Tune used in Pogues' "Fairytale of New York"

Sean, saw that page previously, which focuses on the lyrical inspiration but doesn't address the melody...since I've been obsessing on this I've just remembered that there's a Penguin Cafe Orchestra piece that uses the same melody, so it almost HAS to be some sort of traditional tune (maybe something that Vaughn Williams rearranged?).

GFG -- heard the song at a pub on New Year's Eve.

heard this song two days for the first time of the season and thought “alright, not so bad” then heard it again today and turned it off before the “you scumbag, you maggot” line and thought, “gawd i hope i never heard this song again”

THE ARTWORK THAT brought up MacGowan’s most vivid recollection was his drawing of the New York City skyline. He related an incident that took place at the Manhattan nightclub the Limelight in the mid-1980s that involved the actor Matt Dillon (“a great guy,” he said) hitting on the Pogues bassist Cait O’Riordan: “She was a big girl, and she ended up kicking him down the backstairs.”

Clarke pointed out that there was a punchline to the story. “Did he say something really stupid like, ‘Is that a definite ‘no’?’?” MacGowan responded.

Dillon went on to play a police officer in the music video for the Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York,” a duet between MacGowan and the British singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl, who died in a boating accident in 2000. The song is considered a Christmastime classic in the United Kingdom, but it is not without controversy. In 2020, BBC1 Radio announced it would play an edited version of the track that excised a gay slur and another pejorative.

MacGowan, when asked about the perennial brouhaha surrounding the song, dismissed it as “rubbish.” He has in the past argued that the slur, sung by MacColl, was an authentic representation of what her character might say.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/28/arts/music/shane-macgowan.html

The opening five notes of "Deborah's Theme" from Morricone's Once Upon a Time in America soundtrack are very similar to FTONY, to these ears. Surprised it's never been mentioned before: I can imagine MacGowan being a fan of the film.

back when nme was one of the best outlets for film reviewing in the uk (roughly 1978-84), ian penman (one of the reasons for this) gave OUaTiA a bad review, and macgowan scorned the paper for printing it for it a few weeks or months later

so yes

i see no one in 18 years has picked up on happiness stan's claim that FoNY shares a melody with an unnamed track by the penguin cafe orchestra