“Fairytale of New York” by the hard drinking, hard livin’ Irish band The Pogues, is universally the favorite Christmas song of people who hate Christmas songs. Simultaneously sentimental and vicious, the melancholy song about lost love and broken dreams, delivered with some of the most shocking lyrics to ever appear on holiday radio through the drunken slur of Shane McGowan, and the fiery voice of Kirsty MacColl, proves that Christmas music doesn’t need to be dull or terrible.
But every holiday season there seems to be some asshat at a holiday gathering who begins to drone on about “Fairytale of New York” with some kind of authoritative condescension as if they are the only person who has ever heard this song. No. No. I’m not talking about myself, although I’m sure at another time when I may not have been more self-aware, I could easily have been that asshat. Instead, I’ve been on the other end of those guys, and I think they are douche bags (or, perhaps, I’m ticked off because they are stealing my thunder as the resident “music guy.” Who knows) Well, I’ve wanted to write about “Fairytale of New York” for some time, and while my first knee jerk reaction is to write a Vinyl Story about the history of the song, I want to make the holiday bright and avoid being “that guy.”
Instead, I want to tell the story of Kirsty MacCall. We all know her voice, and we sing along with her every Christmas, but her career in music is relatively unknown (to North American audiences anyway). In this regard, Kirsty’s story is a far bigger one, and her involvement in the development of “Fairytale of New York” made it the seasonal hit it became. Sentimentally known as “the 9th Pogue,” she had a few peaks in her career as a singer and songwriter, but never quite hit the heights of super stardom. But on a sunny afternoon in Mexico, one week before Christmas, she made the ultimate sacrifice that brought everything to an end.
Born in 1959 in a suburb on London, Kirsty MacColl was the daughter of dancer Jean Newlove and musician Ewan McColl, who wrote such folk songs as “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” and “Dirty Old Town,” and is credited for composing the modern composition of “Scarborough Fair.” Although her parents split up while she was young, and her father was not involved in her childhood, the roots of artistic expression was very solid within her family home.
Remembered for being feisty and strong willed, Kirsty was also a sickly child who spent her first few years being homeschooled, and she was quickly acknowledged for having a gifted mind. In fact, her television debut took place when she was seven years old and interviewed for a BBC program called “The Problem with Gifted Children.” But like many homeschooled kids, her isolation and intelligence often made her feel different from other children, and when she entered the school system at age 9, she quickly felt like an outsider, which she used to fuel her talent for writing music. By age 11 she was writing and performing her first original compositions, and at age 17 she had joined a punk band called The Drug Addix under the pseudonym Mandy Doubt.
When The Drug Addicx got the chance to do a release for Stiff Records in 1978, the executives at the label were not impressed with the band, but Kirsty, caught the attention of the producers who recognized her raw talent. Kirsty was talked into leaving the group and was given a solo contract. Writing songs that were less punk and more in the new wave/pop genre starting to dominate the British music scene at the end of the 70’s, her first single was a sweet nostalgia flavored song titled “They Don’t Know About Us.” Although the song was loved by professionals, critics and audiences alike and got plenty of airplay on British radio stations, a distributors strike prevented the record from actually getting to stores, and as a result the single never got a chance to enter the sales charts.
But in 1981 Kirsty would finally have a bit of success with a novelty song she wrote called “There’s a Guy Down at the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis,” which went to #14 on the UK Billboard charts. But by this point, Kirsty had moved into a career working for Polydor Records as a backup vocalist. Although she had talent of her own, Kirsty claimed that she never had any desire to be a star and often felt uncomfortable in the spotlight. Backing vocals was where she felt more in control, and she could make a decent living at it. Over the next few years, she performed backup vocals for a wide range of British performs such as The Smiths, The Rolling Stones, Simple Minds, The Talking Heads and Robert Plant.
Possibly the biggest irony of her career was in 1983 when she sang backup on comedian Tracy Ulman’s version of her own song, “They Don’t Know About Us.” When Tracy couldn’t hit the pivotal high note when she sings “Baby,” producers suggested that Kirsty show her how it’s done. In the end, Tracy could never do it and the engineers just edited Kirsty’s voice over Tracy’s at that point. In Tracy’s appearance on “Top of the Pops,” Kirsty accompanied her as a backup singer. When they got to the the line “Baby,” the cameras did a close up on Tracy’s face, who lip synced the line. The song was an international hit and hit the charts in the UK, America, Canada and Australia.
During a recording session with Simple Minds Kirsty met record producer Steve Lillywhite and the pair were married in 1984. Steve talked Kirsty into doing another solo single, which was a cover of Bill Bragg’s “A New England.” Although released just months after the Bagg version, Kirsty’s cover was a hit and she got her first single into the UK Billboard Top Ten, where it rose to #7. However, timing didn’t seem to be on her side as when the track hit, Kirsty was pregnant with her first son, Louise. In the video for the song, Kirsty is clearly pregnant, although they try to make it as unobvious as possible. A year later she gave birth to a second son, Jamie, and she decided to semi-retire to focus on raising her children.
Not long after Jamie was born, Steve brought home a recording that was giving him some trouble and wanted to get Kirsty’s feedback on it. He was working with The Pogues on their latest album “If I Should Fall from Grace with God” and there was this song that the group had been working on for a while, but despite its potential, the thing wasn’t coming together. Something just wasn’t right with it.
Playing the track back, it was immediately noticeable to Kirsty that the song was meant to be a duet but lead singer Shane MacGowan was awkwardly singing it as a solo. In reality, Shane, who co-wrote the song with bandmate Jem Finer, had been writing and rewriting and pulling it apart and redeveloping the song since as early as 1985, and now it was 1987. Kirsty started to sing the song back at the recording in the appropriate places, and Steve saw this problematic song turn into something magical.
According to Steve in later interviews, Kirsty had a philosophy about the song which she used in her delivery. She believed that everything that Shane’s voice says is a lie, while everything she says is the truth. But most importantly, Kirsty realized this was not a love song nor was it a sweet song. It had a grit to it, and it was to be sung by people who have made poor decisions, have had bad luck but despite the obvious anger between them, at the end of the night they just had nothing but each other.
Steve and Kirsty went into the studio and laid down Kirsty’s voice on the track, and then Steve edited it together with Shane’s vocals. Bringing it back to The Pogues, the band was delighted with it, but Shane wanted to redo his vocals so he could react more authentically to Kirsty’s delivery now that he knew the tone she had created. With a little bit of Steve’s masterful editing, the track became the one we know today. It seems impossible while listening to it, but Shane and Kirsty never performed together during the production of the single.
Released on November 27th, 1987, “Fairytale of New York” quickly became a sensation in the UK and went to the number two spot on the UK Billboard charts. This would be the highest charting song both Kirsty and The Pogues would ever have. The Pet Shop Boys cover of Elvis’ “You Were Always On My Mind” prevented it from going to number one, but it has also been suggested that part of the reason was that the BBC refused to air “Fairytale of New York” on the radio prior to 8 pm due to some of the strong language. In fact, when The Pogues and Kirsty performed together for the very first time on “Top of the Pops” a few weeks after the release, the BBC asked them to change the lyrics. Ironically though, the Beeb didn’t seem to have any problems with lyrics like “You’re an old slut on junk” or “You scum bag, you faggot, you cheap lousy maggot.” They wanted Kirsty to tone things down and use the word “ass” instead of “arse” in the line “Merry Christmas your arse.” Who knows what the BBC producers were thinking. It was still magical anyways.
After the success of “Fairytale of New York,” Kirsty went on the road with The Pogues, which not only gave her more exposure to audiences, but in later interviews she revealed that being with the group was the first time she ever felt truly comfortable on stage, and seeing the excitement from the audience, especially when they’d sing back “Well so could anyone” with great enthusiasm, boosted her confidence.
But while life with The Pogues was great, things at home weren’t so fantastic. Kirsty and Steve’s marriage began to fall apart, and the couple eventually separated. Meanwhile, Kirsty continued to put out new solo releases, but nothing seemed to hit at all, and she wasn’t building on the success of “Fairytale of New York.”
Around the mid 90’s Kirsty, no longer looking for chart success, began to experiment with jazz and Latin music. This led to a following in South and Central America, and she began to tour her new band in that part of the world.
It was during a return from a tour of Cuba in 2000 that Kirsty decided she wanted to show her sons that part of the world. With Louise now 15, and Jamie age 14, she planned a trip for her and her boys, along with her partner James Knight, to take a trip to Mexico. The plan was to go just prior to the Christmas holidays but be back in London to celebrate with the rest of the family by Christmas Eve.
On the afternoon of December 18, 2000, Kirsty and her boys went scuba diving in a cove that was reserved for diving at the National Reef Park in Conzumel, in an area which boats were not permitted to travel in. But despite diving with a scuba company under expert supervision, disaster struck. Kirsty, Jamie and Louise were under the water looking at sea life, but upon surfacing for air they were alerted by the screams of the scuba instructor to get out of the way. Turning around, Kirsty saw a large runaway boat speeding towards her boys. With all the strength she had, Kirsty pushed her boys out from in front of the boat, but in the process was hit full on by the craft and went into the propellers. Louise was pushed clear out of the way of the boat, and Jamie suffered some minor scratches and bruises. But Kirsty was killed instantly. Her last moments were protecting her boys and ultimately sacrificing her life to save theirs. Days later the boys came home to London where Kirsty had laid the presents underneath the tree before they had left but was not there to see them opened.
The boat was being driven by 26 year old Jose Cem Lan, who was an employee of the craft’s owner, multimillionaire grocery chain owner Carlos Gonzelez Nova. Nova was not on the boat, but his brother and business partner, Guillermo, was. After a quick investigation, authorities arrested Len who pleaded guilty to culpable manslaughter, but a deal was made in which he was able to pay the equivalent of $92 US to stay out of prison. Another $2000 US was paid to the family in retribution. A small sum of money for the life of a gifted performer, a heroic mother and a human life.
Kirsty’s family were outraged. Led by her mother Jean, family and friends, continued to push for more investigation in Kirsty’s death and started to put together an alternative narrative which revealed both corruption and payoffs by the Nova family to make the situation “go away.” They started the “Justice for Kirsty” Campaign, pressing Mexican officials and investigators to continue looking into the accident. Despite the efforts of the family, along with help by friends such as The Pogues and U2’s Bono, very little progress was made, and it all came to an end in 2009 when Carlos Gonzelez Nova died at age 92.
Each Christmas Kirsty MacColl’s family remembers the tragedy that took her life, as the world celebrates the holidays with “Fairytale of New York” playing all around them. Making it even more bittersweet is that on November 30, 2023, just as the world was pulling out the decorations and radio stations started playing Christmas songs, Shane McGowan of The Pogues died. The following week after his death, “Fairytale of New York,” for the first time, went to the number 1 spot on the Billboard charts. Commenting on the success of the song in an interview with the Daily Mail, Kirsty’s son Louise said “It’s so nice. I love hearing Mum’s voice on the radio every Christmas. It’s so comforting.”
