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
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