There’s a new live version of Fairytale Of New York out in the shops and the man who recorded that Yuletide perennial has been talking about how it came about.
The new version was recorded live at Glasgow Barrowlands in December 1987, just as the original record was climbing the charts. Speaking to The Independent, Steve Lillywhite – who produced it back in 1987 - explained what he did to brush up the live recording.
“Warner Brothers were going to release this live version of Fairytale Of New York as a bonus track,” he said. “And the band went, hang on… The thing is, there’s really only one definitive version of that song. It’s like Bohemian Rhapsody.”
“So the band sent me the first-ever live recording, which didn’t sound great. So I said, ‘Send me the tapes, and I’ll see what I can do.’ I spent a few days working on it, and the band loved it – it’s faster, more spunky. It’s a great version of the song.”
“To me, Fairytale of New York is like a fine wine, it grows on you. You don’t hear anyone cheering the song at first, until Kirsty walks on– she was probably more famous in Scotland than she was anywhere else, with her red hair and the Scottish name, even though she was from Croydon, they loved her there.
"So I kept all of that cheering in there. She did have stage fright, but boy, she transcended that to (deliver) this vocal, she was absolutely fantastic. The spirit of the song really comes through.”
The original studio version just missed out on the Christmas Number One spot in 1987 and, currently standing at Number 8 in the UK charts, looks like it will fall short again this year.
But Lillywhite said he just feels lucky to have produced the band when they were at the top of the game: “The Pogues were such a brilliant band, and I got them at such a great time. All of the artists I’ve worked with have talent, but there’s something about aligning people at the right time that makes that great record. It’s never just one thing."
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