Christmas Eve is here again. Bloody hell. You know it in your bones. Yuletide carols being sung by a drunk, and folks dressed up like Eskimos. Last minute shoppers sipping from flasks, paying full price, dodging traffic. Cooks filling houses with wonderful smells. The egg nog is a-flowing, and the lights twinkle and candles flicker, but it's not Christmas yet. Not really.
It's not really Christmas unless you hear Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl singing "Fairytale of New York." It's a beautifully sad song, the sweet wrecked couple tear at their hearts--and ours. It's not the rarest tune, and any mix-tape enthusiast worth his salt has included this gem long ago, but we still love it. Rumors of MacGowan's death have been greatly exaggerated, but lovely Kirsty died in a boating accident in Mexico in 2000. More sorrow to an already sad song. Poor me a whiskey and we'll sing along.
"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..."
The rest of the words are here, if you can bear it.
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