Fairytale of New York Lyrics
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
[Verse 2: Shane MacGowan]
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
[Verse 3: Kirsty MacColl]
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
[Verse 4: Kirsty MacColl & Shane MacGowan & Together]
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
[Chorus: Shane Macgowan & Kirsty MacColl]
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
[Chorus: Shane Macgowan & Kirsty MacColl]
The boys of the NYPD choir, still singing, "Galway Bay"
And the bells are ringing out for Christmas Day
[Verse 6: Kirsty MacColl & Shane MacGowan]
"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
[Outro: Shane Macgowan & Kirsty MacColl]
The boys of the NYPD choir, still singing, "Galway Bay"
And the bells are ringing out for Christmas Day
About
The song took years to write, it was released in 1987. Now a Christmas Standard, it enters the UK Top Twenty every December.
It’s about an Irish couple who emigrated to America, ostensibly in the 1940’s, in hope of making it as entertainers in New York. Although, as stated by co-writer Shane MacGowan:
Really, the story could apply to any couple who went anywhere and found themselves down on their luck.
According to Jem Finer his first attempts at writing this song about a sailor missing his wife was deemed too corny by his wife:
I said OK, you suggest a storyline and I’ll write another one. The basic plotline came from her: this idea of a couple falling on hard times and coming eventually to some redemption.
The song’s title comes from the 1973 novel A Fairytale of New York by Irish-American author James Patrick Donleavy, who was born in New York but later moved to Dublin and became an Irish citizen. In the book, the narrator says:
When I was a little boy. Left in a brand new foster home. I went out playing the afternoon around the block got lost, so busy telling all the other kids a fairy tale of New York. That my real father was a tycoon and my mother a princess…
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
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