Fairytale of New York should be banned from radio

[Alrighteo]

This is from one of the UK tabolids

Hand up!

Faggot wasn't a homosexual slur when the song was written, in the same way that we don't say gay to mean happy and jolly.

Some people need to get a grip.

Just as an aside, at the final law lecture of my degree the lecturer didn't say a word, he just played this song… in May. We all just sat bemused and mesmerised and when it finished he didn't say a single word about it, he just got straight down to business.

I loved Kirsty MacColl. There was a threat to ban this song last year too.

Just popping in to say there isn't actually an NYPD choir. They made that bit up.

And in Ralph McTell's Street of London, yesterday's papers aren't full of yesterday's news, they're full of the day before yesterday's news. It's today's papers that are full of yesterday's news, the bloody liar!!

If we're arguing about whether it's a Christmas song or not...

It's much more Christmassy than Stay Another Day.

I'd ban it because I just don't like the song lol

I love the song. It's not Christmas for me until I here it.

Better than most of the shite being played (Robbie Williams)

I also like the rarely played one from Chris deBurgh about aliens coming to earth to meet Jesus.

"And it went la la la la la la la la la la..........'

IWorkAtTheCheesecakeFactory I'm aware of the lyrics - if I wasn't how would I have known the children sang a partially cleaned up version as I started earlier.

I think it's a cleaver but depressing song - so doesn’t say Christmas to me.

However a PP did say it helped them with their alcoholic family – and I’m aware there are a few families with such issue at the DC school and a lot more with money problems, so I expect there are more problems than I'm aware of, so perhaps it was chosen with this in mind for the children to sing.

I wonder if there’s a correlation between people who don’t think FONY is a Christmas song and people who don’t think Die Hard is a Christmas film?

“Faggot wasn't a homosexual slur when the song was written, in the same way that we don't say gay to mean happy and jolly”
Was it written before 1914?

It's much more Christmassy than Stay Another Day.

Yes it is.

Hand up here too.

Now youtube has me listening to the Dixie Chicks so I wonder about my own taste and youtube's interpretation of that taste at times!

Yes, the lyrics ARE foul.

That's why I bloody love it. Don't people have enough yuletide schmaltz to content themselves with? As if 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' on its own isn't going to have you reaching for the anti-emetics to help swallow that that crock of sentimental, maudlin bilge.

Hands off this lovely, gritty humour, please. Not to mention MacColl, who is one very underrated singer.

I'm aware of the lyrics - if I wasn't how would I have known the children sang a partially cleaned up version as I started earlier.

You made a snarky comment about the first 5 lyrics not making it a Christmas song. Suggesting you hadn’t heard the full lyrics. Which if you had you would know it’s a Christmas song. Just because it’s a Christmas song you don’t like doesn’t make it not a Christmas song.

And if you don't like Shane MacGowan, but prefer a recovering/recovered alcoholic singing it, try this version

Planet Rock edit out - with varying degrees of success - rude words in rock songs so I’m sure the slur in this track could be edited.

I grew up on Christy’s version, it was years before I even knew that wasn’t the original!

I come down on the side of ‘back off fairytale of New York’. It’s the perfect mix of a cheerful tune framing bleak lyrics - a lot of people identify with that amongst the relentless tweeness of Christmas.

I accept that the word faggot has had various uses over time and I’m not about to back purging art just because meanings have changed. If people don’t want to use their brains and understand more than what’s in front of their face that’s their prerogative but they shouldn’t be expect to be taken seriously either.

This song wouldn’t have been written in the same language today would it.

I'm adding it to my Spotify now.

@IWorkAtTheCheesecakeFactory Blasphemy!

A 'faggot' in 80's Ireland didn't mean a homosexual btw. It meant an arsehole

It didn't where I grew up either,it was almost a term of endearment like cheeky monkey but a bit worse.

Best song ever, ban it,FFS?

I know!

Love that song and it will be playing in my house this Christmas ❤️