who wrote the song fairytale of new york
Jem Finer Shane MacGowan
title: Fairytale of New York text: Fairytale of New York "Fairytale of New York" is a song written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan and recorded by their band the Pogues, featuring singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl on vocals. The song is an Irish folk-style ballad and was written as a duet, with the Pogues' singer MacGowan taking the role of the male character and MacColl the female character. It was originally released as a single on 23 November 1987 and later featured on the Pogues' 1988 album "If I Should Fall from Grace with God". Originally begun in 1985, the song had a troubled two-year development history, title: Fairytale of New York text: arose as a result of a wager made by the Pogues' producer at the time, Elvis Costello, that the band would not be able to write a Christmas hit single, while the Pogues' manager Frank Murray has stated that it was originally his idea that the band should try and write a Christmas song as he thought it would be "interesting". It was banjo player Finer who came up with the melody and the original concept for the song, which involved a sailor in New York looking out over the ocean and reminiscing about being back home in Ireland. Finer's title: Fairytale of New York text: the Irish immigrant down on his luck in the Big Apple" — and Irish Gaelic footballer Alisha Jordan, who was inspired by the song's words to recover and to not be overcome by facial injuries she received when a stranger attacked her in a New York City street. Note: Shanne Bradley was one of MacGowan's bandmates in his previous group The Nips. Live tracks recorded at Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, 1987 Fairytale of New York "Fairytale of New York" is a song written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan and recorded by their band the Pogues, featuring singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl on title: Fairytale of New York text: "Fairytale of New York". Another inspiration was Sergio Leone's film "Once Upon a Time in America", which MacGowan and whistle player Spider Stacy would watch over and over again in the tour bus. Apart from shaping the ideas for the lyrics, MacGowan wrote a slow, piano-based introduction to "Fairytale of New York" influenced by the film's score by Ennio Morricone: the intro would later be edited together with the more upbeat original melody to create the final song. As 1986 went on, however, the Pogues encountered various problems that brought a halt to their recording activity. Their record label Stiff title: Fairytale of New York text: the UK in 2016. As of September 2017 the song has sold 1,217,112 copies in the UK, with an additional 249,626 streaming equivalent sales, for a total of 1,466,737 combined sales. In the UK, it is the most-played Christmas song of the 21st century. "Fairytale of New York" has been cited as the best Christmas song of all time in various television, radio and magazine related polls in the UK and Ireland. Although there is agreement among the band that "Fairytale of New York" was first written in 1985, the origins of the song are disputed. MacGowan insisted that it