Favourite version of FTONY?

[Billie]

Live at the Town & Country Club

[philipchevron]

Only ever heard the original, don't think i'd want to hear any other!

Kirsty MacColl only ever knew the original too. I learned this a few days before she died when I asked her what she thought of Ronan's then just-released version. "Oh, I've never heard ANY of the other versions", she breezily told me, "not Christy Moore, not Nina Hagen, not Dustin the Turkey, and certainly not Ronan Keating's. I mean, what would be the point? We did it, it's perfect. Leave it alone." I suppose I sleep a little more soundly knowing that Kirsty's "Fairytale" experience never did get sullied by outside "forces".

what does shane think of the other versions?

Between you and me, Shane approves of all versions that help pay for his lifestyle, but I think he's sincere when he says the best versions are by gangs of people in pubs.

[Beisty]

I've been known to do a mean version in the shower.

[Rich]

I remember hearing an otherwise OK-ish band do a version of Fairytale at an "Irish" pub in Nashville several years ago. They did the verses all out of order and had one (male) singer singing both parts instead of doing it as a duet, so it made absolutely no sense, but it was kind of fun anyway. The fun-ness was probably enhanced by the fact that my friends and I had been drinking all evening.

[DrugProwlingWolf]

Well if that's not punk rock then I don't know what is.

[Simon Maguire]

When you haven't listened to the Original version for a while you forget how bloody good it is. Its a masterpieace that anyother version just can't compare to.

And funnily enough I think Shane has written better songs. 'Song With No Name' and 'Rainy Night In Soho' are better than 'Fairytale Of New York' in my opinion. Maybe I feel this way because of all the hype that song gets.

I think Philips 'Thousands Are Sailing' is up there with Fairytale, Pair Of Brown Eyes is one of Shane's greats as well.

[JohnG]

Live with the two Macs for me!

As an aside, has anybody read the J P Donleavy novel from which the song takes its name. I must get round but was wondering if the story of the song reflects the novel?

[DzM]

Live with the two Macs for me!

As an aside, has anybody read the J P Donleavy novel from which the song takes its name. I must get round but was wondering if the story of the song reflects the novel?

I'm led to understand that the only thing they share is the name.

[Woody]

I like this version of FONY!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3vuRmxfRYo&NR=1

[philipchevron]

I like this version of FONY!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3vuRmxfRYo&NR=1

I love that No Use For A Name version. It almost always, I now realise, brings me to the verge of tears. They are so sincere with it, it's lovely.

[PADDYgoesDUTCH]

the version by The Mahones isn't too bad either
see: http://www.myspace.com/themahones

[Low D]

I do really like Christy Moore's version on the Live At The Point album. Great intro to it as well.

Christy's is the only cover i like at all. i think the fact that he did NOT try to pull off a duet and instead changed it up is the reason. And the intro on Live at the Point is priceless. I mean, it's not just a duet, is it? It's like one of the greatest duets of all time we're talking about.

That said, i would have loved to have heard Cait with the rest back in 2004. The early versions on the box set, while fascinating to total losers like me, doesn't hold a candle to what Kirsty & The Pogues pulled off on IISFFGWG & the subsequent live shows.

[phro37]

The early versions on the box set, while fascinating to total losers like me, doesn't hold a candle to what Kirsty & The Pogues pulled off on IISFFGWG & the subsequent live shows.

agreed. although the lines in the first version on the box set (1986?):

??????????????
the blind will never see
the lame don't walk with thee
and there's nothing me and you can do.

i love those lines.

[in_the_morning]

The recorded album version with Shane and Kirsty and the strings...by the way: in the "Fall From Grace"-Documentary, Shane claims that he "arranged every note of it, even the string arrangement, apart from a little riff by Jem..." but I think I read somewhere that the strings were done by a female musician? What's the truth?

[philipchevron]

The recorded album version with Shane and Kirsty and the strings...by the way: in the "Fall From Grace"-Documentary, Shane claims that he "arranged every note of it, even the string arrangement, apart from a little riff by Jem..." but I think I read somewhere that the strings were done by a female musician? What's the truth?

Shane likes to keep the facts on their toes from time to time. I have established beyond doubt that "Fairytale" is very much a MacGowan/Finer composition, just like it says on the label. The band arrangement is by the Pogues - all 8 of us - and the string arrangement is a joint effort by Fiachra Trench and James Fearnley.