Shane MacGowan, the illustrious frontman of the Pogues, passed away last year after an eventful drug- and drink-filled life. Whatever you might think of him, he certainly wasn't a boring character. On 30 November 2023, after receiving last rites, MacGowan died from pneumonia at his home in Dublin with his wife by his side; he was 65.
Warner Records thought it was a fitting idea to rush-release this vinyl single with the man's most famous performance, on the Christmas song 'Fairytale of New York'. It would of course have been great if this song was the UK's Christmas number 1 of 2023, but that honour went to another dead man: George Michael of Wham! Still, this single is a great item because it features an instrumental version of that famous Christmas tune.
With Kim Wilde releasing an album of covers on August 27, it's inevitable that I went searching for the original versions of the songs featured on that album - at least, the ones that weren't already in my collection!
Kirsty MacColl's 'They don't know' was released in 1979. I didn't know there was a picture disc edition of the single, but here it is... I found it for close to nothing on Ebay. It made me wonder why I never saw this single before, because I would certainly have snapped it up: it's much better than the Tracey Ullman cover released a few years later.
My collection: 7" single no. 5191 Found: eBay.co.uk, received July 29, 2011 Cost: 2 pounds Tracks: 'They don't know' / 'Motor on'
I was already an avid follower of the Dutch Top 40 in 1981, and as such I was always impressed with the title of this single. The song itself, however, was a different matter. It took me two decades to start to like the track.
The single reached nmber 14 in the UK singles chart and number 16 in the Dutch Top 40. In America, a version was released called 'There's a guy works down the truck stop swears he's Elvis', since a 'chip shop' is a very British thing - but this alteration didn't help it reach the chart across the big pond. The country version on the B-side is a great alternate version, by the way.
My collection: 7" single no. 4088 Found: Marktplaats.nl, received September 25, 2009 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'There's a guy works down the chip shop swears he's Elvis' / 'Hard to believe', 'There's a guy works down the chip shop swears he's Elvis (Country version)'
Often voted as the best ever Christmas song, The Pogues' 'Fairytale of New York' was specifically recorded for this merry time of year. It did not reach number one in the UK, being held off the top spot by the Pet Shop Boys' 'Always on my mind'. In Ireland, the Pogues did have a number one hit with this.
Guest vocals were performed by Kirsty MacColl. Her part was originally intended for band member Cait O'Riordan. She left the band, however, in 1986, and so producer Steve Lillywhite proposed to have his wife sing a guide vocal for the recording. The band liked her contribution so much that she also sang the part on the actual recording.
On December 18, 2007, BBC Radio 1 banned the words 'faggot' and 'slut' from the song to 'avoid offence'. The words were dubbed out. MacColl's mother Jean, called the ban "too ridiculous", while the Pogues said they found it "amusing". However, that evening Radio 1 backed down and said that after a day of criticism from listeners, the band, and MacColl's mother, they reversed the decision. The unedited version was then played later on that day.
My collection: 7" single no. 3673 Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 18, 2009 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Fairytale of New York' / 'The Battle March medley'
The album 'Red hot and blue' was released in 1990 by the Red Hot Organization. Twenty artists contributed twenty songs for an album that would raise funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS. The album was named after a 1936 musical by Cole Porter, and contained versions of songs written by him.
'Miss Otis regrets/Just one of those things' was a song released from that album as a single. Kirsty MacColl and the Pogues had worked together before, and they renewed their working relationship with this dynamic version of the Cole Porter track. The B-side was Aztec Camera's beautiful cover of 'Do I love you', which at the time of buying was one of my favourite tracks from the album, which I'd bought a few weeks earlier.
My collection: 7" single no. 1375
Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, January 27, 1991
Cost: 6,5 guilders
Tracks: 'Miss Otis regrets' / 'Just one of those things'
Amazingly, the wonderful video for Kirsty MacColl's 'Terry' cannot be found on YouTube. It was this video that made me interested in the song after a long time. At first I couldn't stand the video, then I began to think it was pretty funny and in the end, I had to admit that the song was pretty amazing too.
Still, it would be 1990 before I bought the single, because when I finally liked the song the single had disappeared from all the record shops.
