Fairytale of New York undergoing rewrites and aborted attempts at recording, and losing its original female vocalist along the way, before finally being completed in August 1987. Although the single never reached the coveted UK Christmas number one, being kept at number two on its original release in 1987 by the Pet Shop Boys' cover version of "Always on My Mind", it has proved enduringly popular with both music critics and the public: to date the song has reached the UK Top 20 on fifteen separate occasions since its original release in 1987, including every year since 2005, and was certified double platinum in
Fairytale of New York "Top of the Pops" in January 1992 to, "You're cheap and you're haggard." When Katie Melua performed the song with The Pogues on "" in December 2005, ITV censored her singing the word "arse", yet left in "faggot" despite the word being generally deemed more offensive by this time. On 18 December 2007, BBC Radio 1 edited the words "faggot" and "slut" from the track to "avoid offence". MacColl's mother, Jean, called the ban "too ridiculous", while The Pogues said they found it "amusing." The BBC said, "We are playing an edited version because some members of the audience might