Yesterday we had bells and brass. This version give us another vital element of a true Christmas tune – a choir.
Of course the original had the “NYPD Choir” in the lyrics, but no choir on the actual recording. Indeed when they needed an NYPD choir for the video, they discovered such a thing did not exist. So you have the massed pipers of the NYPD singing in the video. And they are not singing “Galway Bay” – the only song they all knew the words to was one they had grown up up with. So, famously, they are actually mouthing the Mickey Mouse Club theme: Em eye sea, kay ee why! Em oh you ess ee!
The choir arrangement in this one is really very good. Paloma Faith gets into character (though I am not sure which character) and the overall effect is not dreadful. I note with some interest that this BBC Radio 1 session sticks with the controversial lyrics, in 2018.
The Interpretation Game 