:25 > 0:29:30Spider would do that a lot, whenever he made a mistake. "Agh!"
0:29:30 > 0:29:33Spider Stacey's penny whistle was key to the Pogue's sound,
0:29:33 > 0:29:39but it wasn't an instrument that stadium rock veteran, Steve, was familiar with.
0:29:39 > 0:29:45I would be mixing away, and every time I would go back to the beginning and it'd start,
0:29:45 > 0:29:50I'd go, "Ooh, that whistle's a bit loud." Cos I'm not used to hearing it.
0:29:50 > 0:29:55Every time, I'd make the whistle quieter and quieter because of its high-pitchedness.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59Your ear always goes to it, so I would always keep turning it down.
0:29:59 > 0:30:05Then the band would say, "Sounds great, but where's Spider?" I'd say, "He's really loud!" "Oh... He isn't."
0:30:05 > 0:30:08# ..singing Galway Bay And the bells were ringing out... #
0:30:08 > 0:30:11Anybody got a favourite bit?
0:30:12 > 0:30:16OK, now we're in the home stretch.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21The soaring orchestral climax, that's quite good.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26- The end.- The final... - Yeah, towards the end.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29The final verse.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32I mean that's the best bit, I think.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35The ending is important, yes.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37Kirsty's important.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51The song really moves me, I have got to say.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59At long last, the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl had pulled it off.
0:30:59 > 0:31:04After two years writing and a month's recording, Fairytale Of New York was complete.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07All it needed now was a video.
0:31:07 > 0:31:13It got a black-and-white classic with a cameo performance from a Hollywood heart-throb.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18I don't remember much about it but the reason I don't remember much
0:31:18 > 0:31:23is different than why other people don't remember. Cos I wasn't drunk.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26That is the truth. I can say that.
0:31:26 > 0:31:33Matt Dillon played a police officer who has to throw a drunken Shane MacGowan into a cell.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35It sounded straightforward.
0:31:35 > 0:31:41I wanted him to just grab Shane by the elbow, but he wanted to know "How aggressive am I"?
0:31:41 > 0:31:44I said, "It's Christmas Eve. You don't wanna be working,
0:31:44 > 0:31:46"you're sick of picking up drunks,
0:31:46 > 0:31:49"but you certainly won't throw him down the stairs.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54"So you're not happy but you're not beating him on the way upstairs."
0:31:54 > 0:31:58He was pretty liqoured up anyway, so when I was holding him,
0:31:58 > 0:32:02he could have gone down the stairs, you know.
0:32:02 > 0:32:08Peter Docherty was going, "Look, Matt, just forget Shane is your friend.
0:32:08 > 0:32:15"Just fucking beat the shit out of me! Push me through that fucking door and get things done.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17"You're an actor!"
0:32:17 > 0:32:20In the end, he did it perfectly.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23It was great.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35The start of the video was shot in a New York police station.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37This is it here on the left.
0:32:37 > 0:32:44Manager Frank Murray and extra Dennis Driscoll are going back for the first time in 18 years.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48Behind Shane and Matt, you can see Dennis - he is on the right
0:32:48 > 0:32:52with his back to camera, arresting a genuinely drunken Father Christmas.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55I was trying to hold onto him to make it authentic
0:32:55 > 0:33:00and he was saying, "You're not gonna take me alive!" and screaming.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05Everybody thought it was in quite a state.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09- I guess it was just the theme of it. - Yeah, yeah.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12Down below in the tombs here, we have cells,
0:33:12 > 0:33:15and they were...
0:33:15 > 0:33:20We were using them as dressing rooms and a place to hang out before you got called.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24It was quite funny because what was going down in the cells,
0:33:24 > 0:33:29if anybody had known about it, we would've been put IN the cells and locked up.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33Shane had a Margarita under his jacket and they saw it immediately
0:33:33 > 0:33:36and grabbed him and said, "No, no, no."
0:33:36 > 0:33:42We nearly all got arrested as well because we did the jail scenes in a real nick
0:33:42 > 0:33:45and we were all getting really pissed.
0:33:47 > 0:33:52So they stuck me in a holding room, like a holding cell.
0:33:52 > 0:33:57It was a jail cell with Shane and, I think, the road manager.
0:33:57 > 0:34:02The guy had long blonde hair and he was dressed in a Santa Claus costume.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05The two of them, there was no way, even if I wanted to jump in,
0:34:05 > 0:34:10I could never catch up with them because they were so out there at that point.
0:34:10 > 0:34:15All the drinking in the cells was starting to make the police anxious.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19Thankfully, there was a screen icon to smooth the ruffled feathers.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23Matt Dillon being sober was a big plus. He pretty much saved the day.
0:34:23 > 0:34:29Peter was getting a lot of flak from the cops. They were not having it. They were not happy at all.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33Matt went over and talked to them and we just did it and got out.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37It worked really well. I think him being there really saved the day.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40- # You were handsome- You were pretty Queen of New York City
0:34:40 > 0:34:44# When the band finished playing They held out for more... #
0:34:44 > 0:34:50The biggest challenge in the video was the chorus, "The boys of the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay".
0:34:50 > 0:34:55# The boys of the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay
0:34:55 > 0:34:59# And the bells are ringing out for Christmas Day. #
0:35:04 > 0:35:07"The boys of the NYPD choir..."
0:35:07 > 0:35:10I don't think that really exists.
0:35:10 > 0:35:15"The boys of the NYPD choir" - there is no NYPD choir, so it was...
0:35:15 > 0:35:20what are we going to get that is a sort of a group of police doing something we could call musical?
0:35:20 > 0:35:25They ended up with the police department's Irish pipe band.
0:35:25 > 0:35:32They don't play Irish pipes and there are a few culturally confusing elements.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38I remember the night pretty well cos I was fairly new in the band
0:35:38 > 0:35:43but we had a performance that night up in one of the big hotels.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46After that, we had a bus to take us to the video.
0:35:46 > 0:35:51Everybody wanted to go. We all wanted to go, no matter how cold it was.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55We filled the bus up with beer and we went down to meet them.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59The Pogues got wind that we had beer on the bus, so they came on with us.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01They drank a lot of our beer, I remember that.
0:36:01 > 0:36:07But the Pogues maintain it was the police who were the real drinkers.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11These guys got out of the coach and they were legless, whatever WE were.
0:36:11 > 0:36:16They were drinking all day and they were chanting, "No beer, no show!"
0:36:16 > 0:36:18They weren't getting off the bus until they got beer.
0:36:18 > 0:36:24# The boys of the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay... #
0:36:24 > 0:36:28I don't think they knew Galway Bay. I can't remember what they sang.
0:36:28 > 0:36:30It wasn't Galway Bay.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33They asked us to sing a song that we all knew the words to.
0:36:33 > 0:36:39They didn't have exactly a repertoire of Irish songs. Put it that way.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42We were singing the Mickey Mouse theme song.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46I remember us doing that. That was quite funny, singing Mickey Mouse.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49M-I-C-K-E-Y...M-O-U-S-E.
0:36:49 > 0:36:55# The boys of the NYPD choir still singing Galway Bay
0:36:55 > 0:36:59# And the bells are ringing out for Christmas day... #
0:36:59 > 0:37:05In December 1987, the video was complete and the record was released in time for Christmas.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09I absolutely adore this record. I hope it's number one for Christmas!
0:37:09 > 0:37:13The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl and the fabulous Fairytale Of New York.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24# It was Christmas Eve, babe... #
0:37:24 > 0:37:29Before it came out, I went to a bookies in Camden Town
0:37:29 > 0:37:32and I asked what would they give me on the Christmas number one single.
0:37:32 > 0:37:38They said, "We're not doing anything. Who d'you want to bet on?" I said, "The Pogues." "Who are they?"
0:37:38 > 0:37:41"Just put down the Pogues." They rang headquarters and gave me 50-1.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45A lot of people started betting on it really early.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48Friends of ours. And it spread.
0:37:48 > 0:37:54Then, at one point, it was down to 20-1. I'd get braver every day and I'd put a little bit more on it.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58# But I'm the lucky one
0:37:58 > 0:38:03# Came in 18-1... #
0:38:03 > 0:38:07It started to hot up because it did start to go up the charts
0:38:07 > 0:38:11and then it became, "Shit, this could actually be like a hit!"
0:38:11 > 0:38:15Stand by your turkeys. Here comes the Christmas Top Ten.
0:38:27 > 0:38:32All I can remember is lying on the floor listening to successive numbers,
0:38:32 > 0:38:37always hoping as they came to announce that it wasn't going to be Fairytale Of New York.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48They played number three, whatever that was.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52So, Fairytale was gonna be either number two or number one.
0:38:52 > 0:38:57Then they announced number two and it was like that horrible instant
0:38:57 > 0:39:03where you're just waiting for the first syllable, and as soon as it...
0:39:03 > 0:39:06you know, shit...
0:39:06 > 0:39:11Up six at two, Fairytale Of New York from the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl.
0:39:12 > 0:39:18If you ask any artist, they'll tell you that the most prestigious chart position is the Christmas number one.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21What was that song - the Elvis song?
0:39:23 > 0:39:27Anyway, there was two queens and a drum machine beat us.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30Here are the Pet Shop Boys, "Always On My Mind".
0:39:36 > 0:39:41It was actually really annoying and disappointing.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44I thought it was a disgusting fucking record.
0:39:44 > 0:39:50It was just a cynical jaded pathetic sort of...
0:39:50 > 0:39:54I quite liked the Pet Shop Boys before that.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59# Maybe I didn't treat you
0:39:59 > 0:40:03# Quite as good as I should... #
0:40:04 > 0:40:09The record was a hit and the video is a classic, but what makes a good song great?
0:40:09 > 0:40:12We speak to the finest musical minds.
0:40:13 > 0:40:19I think having it lay on the shelf for two years was probably very good for the song.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23Pieces turn up in Beethoven that were first sketched out
0:40:23 > 0:40:29sketched out 15 years before they actually found their rightful place. Yes, let them marinade.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37One of Fairytale Of New York's main influences
0:40:37 > 0:40:41was Ennio Morricone's score for Once Upon a Time in America,
0:40:41 > 0:40:45a film the band watched repeatedly on their tour bus.
0:40:52 > 0:40:57The main influence for the first notes is Ennio Morricone, basically.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00HE PLAYS FIRST NOTES
0:41:00 > 0:41:05That is from Once Upon a Time in America.
0:41:05 > 0:41:11Fairytale is a mix of two distinct songs, the piano start and then the main body,
0:41:11 > 0:41:17as Gary Carpenter, a classical composer from the Royal Academy of Music demonstrates.
0:41:19 > 0:41:25It's kind of like, "A Day in The Life", by the Beatles, which is also two songs that are grafted together.
0:41:25 > 0:41:30Whereas this, cos he actually takes the opening tune which is this...
0:41:42 > 0:41:46..and uses that later in the song so that he does...
0:41:46 > 0:41:48HE CONTINUES TO PLAY
0:41:56 > 0:41:59So in other words, it provides a kind of unity.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02So, if it is two songs, it doesn't feel like it.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06The Pogues also stole a musical trick from the classics,
0:42:06 > 0:42:10but they weren't the first modern songwriters to do it.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19That is a very expressive harmonic gesture.
0:42:19 > 0:42:23It's what, in classical terms, is referred to as an appoggiatura.
0:42:23 > 0:42:28# It was Christmas Eve, babe
0:42:28 > 0:42:31# In the drunk tank... #
0:42:31 > 0:42:34You get it, for example, in the start of "Yesterday".
0:42:37 > 0:42:40If it went, # Yesterday... #
0:42:40 > 0:42:44I don't think it'd be covered 212,000 times. Who cares?
0:42:44 > 0:42:49That...is what gives it a particular effect. And the same goes here...
0:42:54 > 0:42:59It's that little symphony, every little bit is bang on.
0:42:59 > 0:43:01The way the whole thing is constructed
0:43:01 > 0:43:03is a beautiful work in itself. You can admire it just for that.
0:43:03 > 0:43:10It feels like it's been constructed. It's a craftsman-like song. It's very well put together.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18A feature of Pogues songs are Shane MacGowan's lyrics.
0:43:18 > 0:43:23Heavily influenced by the greats of Irish literature, they stand up well to close analysis.
0:43:26 > 0:43:28It is a classic New York tale, isn't it?
0:43:28 > 0:43:32Two people coming to New York, all wide-eyed,
0:43:32 > 0:43:34and she ends up as a junkie.
0:43:34 > 0:43:41And he is in a drunk tank. So it is a great Christmas song. There should be more of them.
0:43:41 > 0:43:47Singer Nick Cave and Shane MacGowan have been friends for years but they work in very different ways.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50He would sing these songs that he had written
0:43:50 > 0:43:56and I mean great stuff, great lyrics, which a lot of them never saw the light of day.
0:43:56 > 0:44:02And he would be picking up scraps of paper from the floor and going "I've got another one", type of thing,
0:44:02 > 0:44:06and singing stuff. It was really powerful stuff.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09Shane MacGowan's lyrics are consistently good
0:44:09 > 0:44:12but Fairytale Of New York is considered one of his best.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14It can be reduced by the likes of me
0:44:14 > 0:44:19into an old couple having a bit of a barney on Christmas Eve.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23But that's not really what it's about.
0:44:27 > 0:44:33To really understand the lyrics to Fairytale Of New York, we need to know about Irish-American history.
0:44:33 > 0:44:37For over 250 years, Irish immigrants have been arriving in America.
0:44:37 > 0:44:42The lyrics are about their dreams of a new life and their memories of home.
0:44:42 > 0:44:48We gathered together three Irish-American historians at Ellis Island, the immigration centre
0:44:48 > 0:44:51where new arrivals, after travelling for thousands of miles,
0:44:51 > 0:44:56were screened before being allowed into the US. It's now a tourist attraction.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59You finally get here, see the Statue of Liberty
0:44:59 > 0:45:02and you hold your breath to make it through the checkpoints.
0:45:02 > 0:45:04Then on to wherever you were going.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11Many a dream would end right here in these very halls.
0:45:11 > 0:45:15They made it this far, on whatever journey to get to this point,
0:45:15 > 0:45:19and then they realised they weren't getting through.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21# For all the gold the world might hold... #
0:45:21 > 0:45:26Many Irish immigrants who did manage to get through US Customs had a struggle ahead.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30Songs like "Galway Bay" and the "Rare old Mountain Dew"
0:45:30 > 0:45:32are mentioned in the lyrics of Fairytale Of New York",
0:45:32 > 0:45:35tapping into Irish-American nostalgia.
0:45:36 > 0:45:41# And I lay my bones 'neath churchyard stones
0:45:41 > 0:45:44# Beside you, Galway Bay... #
0:45:44 > 0:45:48The world of Galway Bay is the world of
0:45:48 > 0:45:50John Ford's "Quiet Man" -
0:45:50 > 0:45:55the world of an imagined Ireland is very much a diasporic world.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59That's one that's heavily nostalgic and heavily sentimental
0:45:59 > 0:46:04and bang, we are being hit up against this in the very song, where sentiment meets sadness.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14"Happy Christmas your arse, I pray God it's our last".
0:46:14 > 0:46:17These are clearly immigrants cos they're saying "Happy Christmas"
0:46:17 > 0:46:20rather than "Merry Christmas, your arse".
0:46:20 > 0:46:26References to "Sinatra swinging" and "cars as big as bars" point to the '50s.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29But the song has a more contemporary relevance.
0:46:29 > 0:46:35Shane MacGowan wrote it at a time when many of his countrymen were forced to leave Ireland
0:46:35 > 0:46:37and head to America.
0:46:37 > 0:46:39It's the timing of it -
0:46:39 > 0:46:441987 was really the peak period of immigration, new immigration out of Ireland, to the United States.
0:46:44 > 0:46:49That young generation of people, who were listing to the Pogues in the bars,
0:46:49 > 0:46:52they'd relate to it on a very serious level.
0:46:52 > 0:46:56- # I could have been someone - Well, so could anyone... #
0:46:56 > 0:47:01Around 100,000 young Irish moved to the US in the mid-'80s when the song was written.
0:47:01 > 0:47:06For the families they left behind, America was the place of their dreams.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08My eldest brother went in '85, '86.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12Because there were no jobs, really, in Ireland.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16We were constantly chatting to him on the phone
0:47:16 > 0:47:19and he was telling us the stories of New York and how amazing it was.
0:47:19 > 0:47:23I guess, I was next. When I got to the age, I would've gone myself,
0:47:23 > 0:47:26but luckily, I got into Boyzone.
0:47:26 > 0:47:31When that song came out, it was one of those songs that you held onto tightly,
0:47:31 > 0:47:36cos you imagined, from the video, that that's how New York looked.
0:47:36 > 0:47:42The song has a filmic quality. Not surprising when you remember what they watched on the tour bus.
0:47:42 > 0:47:46But it has this view of New York which is actually totally unreal
0:47:46 > 0:47:49and romantic and right out of the movies.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53I think Shane MacGowan's work, in that funny way,
0:47:53 > 0:47:56it actually does capture something about America
0:47:56 > 0:47:59and particularly New York City.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02But something you would never be aware of.
0:48:02 > 0:48:04"I kept them with me babe, I kept them with my own.
0:48:04 > 0:48:09"Can't make it on my own. I built my dreams around you."
0:48:09 > 0:48:11That's a really strong moment and that is beautiful.
0:48:11 > 0:48:15A lot of people think they can write songs but to be that poetic
0:48:15 > 0:48:20is very hard to achieve with a certain simplicity and hitting the nail on the head.
0:48:20 > 0:48:24But one of the strengths of the song is that it doesn't tell you everything.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26Like what happens in the end.
0:48:26 > 0:48:32# Can't make it all alone I've built my dreams around you... #
0:48:32 > 0:48:36You don't know what happens at the end.
0:48:36 > 0:48:43It is unlikely they get round the Christmas tree and swap presents,
0:48:43 > 0:48:46but in the end, I don't know what happens.
0:48:46 > 0:48:53But it has an uplifting ending, you know what I mean, because love never dies.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56# I kept them with me, babe
0:48:56 > 0:49:00# I put them with my own
0:49:01 > 0:49:04# I can't make it all alone... #
0:49:04 > 0:49:09The song's mix of emotional lyrics and complex melody has attracted several cover versions.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13Irish folk singer, Christy Moore, recorded it as a solo vocal.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16# You're a bum, you're a punk You're an old whore and junk
0:49:16 > 0:49:20# Lying there on the drip Nearly dead in the bed... #
0:49:20 > 0:49:24Christy Moore's is really good.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28He takes a totally different side to it and does it not as a duet,
0:49:28 > 0:49:32but as Christy Moore in his own unique style.
0:49:32 > 0:49:36# ..choir were singing Galway Bay... #
0:49:36 > 0:49:40Not all versions have been so well received.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42# The bells were ringing out on Christmas Day... #
0:49:42 > 0:49:46The only thing you can ever do with a cover of "Fairytale Of New York"
0:49:46 > 0:49:49is try and find a different approach to it.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52Try and find something in it that we haven't said.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55- # You're handsome.- You're pretty Queen of New York City... #
0:49:55 > 0:50:00Because I have so many brothers and sisters living in America, that song became very important to me.
0:50:00 > 0:50:05I always try to cover songs that are important to me and that I have great memories of.
0:50:05 > 0:50:10# The boys of the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay... #
0:50:10 > 0:50:16Ronan's management had reservations about him "going all Shane MacGowan" on them and censored the lyrics.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19The only problem, I think, was the faggot phrase.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23But we had to change it. What can you do?!
0:50:23 > 0:50:28If you're going to sing "Fairytale of New York" and you're going to change the words, why bother?
0:50:28 > 0:50:33"You scumbag, you maggot, you're cheap and you're haggard" was the lyric we had to change TO.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37It's fair enough. It doesn't really do any harm to the song.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40# You scumbag, you maggot You're cheap and you're haggard... #
0:50:40 > 0:50:44Ronan Keating, I thought that was good.
0:50:44 > 0:50:49The best versions I've heard are of people singing it in bars, actually.
0:50:51 > 0:50:53Exactly like the audience at a Pogues gig.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56Shane and Kirsty's performance was a show-stopper.
0:50:58 > 0:51:00Kirsty MacColl!
0:51:00 > 0:51:03CHEERING
0:51:03 > 0:51:05Kirsty was in her element with the band
0:51:05 > 0:51:11and the fans just loved her, they really did.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15When her name was mentioned, there was such an outpouring of...love.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19This song's called "Fairytale Of New York".
0:51:19 > 0:51:24Performing with the Pogues was the perfect cure for Kirsty's stage fright.
0:51:24 > 0:51:29She went back in front of a crowd for the first time in seven years.
0:51:29 > 0:51:35It was very moving. I found it so moving, and that is what is so extraordinary.
0:51:35 > 0:51:41I am so glad that I saw her. That was really so exciting.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45There is the part of the song where Shane sings,
0:51:45 > 0:51:50"I could have been someone", and Kirsty goes, "Well, so could anyone."
0:51:50 > 0:51:58You'd have a hall full of three, four, 5,000 people all singing, "So could anyone" back at the band,
0:51:58 > 0:52:01and it was an extraordinary moment. Spine-tingling sometimes.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04# I could've been someone
0:52:04 > 0:52:07# Well, so could anyone...
0:52:07 > 0:52:10# You took my dreams from me
0:52:10 > 0:52:13# When I first found you... #
0:52:13 > 0:52:20I used to just wait for it every night cos I would catch Kirsty's eye in the middle of it, if I was lucky.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24# Can't make it all alone I built my dreams around you... #
0:52:24 > 0:52:30Fairytale is not a Pogues song. It's the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32# The boys of the NYPD choir Still singing Galway Bay
0:52:32 > 0:52:36# And the bells are ringing out for Christmas Day... #
0:52:36 > 0:52:38The week before Christmas 2000,
0:52:38 > 0:52:44something happened which meant the song would never again be played in its original form.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50Pop singer, Kirsty MacColl, has been killed in an accident in Mexico...
0:52:50 > 0:52:54Kirsty was hit by a speedboat while swimming with her two sons on holiday.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57Her mother got a telephone call at home.
0:52:57 > 0:53:03He just said, "There has been an accident, a boating accident, and Kirsty is dead."
0:53:06 > 0:53:09Well...what can I say...
0:53:09 > 0:53:11I miss her.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17# The wind blows right through you It's no place for the old
0:53:17 > 0:53:19# When you first took my hand... #
0:53:19 > 0:53:24When we were in there listening to it, it sort of choked me a little bit.
0:53:24 > 0:53:29Whenever I listen to Kirsty's voice in a studio situation, it takes me back.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32# Sinatra was swinging The drunks, they were singing... #
0:53:32 > 0:53:35It was so sad when she was taken from us.
0:53:35 > 0:53:37It was a real horrible shock,
0:53:37 > 0:53:42kind of unbelievable and incomprehensible and nightmarish.
0:53:42 > 0:53:46It still is, actually.
0:53:50 > 0:53:55Every year near her birthday, Kirsty's relatives and fans
0:53:55 > 0:54:01gather around her memorial in Soho Square to sing her songs and remember her life.
0:54:01 > 0:54:03This is their 5th year.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07What would be lovely would be if Kirsty was here singing her bit,
0:54:07 > 0:54:09"So could anyone..."
0:54:09 > 0:54:15I sing that, like everybody does, with a real...power.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18# I could have been someone
0:54:18 > 0:54:20# Well, so could anyone... #
0:54:20 > 0:54:26Whenever I hear Kirsty singing, it gives me pleasure and joy.
0:54:26 > 0:54:30# They've got cars big as bars They got rivers of gold
0:54:30 > 0:54:32# The wind blows right through you It's no place for the old
0:54:32 > 0:54:36# When you first took my hand on a cold Christmas Eve
0:54:36 > 0:54:39# You promised me Broadway was waiting for me
0:54:39 > 0:54:42- #You were handsome- You were pretty Queen of New York City... #
0:54:42 > 0:54:46When "Fairytale" comes on, first I go, "Oh, no, not that again!"
0:54:46 > 0:54:51Within a minute, I'm sucked into the song all over again as if I'm hearing it for the first time.
0:54:51 > 0:54:56# The boys of the NYPD choir Still singing Galway Bay... #
0:54:56 > 0:55:04I want the families sitting round the Christmas table singing it. "OK, you be Kirsty and I'll be Shane!"
0:55:07 > 0:55:09I'm proud of us
0:55:09 > 0:55:14and everybody involved in it and Kirsty...
0:55:14 > 0:55:17I'm proud of everybody involved with it.
0:55:17 > 0:55:23# You took my dreams from me When I first found you... #
0:55:23 > 0:55:29It's a great Christmas song. You don't normally get Christmas songs that are so utterly hopeless.
0:55:29 > 0:55:35# Can't make it all alone I've built my dreams around you
0:55:37 > 0:55:43# The boys of the NYPD choir Still singing Galway Bay
0:55:43 > 0:55:48# And the bells are ringing out For Christmas Day. #
0:56:01 > 0:56:06Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:56:06 > 0:56:09E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk