A Tribute by Dymphna Lonergan
In December 2019, there was a discussion on nationalpost.com about Shane McGowan’s lyrics for ‘Fairytale of New York’ with similarity found in the famous Irish poem ‘Dónail Óg’:
…in a well-known 8th century Irish poem called Donal Og. MacGowan, a lover of Irish poetry and history, was almost certainly acquainted with the poem which speaks of a woman promised everything by her lover only to be spurned, leaving a sense of overwhelming wretchedness.
Irish poetry is known for its lyricism and romanticism, and it might be seem strange to find beauty in the controversial ‘Fairy Tale of New York’, but comparisons can indeed be made between this popular song and traditional love poetry.
‘Fairytale of New York’ starts out with a bar setting in New York – reminding us of Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man’. The main speaker of Fairytale, however, is not a piano man, but a drunk regaling his girlfriend with a story of meeting another drunk, an older man, in a New York bar, an Irish emigrant reminiscing about the rare old times.
We are to presume that the drunken narrator is also Irish. He shies away from the realism of the old man who stated that he was seeing his last Christmas. The narrator is still young, in denial about his alcholism and wanting to think only on the bright side of life and how lucky he has been. His romancing is interrupted by his girlfriend reminding him of how much she has been let down by him since they first met. While he says he could have been someone (a contender?) she too has lost:
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
His rejoinder is poignant and serves to bring her back to him:
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can’t make it all alone
I’ve built my dreams around you
They are disfunctional but interdependent.
The song structure with the recurring chorus is unifying and uplifting following the verse where they tear each other down in a stream of insults:
The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing Galway Bay
And the bells are ringing out
For Christmas day
Comparisons with Dónaill Óg
Dónaill Óg
Gheall tú dhomsa ach rinne tú bréág liom
go mbeifeá romham ag cró na gcaorach
You promised me but you told me a lie
That you would be with me at the sheep enclosure
Fairytale of New York
When you took my hand on that first Christmas Day
You promised that Broadway was waiting for me
‘Fairytale of New York’ captures the illusion of the male protagonist who has failed in life but still thinks he can cut it, and the painful realisation by his girlfriend that her biggest mistake was believing in him. The narrator of ‘Dónaill Óg’ sets out clearly and lyrically the consequence of her falling in love with Dónaill.
Dónaill Óg
Bhain tú thoir agus bhain tú thiar dhíom
Bhain tú an ghealach geal is an ghrian dhíom
Bhain tú an croí a bhí i lár mo chléiblhe dhíom
Agus rímhór m’fhatíos gur bhain tú Dia dhíom
You took the East from me you took the West
You took the moon and the sun from me
You took my heart out of my chest
And it is my great fear that you took God from me
‘Fairytale of New York’ starts with a languid piano that ramps up as the warring lovers decide to put their differences aside. McGowan’s return to the NYPD choir chorus takes the song out of the mundane, the profane, the crass and up into the ether. Not as strikingly as the ending of ‘Dónaill Óg’, granted, but satisfyingly so.
‘Fairytale of New York’ has been controversial in recent times – even banned temporarily from the airwaves. When asked about the controversy surrounding the offending words in the song, McGowan’s answer was that it was written at a particular time and about people who would not have been politically aware.
Vale, Shane McGowan.
Dymphna Lonergan
Dymphna is a member of the Tinteán editorial collective.
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