In addition to being an undisputed Christmas classic, A Fairytale of New York by The Pogues, featuring Kirsty MacColl, is also a global Irish emigration anthem.
As described by Joe Cleary, professor of English at Yale University, “It is at once a twisted love song, an emigrant ballad and an anthem to the capital city of the 20th century.
“And perhaps for that reason it is the only ‘Christmas classic’ that one can hear without wincing in July.”
Amongst the expletive exchanges between MacGowan and MacColl, a standout lyric for many is “The boys of the NYPD choir Still singing Galway Bay”, a line that is now synonyms with the festive season, stirring visions of the boys in blue all singing from hymn sheets against a snowy New York City backdrop.
However, every year, people are disappointed to discover that there never was an NYPD choir, nor did they ever sing Galway Bay – until now.
Inspired by A Fairytale of New York and as an ode to Irish emigrants and Irish diaspora all over the world, EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum has brought together a handpicked group of retired NYPD officers to form the NYPD choir.
These proud individuals recently gathered in a recording studio in the heart of New York City along with a local amateur choir to lend their voices to the beloved ‘Galway Bay’ just before the bells start ringing out for Christmas day.
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Originally written by Irish emigrant Arthur Colahan as a tribute to his homeland, this rendition has been described as ‘breathtaking’ and a heart-warming music video was also recorded to complement it.
One of the singers, retired NYPD Officer John Behan, spoke of how much the song meant to him. He said: “My grandfather used to play it at Christmas time. It was a song that he liked. He was a tough guy, but he got soft when that music came on. He was a good man.”
The piece is also a fitting tribute to The Pogues, who released Fairytale of New York 36 years ago. In ‘Crock of Gold’, a documentary about his life, front man Shane MacGown said; “The Pogues could never have happened in Ireland. The Pogues needed to happen from the diaspora.”
Since its release on November 23, 1987, the song has received over 325 million listens on Spotify and over 87 million on YouTube.
Tying in with the release of the reimagined version of Galway Bay, EPIC will launch an exhibition on The Pogues on December 1.
They Gave The Walls a Talking – The Extraordinary Story of The Pogues and Shane MacGowan, will run until the end of January 2024, and will delve into numerous themes including emigration songs, literary influences and the creation of A Fairytale of New York.
Commenting on the exhibition, Nathan Mannion, Head of Exhibitions at EPIC said, “The Pogues are one of the greatest Irish bands of all time.
“They were part of an increasingly successful wave of Irish emigrant artists who made it big in Britain in the 1980’s and They Gave the Walls a Talking charts the marvellously wild, fiercely fiery, sometimes drunken and – in the end –wonderfully inspiring contribution, The Pogues have made to music in Ireland and across the world.”
