I second Fairytale of New York. Overlooking the fact I'm a Pogues fan anyway, this song speaks to the forlorn and wayward who find themselves alienated by Christmas, due to or unfilfilled hopes for it or nostalgia for better times during it. This is something I highly identify with. This alientation is also reflected by the Irish characters' alientation in New York, a city full of bright lights and a commercialization of the season as foreign to them as the Christmas that terrifies them so. These feelings by the singers contrast with the modern, joyful season it gives for many people around the world, a theme which if anything serves as a counterpoint for the characters in the song. Interesting that this counterpoint is presented in the chorus of all places, and in a sweeping, epic manner, which I feel trims the irony out of it and gives the characters serious pause over what the season has been (and could again be?) truly about. Even though the verses detail their regrets over the past and even a grim wish for this being the last Christmas to suffer through, this choiral chorus gives them a a glimpse into a bit of personal redemption for the season, and as the NYPD choir sings Galway Bay, it lessens their alientation from American exploitation of Christmas and gives them a bit of home to think about.
It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won't see another one
And then he sang a song
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you
Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
I've got a feeling
This year's for me and you
So happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true
They've got cars big as bars
They've got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It's no place for the old
When you first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me
You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night
The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day
You're a bum
You're a punk
You're an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy fa***t
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it's our last
I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone
I've built my dreams around you
10 Dec 2010, 1:07 pm
