A change from my album review this month is a discussion on The Pogues hit featuring Kirsty MacColl The Fairytale of New York which as soon as you hear the intro it gets you in the mood for Christmas a favourite of mine, missing out on Christmas number 1 that year to Pet Shop Boys – Always on my mind, but it does make a regular appearance on the singles chart since being reissued in 2005 and downloading being eligible for the charts each year since 2006.
The favourite which was originally released in 1987 The Fairytale of New York has caused controversy once again. The BBC station Radio one have once again edited the festive favourite which is a type of Marmite song to many as you either love it or hate it, it’s not the first time they’ve done this 2007 by dubbing out the offensive words but did go back on the decision, this year the version of the song has MacColl’s character sings ‘You’re cheap and you’re haggard’ in place of what’s seen as a homophobic slur in the original, ‘You cheap lousy faggot’
So Asked the readers of the Llanelli Standard their thoughts in this, here are the comments.
My thoughts are the BBC are a bunch of authoritarian w*****s.
Now I’m going to get on with the rest of my day.
Absolutely pathetic leave it alone …
why spoil a good song the original always
Here we go again BBC grabbing the headlines for the wrong reason, long overdue that we all started to boycott this s****y broadcasting corporation
Play the original, if it offends you, switch stations or turn the volume down for a few minutes
It’s the melody and the voices that make the song! The lyrics are secondary.
Love this song Xmas isn’t Xmas without it.xmas doesn’t start til you here it on the radio.
You have to hear the original. One of my favourite Christmas songs the other is Slade’s Merry Christmas Everyone. Fantastic.
One of my favourite songs ever. Leave it alone. Perfect as it is
The original is the best. Nothing wrong with it. As a gay man the lyrics don’t bother me. Its a song!!! Lovely great Xmas song!!! Xx
Jonathan Williams
It’s like marmite. People either love or hate it.
I do think that BBC could just be reacting because they’re offended in case people are offended. It would be interesting to know who has complained.
My Thoughts
Also a good publicity stunt as people will download the song and start streaming it in protest
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