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
Fiesta (The Pogues song) Fiesta (The Pogues song) "Fiesta" is a single by The Pogues, featured on their 1988 album "If I Should Fall from Grace with God". It was written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan, based on a Spanish fairground melody Finer had picked up (this melody is an appeal or lure from a sausages kiosk named "salchichas Uranga (sausages Uranga)" in the feasts of the city of Almería -Feria de Almería-, in southern Spain). The refrain quotes "Liechtensteiner Polka" by Edmund Kotscher and Rudi Lindt. The lyrics refer to the Spanish city of Almería, as well as former bassist Cait O'Riordan's