“RUN DEVIL RUN songs are brimming with honky-tonking, bar-room-brawl, tall stories of love lost and won along the road movie tales of Nashville, Memphis, Tombstone and in between the sheets.”

They also do a mean Chip Shop cover!

‘Rewind the Christmas Hits’ will be on Channel 4 at 8pm on 20th December, including interviews and footage of fans singing ‘Fairytale of New York’ at Soho Square in October in the company of Jean MacColl and Jem Finer from the Pogues. Set your PVRs!

Postscript: the Soho Square footage will not be shown after all.

Here’s wishing everybody a very Happy Christmas and a great New Year.

Jamie and Louis will be joining Hamish at my new bungalow and we will raise a glass to you all on Christmas day.

It was great to see you all in Soho and I’m looking forward to the BBC TV programme with you all singing to John Meranda. It was nice to see Fred Shortland from the Justice for Kirsty Campaign committee, Olivia Lichtenstein who made the documentary with us in Mexico trying to get at the truth (so alien to the Mexican wealthy Gonzalez Nova and his family) and Jem Finer from The Pogues amongst other old friends. And it is fantastic to see new faces joining us each year.

The organisation was, as always, first rate and I do thank Barry’s relatives for returning me to the Victory Club where I stayed for a night.

I hope to see the two young brothers again next year and hear them joining in the singing. My dance team turned up in force with Max, one year old, actress friend Barbara Young and director Philip Hedley. Good wishes to Eunice and my grateful thanks, as always, to Alan Officer who has been a tower of strength for 14 years at least.

Love to you all,
Jean

Diane Griffin offers the first known cover of the B-side from the 1990 single Don’t Come the Cowboy With Me, Sonny Jim! It’s excellent.

The song has now made the Top 20 in eleven different years. This jump is in keeping with recent performance, we would expect some more modest upward movement still to come before it sails away to the far side of its orbit for another year!

For those wishing to read all about the story of Stiff records, I can recommend the recently published book “The Stiff Records Story” by Richard Balls.

There are a couple of pages about Kirsty. Nigel Dick, pictured with Kirsty, contributes quite a bit to the book. Anyone with a passing interest in Stiff, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Wreckless Eric, Jona Lewie, Madness and the mid-late Seventies, early Eighties UK music scene should get the book.

Terry Hurley

Here’s a review in the Irish Times.

This fine synth version from ten years back, freshly uploaded to YouTube by the band’s Moon Trent. We revive it here for your added festive enjoyment! Good to have this back on YouTube.

This one is from Feather and Down, released by Irma Records (Japan) this week in 2013. This was an acoustic project by Swedish singer Karin Maria Andersson, also a singer with circus group Cirque du Soleil.

It’s chart watching time, and the official UK chart is now showing Fairytale of New York at No. 67 (up from 80 last week and 137 the week before). Place your bets on how high it will climb in 2014!

The latest cover of Fairytale of New York features Alex James Ellison & Natalie Amanda Gray. Here is the link to donate to The Passage Charity – they help the homeless in London.