Fairytale of New York Fairytale of New York "Fairytale of New York" is a song written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan and recorded by their band the Pogues, featuring singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl on vocals. The song is an Irish folk-style ballad and was written as a duet, with the Pogues' singer MacGowan taking the role of the male character and MacColl the female character. It was originally released as a single on 23 November 1987 and later featured on the Pogues' 1988 album "If I Should Fall from Grace with God". Originally begun in 1985, the song had a troubled two-year development history,
Poguetry in Motion EP was re-issued, including on CD, in 1991. The EP's tracks were not originally featured on any Pogues album but are included as bonus tracks on the 2004 re-issue of "Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash". Several of the tracks have appeared on various "best of" and other compilation albums. An alternate version of "Rainy Night in Soho", a slightly longer mix featuring oboe instead of flugelhorn, was included on Canadian and US editions of the EP. During the recording of the EP, producer Elvis Costello and singer/songwriter Shane MacGowan had a huge fight over this, with MacGowan insisting on the