On Thursday 18th, a book was published about The Pogues and Kirsty classic, ‘Fairytale Of New York’. It’s written by Yann Liotard. The book is in French, but hopefully there will be an English version one day.

Here is the synopsis in  English:

‘Celebrating Christmas in a sobering up cell. What a program! “Fairytale Of New York” is decidedly the anti “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (or the other way around, since the first single dates from 1987, the second from 1994). A far cry from the Justin Bieber/Mariah Carey duo, Shane MacGowan has the immeasurable talent of the late Kirsty MacColl. Despite recording in the middle of the summer, the Pogues were able to capture the magic of Christmas for a punk and folk anthem. That was all it took for Yann Liotard, a big fan of Les Pogues devant l’Eternel (to the point of having already written a book on the second LP, Rum, Sodomy And The Lash at Editions Density in the Discogonie collection), to dive into the story of the most perfect Irish Christmas single. Then to visit other Christmas songs more or less subversive.’

You can order a paperback or an e-book version using one of the following links.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pogues-Fairytale-New-York/dp/2383780537/ref=monarch_sidesheet

https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=YIHqEAAAQBAJ&rdid=book-YIHqEAAAQBAJ&rdot=1&source=gbs_vpt_read&pcampaignid=books_booksearch_viewport&pli=1

https://www.abebooks.com/9782383780533/Pogues-Fairytale-New-York-Liotard-2383780537/plp

https://books.apple.com/gb/book/the-pogues-fairytale-of-new-york/id6474852498

https://www.bol.com/be/nl/p/the-pogues-fairytale-of-new-york/9300000169824945/

https://www.cultura.com/p-the-pogues-fairytale-of-new-york-10387668.html

https://www.kobo.com/pt/pt/ebook/the-pogues-fairytale-of-new-york

https://books.mondadoristore.it/The-Pogues-Fairytale-Of-New-Yann-Liotard/eae978248727020/

https://www.fnac.com/a18300957/Yan-Liotard-The-Pogues-Fairytale-of-New-York

https://product.rakuten.co.jp/product/-/6f26e4784e83a08e9a6133c2dba61a90/

https://www.ceneo.pl/163168786

https://www.wook.pt/livro/the-pogues-fairytale-of-new-york-yann-liotard/28666536

From Ruby

Recently, I found these articles about Kirsty from the Norwegian website, ‘LeffesLab’.

This is an interview the writer, Leffe did with Kirsty in 1989. https://leffeslab.com/sangfuglen-kirsty-maccoll-pa-egne-bein/

She did another in 1991 to promote ‘Electric Landlady’. https://leffeslab.com/elektrisk-kirsty-maccoll/

This is an article about when Leffe met her for the first time. The story is one of the many examples of her kind and caring personality. https://leffeslab.com/da-leffe-traff-kirsty-og-sa-stjernene/

They are all in Norwegian, but a translation to English should come up.

From Ruby

Last month, I posted a rare video of The Pogues and Kirsty performing ‘Fairytale Of New York’ on French TV.  Recently, I have found two more videos from the same show, which were broadcast on 26th February 1988. The band performed ‘Dirty Old Town’ and ‘If I Should Fall From Grace With God’ with Kirsty making appearances in both of them.

https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/video/i08052892/le-tube-des-pogues-dirty-old-town

https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/video/i08061080/the-pogues-if-i-should-fall-from-grace-with-god

The links for the videos are in French, but translations for English should come up in your browsers.

From Ruby

Demon Music Group have uploaded another Top Of The Pops performance in HD. This time, it’s ‘Days’.

From Ruby

Paul Chinniah uploaded a rockabilly cover of ‘Head’ last month.

From Ruby

Demon Music Group have uploaded Kirsty’s performance of ‘Walking Down Madison’ on Top Of The Pops in HD today.

From Ruby

Nicholas Brown has uploaded Kirsty’s wonderful performance at Greater London Radio’s (now BBC London) show for Children In Need at The Borderline in London in October 1992.

From Ruby

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas.

Here’s a recent ‘Chip Shop’ cover by Sarah Lee to kick off the year.

From Ruby

Here is a rare video of The Pogues and Kirsty performing ‘Fairytale Of New York’ on French TV in 1988.

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas everyone!

From Ruby

In Martha B Jones’ article for Medium, actress Samantha Morton has chosen the ‘See That Girl’ 8CD box set as one of her cultural highlights in the ‘Music’ section.

https://medium.com/@marthabjones92/on-my-radar-samantha-mortons-cultural-highlights-samantha-morton-5934934db333

From Ruby