Christmas Day Poem: "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl

It is not strictly a poem, but I think this is a beautiful song with a Christmas theme. It also features the beautiful, gifted and late lamented Kirsty MacColl who was tragically killed, aged 41, on the 18 December 2000 at Cozumel, Mexico. The Mexican millionaire, Guillermo Gonzalez Nova, widely believed to be driving the powerboat that ran over Kirsty and killed her, never faced any consequences in a travesty of natural justice. Kirsty's mother campaigned for many years for justice for Kirsty, but finally gave up, aged and exhausted by the fight.

It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me,

won't see another one

And then he sang a song

The Rare Old Mountain Dew

I turned my face away

And dreamed about you

Got on a lucky one

Came in eighteen to one

I've got a feeling

This year's for me and you

So happy Christmas

I love you baby

I can see a better time

When all our dreams come true

They've got cars big as bars
They've got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It's no place for the old
When you first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me

You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night

The boys of the NYPD choir

Were singing 'Galway Bay'

And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day

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

You scumbag, you maggot

You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas, your arse
I pray God it's our last

The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing, "Galway Bay"

And the bells are ringing out
For Christmas day

I could have been someone

Well, so could anyone

You took my dreams from me

When I first found you

I kept them with me, babe

I put them with my own

Can’t make it all alone

I’ve built my dreams around you

The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing 'Galway Bay'

And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day.

Songwriters: Jem Finer and Shane Patrick Lysaght Macgowan

Copyright: Universal Music Publishing Group