Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York” Video Almost Didn’t Happen
Every year around the holidays, pub jukeboxes seem to have “Fairytale of New York” on repeat. Fine by us. Written by Celtic punks The Pogues (1987) and featuring the late Kirsty McColl, it’s definitely one of the more iconic contemporary Christmas songs, perfectly capturing the festive spirit of the season. The video is a classic, too, featuring a young Matt Dillon as police officer.
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Irish Central published an article the other day about how the music video almost didn’t happen, thanks to over-boozing band members. Apparently the shoot inside the police station was almost scrapped because Shane MacGowan and company were too liquored up. Matt Dillon stepped in their behalf, and the rest is history.
They made it to America in 1985 played their first gig on 2nd Street in the East Village and they were an immediate sensation.
Matt Dillon who was at their first gig later told a BBC documentary that “I really liked them, they reminded me of a mixture of the Dubliners, the Clash and the Clancy Brothers.”
And then there’s this awesome nugget:
The NYPD choir is really a group of NYPD pipe and drum band members who showed up feeling no pain themselves near Washington Square Park on a bitterly cold night for their role. They were supposed to be be singing ‘Galway Bay’ but did not all knew the words so they sang the theme to Mickey Mouse instead.
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