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
Steve Lillywhite Lillywhite worked with the Pogues, producing "Fairytale of New York". His wife, Kirsty MacColl, provided the lead female vocal for the song, which became the band's biggest hit. The single narrowly missed being the UK Christmas number one single, but was still one of the biggest selling records that year. The song "Cotton Fields," from the Pogues' 1989 album "Peace and Love" (also produced by Lillywhite), includes a reference to "Steve Lillywhite's drunken mix". During the 1990s, Lillywhite produced the multi platinum albums "Under the Table and Dreaming", "Crash", and "Before These Crowded Streets" by the Dave Matthews Band. In