Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

fairytale new york homophobia disguised christmas cheer

347 replies

Ontheboardwalk · 16/12/2019 22:57

This is my Christmas song, Christmas starts when I hear this song. Kirsty MacColl sounds fabulous.

It’s all over the newspapers again about the outrage.

Shane MacGowan has explained a million times what the word faggot means in his life and this song. There’s no harm in the song

AIBU that outrage at this word finishes and everyone should all sing along together to a great tune

OP posts:
Likethebattle · 16/12/2019 22:59

Hate this song it’s so Mosh mashed and sounds like someone drunk on the street.

bakebeans · 16/12/2019 22:59

Snowflakes are at it again! 😔

UsedtobeFeckless · 16/12/2019 23:00

It's a great song. The pogues are gods!

gh621 · 16/12/2019 23:02

I agree with you however it’s not a word a would want my child singing or saying given what it now means to people therefore I wish they would blank it out on the radio

SurvivingCBeebies · 16/12/2019 23:05

There's 4 different meanings to the word.. one of which we eat (well not me.. they're minging)..

Perhaps education of the other meanings would be better..

Bloody good song tho..

TellMeWhoTheVilliansAre · 16/12/2019 23:09

and sounds like someone drunk on the street

Isn't that supposed to be the point of the entire song?!

Andysbestadventure · 16/12/2019 23:09

Faggot is still used here as a non gay related insult, and I'm in Liverpool. I admit mostly by people I know who are over 65 but 🤷‍♀️ it just means 'muppet' or 'stupid sod', really.

Though if people really want to get arsey I can happily have a good 6hr discussion about the origin of the word and bundles of sticks/balls of produce in gravy.

YahooGmail · 16/12/2019 23:09

Growing up in Ireland in the 80s, my mum would call us that if we were being bold. It was nothing to do with homosexuality. However, as a lot of people wouldn't realise that, and now it means something different it probably be easier if they blanked it out

Original poster
Ontheboardwalk · 17/12/2019 07:47

Ok I can see why people might think it should be blanked out on the radio however what about all the others lines? Especially You're a bum, You're a punk, You're an old slut on junk, Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed 😂

OP posts:
bellinisurge · 17/12/2019 07:50

It's a dialogue between two people who don't talk naicely but love each other. Is it so hard to understand?

Samcro · 17/12/2019 07:50

ffs do people moan this much about the songs that they hear on the radio.
its a great song.

Pinkyyy · 17/12/2019 07:53

Maybe they'll just rewrite the song and ruin it entirely, like they did with Baby it's Cold Outside. The snowflakes will be the end of Christmas altogether.

nononever · 17/12/2019 07:56

It's the most popular Christmas son in the UK according to this survey. So feck off Alex Dyke

www.theguardian.com/music/2019/dec/04/fairytale-of-new-york-uk-most-popular-christmas-song-pogues-accusations-homophobic-slur

TheDarkPassenger · 17/12/2019 07:57

I can’t believe people whinge about this song then let their 2 year olds twerk to songs about sluts and hos. Bizarre

Brefugee · 17/12/2019 07:58

Hate this song it’s so Mosh mashed and sounds like someone drunk on the street.

the first line literally places them in the "drunk tank" - they are wasted.

I think it's a great song, very evocative and tells a brilliant story. The way they sing (talk to each other) is how people do/did (it's set in the past, I think at a time of massive immigration to the US from Ireland).

Use of the word "faggot" is controversial. More so these days since we started listening to how minorities can be hurt by language. McGowan can explain until he's blue in the face what the word means to him - the fact is it is used as an insult to people. Either because they are gay, or because they are being called gay because that would be a massive insult to them.

If it was the N-word we probably wouldn't use it and it would be blanked out on radio, I suspect. It was a long hard journey to get to this stage with that word. Faggot is another: countless people are telling us that it hurts to hear it, that it recalls abuse they have received and do receive. The least we could do, in the spirit of Christmas, is find an alternative line/word and sing that?

IMO - it's fine to sing it within the context of the song as reported speech and an outdated attitude. But I do understand how insulting/painful it is for people to hear it. So I don't.

Disfordarkchocolate · 17/12/2019 07:59

And so few complaints about her being called a slut. Honestly, I love this song because it's so real.

Bodyposiftw · 17/12/2019 08:00

Next thing you know they'll complain about the word fairy in the title.
It is a great song, and I suspect many gay people are fine with it.

beautifulstranger101 · 17/12/2019 08:00

It annoys me greatly that this song gets so much stick, yet practically every hip hop song that exists talks about women as being ho's, bitches, gold diggers, whores, etc. Yet does anyone complain about that? of course they dont. Even snoop dogg admitted the way he spoke about women in his earlier career was awful and I'd hardly call him a feminist icon.
If we're gonna root out problematic song lyrics then people need to address the elephant in the room, and its not The Pogues.

Bodyposiftw · 17/12/2019 08:06

It's not a word I would use myself, nor would I say the N word. I will happily call a horrible person a cunt or other niceties but I draw the lines at slurs, they say more about you than about the person you are insulting.
I generally disagree with censoring outdated language in signs and books though, on the understanding that it reflects the mentality of the times.
Two drunk people saying horrible, ignorant things to each other is what the song is about though. Leave it.

Bodyposiftw · 17/12/2019 08:09

Beautiful stranger exactly! Songs about stealing other women's boyfriends, celebrating curves by mocking skinny bitches etc are way worse for kids and ther are not just played a few weeks a year.

Bouledeneige · 17/12/2019 08:10
  1. Snowflakes
  2. its telling a story of people who are drunk behaving badly. Its ironic.
  3. best Christmas song ever.
SirGawain · 17/12/2019 08:11

Can't get excited about the word of a song, politicaly incorrect or otherwise. A short time ago someone was getting steamed up about 'Baby it's Cold Outside'. Please get a life.

FreedomfromPE · 17/12/2019 08:11

Lots of homophobia complaints. No concern over the sexism. Usual BS from the media. It's OK to call women sluts Angry

FreedomfromPE · 17/12/2019 08:13

It's a great Christmas song but it does expose the truth about where women as a group fall in relation to a group in society that might include men being offended.

HideYourBabiesAndYourBeadwork · 17/12/2019 08:13

My partner and I change the words to “you scumbag, you maggot, you taped over Taggart” when we sing along to it.

I love the song it’s my favourite Christmas one and although it doesn’t offend me, I don’t feel I have the right to tell other people what they should be offended by.