Since last week’s Song of the Week introduced the holiday season, I thought 
I’d keep in the spirit of the season and seek out another favorite Christmas-themed tune.
I am ashamed to admit that somehow I had missed hearing Fairytale of New York until Wayne Bledsoe played it for me last year on “All Over the Road,” his WDVX radio show. Although I had been a fan of the late Kirsty McColl since my own college radio days as a disc jockey at WUTK (then known as “New Rock 90″), somehow this gem had escaped my attention.
But, since being introduced to it, I find myself drawn into its sometimes tragic and sometimes celebratory tale of a couple torn by their shattered dreams for each other and themselves. As a bonus, it’s the only Christmas song I know of that begins with a trip to the drunk tank.
But this is no drunken sing-along novelty tune (like Robert Earl Keen’s “Merry Christmas from the Family”). Instead, I find some sweetness hidden beneath the ugly truth in the song. The Christmas season can bring out the worst in any of us while still inspiring us to better things.
At Christmas I can’t help but feel inadequate. I worry that I haven’t accomplished enough in the year or that I can’t provide enough. “I could have been someone,” as the male lead complains in the song. I hope when he hears his partner’s response– “So could have anyone”– he hears it not as a mean-spirited barb, but as a sharp no-nonsense “snap out of it” reminder to stop with the self-pity. For, as drunk and disorderly, as insulting and rude as Fairytale’s couple may seem, I can’t help but believe they still love each other. Maybe that’s just the hopeless Christmas romantic in me.
So, here’s the Pogues with special guest 
Kirsty Maccoll singing “Fairytale of New York” as this week’s holiday-themed Song of the Week. As a bonus, I should point out that today also marks the birthday of Terry Woods of the Pogues.
“So happy Christmas/I love you baby/I can see a better time/When all our dreams come true.”
