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Fairytale Of New York: A Very Murray Christmas

Bill Murray, David Johansen*, Jenny Lewis, & co.—what an interesting combo!—sing one of the most gorgeous Christmas songs ever written. (Dontcha love Jenny Lewis!).
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Bill Murray, David Johansen*, Jenny Lewis, & co.—what an interesting combo!—sing one of the most gorgeous Christmas songs ever written. (Dontcha love Jenny Lewis!).

Written by Jem Finner and Shane MacGowan & originally sung by The Pogues, “Fairytale of New York” in December 2012 was announced as Britain’s “favourite Christmas song”, despite not being a Christmas song, merely set at Christmas. In the UK it is the most-played Christmas song of the 21st Century.

Featuring singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl on vocals, duet with MacGowan, the song attracted attention from the start due to some of the language used in its second verse, where MacGowan’s character refers to MacColl’s character as “an old slut on junk” (heroin), and MacColl responds with a tirade that includes the words “faggot” and “arse”.

What Dorian Lynsky at The Guardian wrote about this boozy ballad pretty much sums it all up: “The kind of ‘anti-Christmas song’ that ended up being, for a generation, the Christmas song.”

The video is a snippet from A Very Murray Christmas, a 2015 American Christmas musical comedy film directed by Sofia Coppola and co-written by Bill Murray, among others.

Merry Christmas, whisky warriors!
_____________


*That’s him, from New York Dolls, wearing red blazer, right?!

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Rudolf Dethu

Rudolf Dethu

Music journalist, writer, radio DJ, socio-political activist, creative industry leader, and a qualified librarian, Rudolf Dethu is heavily under the influence of the punk rock philosophy. Often tagged as this country’s version of Malcolm McLaren—or as Rolling Stone Indonesia put it ‘the grand master of music propaganda’—a name based on his successes when managing Bali’s two favourite bands, Superman Is Dead and Navicula, both who have become two of the nation’s biggest rock bands.
Rudolf Dethu

Rudolf Dethu

Music journalist, writer, radio DJ, socio-political activist, creative industry leader, and a qualified librarian, Rudolf Dethu is heavily under the influence of the punk rock philosophy. Often tagged as this country’s version of Malcolm McLaren—or as Rolling Stone Indonesia put it ‘the grand master of music propaganda’—a name based on his successes when managing Bali’s two favourite bands, Superman Is Dead and Navicula, both who have become two of the nation’s biggest rock bands.

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