Fairytale of New York Christmas number one by the Pet Shop Boys' cover of "Always on My Mind". MacGowan was reported to have said "We were beaten by two queens and a drum machine". MacColl later said that she did not feel they were really in competition with the Pet Shop Boys as they were doing a completely different kind of music. The song was re-released by the Pogues in the UK in 1991 (reaching #36), and again in the UK and Ireland for Christmas 2005, reaching number three in the UK. All proceeds from the latter release were donated towards a mixture of
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