Almost forgot to post this today. I have two versions of Amy Macdonald singing this in my collection. I think they are both different but they are both live from the Barrowland, Glasgow. (Well I tell a lie – one is from the Glasgow Barrowland). I recall that the Barrowland was a regular stop on the Christmas circuit for the Pogues. Not a venue I went to, being a London lad, but part of the mythology of the song. It’s fitting then that this was recorded live there. I never worked out who the bloke is, but it’s Amy’s performance I like here – she manages to belt it out like a Glaswegian thirty years older than she is, giving her part a character sketch few others have managed. with all the booze, tiredness and ‘too old for this shit’ that the lyrics need.
No I have had a look on the web, no idea who the bloke is. He’s not bad, but nothing special. (He is nine hundred million times better than Russell Crow’s rendition. Am I going to give you Russell Crow’s version? No, I am not. Seek it out yourself, if you dare.)
