12 Days of Winter #4. Anne Briggs: The Snow It Melts The Soonest
12 Days of Winter #2: Thea Gilmore’s Midwinter Toast

Twelve Days of Winter #3. O'Hooley and Tidow: Fairtytale of New York City

Colin Randall writes: Hackneyed as it may be, trotted out all too often at this time of every year, Shane MacGowan's depiction of down-and-outs just about surviving a New York winter stands among the most compelling of Christmas songs, the original's coupling of the Pogues' rough charm and Kirsty MacColl's fiery retorts deservedly winning hearts the world over.

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(Snowbound New York City. Photo Chris Ford/flickr. CC BY-NC 2.0)

Back in 2017, Salut! Live highlighted an extraordinary cover by Belinda O'Hooley - formerly of the Unthanks - and Heidi Tidow, also her partner.

Listen to it for yourselves if you are not already familiar with it. This is decidedly not a version for all tastes. I simply cannot improve on the words of our esteemed contributor Bill Taylor, who wrote in a response to my piece contrasting the wildly different treatment of the song by O'Hooley and Tidow and the Pogues:

Sumptuous, gorgeous but well-nigh impossible to compare with the original. O'Hooley & Tidow turn it into a completely different song; half of the lyrics and all of the conflict and raw-edged... New Yorkness, for want of a better term, are gone. It's not so much that they've conquered Everest as made it to the summit of another peak, equally as high and challenging. Mount Chalk and Mount Cheese.

The mountain metaphor actually began with the duo. They described Fairytale as "the Mount Everest of Christmas songs", asking for good measure whether they were mad to attempt it.

In my own brief appraisal, I admitted to having feared they might "run into trouble in the Nepalese foothills, let alone when trying to scale the more challenging heights" but concluded approvingly, describing O'Hooley's piano accompaniment as perfect, the harmonies divine. Hearing it again seven years later, I have not changed my mind.

Millions know and love the original. Only 34,000 or so YouTube users have seen O'Hooley and Tidow's reworking of the song. It deserves much wider attention.

If you like folk, folk-rock or acoustic music, why not visit the Salut! Live Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2902595146676633/

 

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