"Fairytale Of New York" lyrics

"Fairytale Of New York"
(feat. Kirsty MacColl)

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, still singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells are ringing out for Christmas Day


Thanks to Carli Rae, Charlie Middleton, Rory, Isabella, Megan for correcting these lyrics.
Writer(s): Jeremy Max Finer, Shane Patrick Lysaght Mac-gowan
The title of this song was taken from the 1973 novel "A Fairytale of New York" by James Patrick Donleavy. He explained The Daily Mail on the 18th of December 2009, "Technically I could have taken legal action for piracy but as I know Shane MacGowan — I believe his father is a fan of my work — I decided not to bother."
Jem Finer recalled to NME, "I had written two songs complete with tunes: one had a good tune and crap lyrics, the other had the idea for 'Fairytale' but the tune was poxy. I gave them both to Shane and he gave it a Broadway melody, and there it was."
"Fairytale Of New York" was certified triple "Platinum" in the UK in 2019. It is the most-played Christmas song of the 21st century there.
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