Shane MacGowan’s sister on how ‘Fairytale of New York’ “captured what Christmas was like”

nme.com:

Shane MacGowan’s sister Siobhan has said that ‘Fairytale of New York’ “captured what Christmas was like for a lot of people”.

Siobhan MacGowan was speaking about the song to Hot Press Magazine, where she said, “I thought it was absolutely amazing. What a song: the orchestration, the pathos, the beauty, the anger.” Yesterday (November 30), the frontman of The Pogues died aged 65, as was confirmed in a joint statement by his wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, his sister and his father.

The statement read: “It is with the deepest sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of Shane MacGowan. Shane died peacefully at 3am this morning (30 November, 2023) with his wife Victoria and family by his side.” Siobhan continued in her comments about her brother’s festive classic: “I thought it captured what Christmas was like for a lot of people, which we all understood but nobody ever put in Christmas songs.

I was very impressed that, finally, there was a Christmas song that maybe portrayed real life more than the other Christmas songs did.” “I was very proud of Shane for having done it – but not a bit surprised that he was the one who brought this to the fore.” Since his death was announced, fans have been rallying to get ‘Fairytale of New York’ to the Christmas Number One spot.