Oh this is hard. This is the last day I get to choose a cover version of Fairytale of New York and I at the last moment, can’t decide which. (Obviously you know which version is coming tomorrow). So I am listening to candidates again to make a final choice. You may think its hard listening to one cover a day – you don’t know the heartache I have been though listening to multiple versions multiple times as I planned this little advent. I have listened to Jon Bon Jovi only once – that listen, and the review that came up on my feed, was all I needed to boot out the planned inclusion and swap in JBJ. But all the others needed more than one run through. But there are still many I could choose for this last spot, and only one will get the honour
Should I choose a bad one? Or one I quite like? I had planned to use more instrumental versions, but in the end decided there was little point as the magic of the song is in the music and words. But should I choose one now? A bland saccharine one? Or there’s the Italian version – I could choose that for regular Facebook commentator Chris who I know is pretty fluent in that language. But that one pisses me off because they use the original video and replace not just the vocals but the music too so you watch the Pogues playing instruments you can’t hear. Maybe I should choose that one, if only to make everyone pissed off the day before Christmas Eve? Or maybe the dirge like version by Canadian band Pilot Speed (nee Pilote), which is enough to make every one want to scream “speed up, just bloody sing faster!” I also considered Ukrainian folk-punks Kelush and the Bastards version from the 2016 Russian album A Tribute to the Pogues.
But in the end I decided upon this one, from Tilt! which I mentioned a couple of days ago. I said this might not the Tilt featuring Cinder Block, but I have today revised my opinion. I think Cinder does sing in this band, which gives her the honour of singing on both the second and third covers of the song. This one comes from 1995, on Tilt’s single called A Tribute to the Pogues (yup some title as the Russian album but definitely a different thing, and twenty years earlier). That single had a cover of the Pogues’ cover of Ewan McColl’s Dirty Old Town on the other side, which I actually prefer to this rendition of Fairytale. But this is series is not all called “Every Old Town” so its Fairytale you get:
Tomorrow, I’ll finally give you the original ’87 single that started the whole thing, and list some of the Pogues tracks which I prefer.
And next year? One commenter said “Next you will be telling me there are umpteen cover versions of my favourite Christmas songs ‘I wish it could be Christmas every day’ and ‘so here it is, Merry Christmas’.” Well, I think there are enough versions of Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody to do Merry Christmas Everyday, but I think I might do Wizzard’s classic first, so will you join me on December 1st 2021 for “Christmas Every Day, every day: Part 1” ? 😀
The Interpretation Game 