Radio 1 Censors "Fairytale Of New York"

And the version that plays on the yearly TOTP2 christmas show has kirsty singing "happy christmas you ass" but they have dubbed the "your arse" back in.

And now it's back out again. I notice the CD single has an instrumental version as a b-side. Which was just asking for it really, as now it's dead easy to snip those words out for the instrumental snips to drop in.

xpost yeah, I'm sure the instrumental version is new this year.

Oh, well, they might as well play the Ronan Keating version then. You're cheap and you're haggard!

"... by Louis Walsh, you've been buggered"

The same BBC1 that defended Chris Cunt Moyles making "gay" jibes.

U.K. Embraces Nascar

Added: Tuesday, 18 December, 2007, 13:35 GMT 13:35 UK

Just ban it full stop, it's a lousy over rated song like most of the annual, dull sleigh list tripe

Tim, Stoke

Recommended by 4 people

Thumbs up Tim, Stoke!

Worst thing about this is it will further enable all the usual entitled assholes who like to whine about how they're being oppressed by "political correctness". That said, it does seem like a bit of a pointless move in this case, I must admit.

so on principle you support this decision?

Added: Tuesday, 18 December, 2007, 14:44 GMT 14:44 UK

The entire song should be banned, not only because of the very offensive and homophobic term in the lyrics but because it is over rated and annoying tripe suitable only for the hard of thinking.

As for minorities, the song's, ahem, "lyricist", Shane McGowan, isn't even Irish but he'd be the first to whimper about any anti Irish derogatory term. Just like the old fool Rod Stewart, an Englishman who thinks he's Scottish and supports a Scottish football team ( Celtc) who think they are Irish.

paul gadd, glasgow, United Kingdom

Recommended by 1 person

He's still sore about gary glitter songs being banned methinks..

so on principle you support this decision?

-- wanko ergo sum, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 14:45 (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

I don't really care much one way or the other beyond lol idiot bbc act like idiots again. If I was controller of BBC, I probably wouldn't program the record because I think it sucks and I've heard it too may times already. I'd program "Asbestos Lead Asbestos" by World Domination Enterprises in its place.

Didn't they used to censor out the "faggots" line because it was unsuitable for minors or something?

Not a word about Richard "Any Colour As Long As It's Orange" Park banning "The Birmingham Six" by the Pogues when he was running Capital Radio back in the '88 day of course.

Actually, if it hadn't originated from the bbc's own website, I'd have assumed this was another one of those outraged anti-PC round-robin emails like the one about winterval or the one about banning holocaust from school history lessons.

Who knew Gary Glitter was a Rangers' fan?

Radio 1 Censors "Fairytale Of New York"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7149525.stm

Radio 1 censors Pogues' Fairytale

BBC Radio 1 has said it will stand by its ban on the word "faggot" from the Pogues' 1987 Christmas hit Fairytale of New York to avoid offence.

The word, sung by the late Kirsty MacColl as she trades insults with Shane MacGowan, has been dubbed out.

But MacColl's mother, Jean, called the ban "too ridiculous", while the Pogues said they found it "amusing".

The BBC said: "We are playing an edited version because some members of the audience might find it offensive."

'Complete over-reaction'

A Radio 1 spokeswoman said the station's management had met on Tuesday morning to discuss the issue.

She said they "had made their decision" and would not be going back on it.

But the ban does not apply across the BBC. Radio 2 said it would be playing the full version of the track.

MacColl, who was killed by a speedboat off the coast of Mexico in 2000, brands Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan "you scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot" in the song, which reached number two when it was first released.

The song is a duet between MacColl and Shane MacGowan
She continues: "Happy Christmas your arse, I pray God it's our last."

Another line, where MacGowan calls MacColl "an old slut on junk", has also been edited.

Jean MacColl told BBC Radio 5 Live's Breakfast: "These are a couple of characters - not in the first flush of youth, I would have thought.

"This is the way they spoke. Today we have a lot of a gratuitous vulgarity and whatever from people all over which I think is quite unnecessary.

"They are what they are. These are characters and they speak like that."

A spokesman for the Pogues, who first formed in 1982 and reunited in 2001 after a five-year break, said they "found it amusing that a song that has been one of the best-loved Christmas tunes should suddenly have been deemed offensive".

Listeners have also been criticising the ban on the Radio 1 Newsbeat website.

Denise Venn said it was "a complete over-reaction" and Simon from Southampton called it "political correctness gone mad".

Dean in Southampton added: "I'm gay and it certainly doesn't offend me.

"I find it more offensive that the BBC has tampered with this track which hopefully will be number one this Christmas."

-- Herman G. Neuname, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 13:50 (1 hour ago) Link

BBC have Your Say

-- Herman G. Neuname, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 13:51 (1 hour ago) Link

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has this been re-released or is it getting a new push (only because of the number one speculation....maybe that's just because of the controversy)?

-- akm, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 13:54 (1 hour ago) Link

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And the version that plays on the yearly TOTP2 christmas show has kirsty singing "happy christmas you ass" but they have dubbed the "your arse" back in.

And now it's back out again. I notice the CD single has an instrumental version as a b-side. Which was just asking for it really, as now it's dead easy to snip those words out for the instrumental snips to drop in.

xpost yeah, I'm sure the instrumental version is new this year.

-- Mark G, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 13:57 (1 hour ago) Link

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Oh, well, they might as well play the Ronan Keating version then. You're cheap and you're haggard!

-- King Boy Pato, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 14:18 (47 minutes ago) Link

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"... by Louis Walsh, you've been buggered"

-- Tom D., Tuesday, 18 December 2007 14:20 (45 minutes ago) Link

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The same BBC1 that defended Chris Cunt Moyles making "gay" jibes.

-- onimo, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 14:23 (42 minutes ago) Link

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U.K. Embraces Nascar

-- wanko ergo sum, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 14:27 (38 minutes ago) Link

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Added: Tuesday, 18 December, 2007, 13:35 GMT 13:35 UK

Just ban it full stop, it's a lousy over rated song like most of the annual, dull sleigh list tripe

Tim, Stoke
---

hats off tim!

This isn't the first time I've heard about this song being censored, I don't think.

multiple xpost re unsuitability

The DJ was playing this song at gig I went to on Sunday. In fact they played an entire Pogues live album between the bands.

tim from stoke OTM

the pogues are SO bad. the opposite of what i want from music. i know every time i say this all of ILM gets on my case but this time i ain't gonna try to defend myself. i just hate them.

That's your derogative.

http://www.torkiljohnsen.com/hattrick/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/referee_red_card.jpg
x-post

Why oh why can't The Cardiacs have a Xmas No. 1? People just haven't heard them, that must be it.

it doesn't help that my mum is a huge fan and plays them at any given opportunity :(

lol kerr, pfft tom, looks like the celts are riled

Nah. I hate The Pogues even more than you do.

Have the cardiacs made a christmas record with swearing in it?

In 13/8 time

it's a fairly pointless censorship, what with having already played the song for twenty years uncensored.

and it's a great song, ur all miserable xmas hating fucks.

Classic song A+++++++++++++

i had a very drunken argument about this song on friday night, having just missed my mate and his colleague singing it in one of glasgow's less salubrious karaoke establishments. i've no idea what point i was making, or he was making. so we got another pint in, and went outside to smoke tabs. shane mcgowan would no doubt have approved.

i think i don't like it. then i hear it, and i do.

I like it once a year, not necessarily the first time I hear it each christmas, then it "oh there it is again"

I like the song, but I don't like either The Pogues or Kirsty McColl

BREAKING NEWS!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7150693.stm

Radio 1 backs down in Pogues row

BBC Radio 1 has said it will allow the Pogues' Fairytale of New York to be played on the station uncut, after criticism of a decision to censor it.
The words "slut" and "faggot" had been dubbed out from the 20-year-old festive hit by station executives.

But after a day of criticism from listeners, the band, and the mother of singer Kirsty MacColl, they changed their minds.

Controller Andy Parfitt said the original decision was "wrong".

The BBC had said that an edited version would be played becase "some members of the audience might find it offensive".

But sister station Radio 2 said it would play the track uncut, and on Thursday evening Mr Parfitt said that after "careful consideration", the ban on the uncut version of the song would be lifted.

"Radio 1 does not play homophobic lyrics or condone bullying of any kind," he said.

"It is not always easy to get this right, mindful of our responsibility to our young audience. The unedited version will be played from now on.

"While we would never condone prejudice of any kind, we know our audiences are smart enough to distinguish between maliciousness and creative freedom. In the context of this song, I do not feel that there is any negative intent behind the use of the words, hence the reversal of the decision."

VOTE RESULTS
Should radio stations censor The Pogues' Fairytale of New York?
Yes 6.09%
No 93.91%
312 Votes Cast

yay!

Victory for ILM!

wtf Radio 1 should only be playing this song ONCE A WEEK anyway and that's just for the shitty Top 40 run down.

Right, this has now got maximum exposure in the news, so I expect it to outpace Maria Carey next week.

BBC1 never learned from Frankie Goes To Hollywood did they?
I just wonder how the commercial stations are reacting. If R1 hadn't relented so quick would they too have ceased playing it or would they then have played it anyway to get one over R1? It might get played even more now due to the publicity.

homophobia is never ok.

sorry.

herman = cheap lousy taggart

Be quiet or i'll do a poll on it!

Homophobia sucks, but this was done in context, and I doubt that Kirsty MacColl was much of a homophobe either. Sadly she isn't around anymore to comment herself.

she is calling to me from the spirit world. she say 'lol geir'

all of radio's 1 teen audience weren't even born when was a hit first time round twenty years ago

http://www.scotdebt.net/images/main/page_images/head_in_hands2.jpg

I don't think that this song is offensive, but I do think that just because things once weren't offensive doesn't mean they aren't now. Old people always say things that freak me out.

If the song came along now I think they'd probably edit it. It's just a bit annoying, both the editing and the whining that it should be exempt because it's old or whatever. As if any sentiments that bother people should have been ironed out by time.

"Faggot" was obviously offensive in 1987 as well. And homophobia probably more existant than today.

see "children shouldn't be allowed to read Mark Twain because he uses the n-word"

I'm trying to figure out why I'm not offended by "Fairytale," but I am by "faggot" (3x?) in Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing."

Context, innit?

I mean, the MacColl/McGowan is in context of an old drunk couple bickering, the Knopfler one is just sneery lol-faggot-with-his-earrings-and-flashy-lifestyle.

"Money For Nothing" was inspired by the ranting of some redneck dude.

Here we get to hear "Fairytale Of New York" on the radio exactly zero times every year. I don't think I've ever heard it in my life.

http://cache2.vuze.com/assets/153/3564351/30357/BBXOYV4HPYAHO337IR7WWSV3AUTQSLVT_image_5.jpg

HOMOPHOBES

this song is totally gay

aaaaaaaaaah do you see?

i see HATE

I've mentioned before that a bartender in a NYC GAY BAR unplugged the jukebox in the middle of "Fairytale Of New York" when I played it. He was ahead of his time.

maybe he just realised it was shit

I was against editing this song until I started reading the HYS idiots blaming (as predicted upthread) political correctness and the Left Wing Bias of the BBC. Now I think they should ban it just to wind them up more.

in the context of the song, it doesn't feel offensive. and it isn't that shit a song -- just a leetle overplayed.

"imo"

penny whistles

They should have censored the title. "FAIRY Tale of New York"? It's disgusting! Peter Tatchell writes

Does he indeed? I saw he was commenting on the news about it but I didn;t hear what he said as I was on the phone.

the MacColl/McGowan is in context of an old drunk couple bickering, the Knopfler one is just sneery lol-faggot-with-his-earrings-and-flashy-lifestyle

these can only be on the same level really

In other news: Jesus Christ, will they stop playing "Jingle Bells"? They play THAT every year! How about some Basement Jaxx?

"Where's your Santa Hat?!"

I mean, the MacColl/McGowan is in context of an old drunk couple bickering, the Knopfler one is just sneery lol-faggot-with-his-earrings-and-flashy-lifestyle.

-- ailsa, Wednesday, 19 December 2007 19:13 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

^^^wrong

People who prefer The Pogues to Dire Straits shouldn't be allowed to listen to music

People who prefer Chris Huhne to Nick Clegg shouldn't be allowed to vote in elections

Amazingly, Peter Tatchell writes.

Much ado about absolutely nothing.

Right, this has now got maximum exposure in the news, so I expect it to outpace Maria Carey next week.

-- Mark G, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 23:00 (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

It's overtaken her in the last two days.

Bigger question: who could really give a fuck about Mariah Carey in this day an age?

killing joke.zing

How is that a zing? Killing Joke certain don't give a fuck about Mariah Carey.

I think that means that the zing is coming from a repository called killing joke. Then again, no zing seemed to be forthcoming so yeah.

http://photo.net/general-comments/attachment/13518270/blind%20leading.jpg

A good friend of mine who works at a BBC Radio 1 says word around there is that this whole censorship deal was thought up by the various powers that be at Radio 1 in an attempt to give the song a publicity push and potentially have it beat the X-Factor winner to #1. He said that he's worked with editing issues before on the legal side and the timing of this was bizarre, they had lots of PR people around before the announcement was made, and that higher-ups on the staff who are generally very pro-whatever-the-UK-equivalent-of-the-1st-Amendment-is didn't seem particularly bothered by it. They're all a bunch of gossips over there though so there's a good chance all this was wishful thinking by a Rhydian fan.

Well, quite.

It's not going to take out the Leonmonster now is it? Not even if they uncover the version Shane did with Diana.

I'm not too up on the lyrical nuances of Dire Straits, to be honest.

BBC 'censors' it... again!

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/19/fairytale-of-new-york-pogues-censored-radio-1-radio-2

I thought we'd left all this noughties cancel culture stuff behind us.

Radio 1 shouldn't be playing this old man shit anyway

Agreed but they play Wham and Mariah Carey and other Christmas crap for a month straight - this is just another “classic” that is on that playlist

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-54999375
But the 1987 original will still be played on Radio 2, while 6 Music DJs can choose between the two versions.

(great way of finding out which 6 Music DJs are homophobic pieces of shit, BTW)

it's the Last Night of the Proms bollocks all over again, for ever and ever

i'm fine with them bowdlerizing it tbh especially because it works as a cunt alarm alongside the word "snowflakes"

Indeed. Also I don't like the Pogues or Shane McGowan or Kirsty McColl or this song.

Fuck off you little herrenvolk shite https://t.co/znPSuhkSo0

— The Pogues (@poguesofficial) November 19, 2020

I like the Pogues again.

they also retweeted this one, twice

This is all I’m gonna say on it for the whole year: the word itself being in Fairytale Of New York doesn’t bother or offend me, but straight people being so angry & outraged at its removal and literally fighting and arguing for the right to sing it bothers me deeply

— Pete Burns’ Confiscated Coat (@harrisonjbrock) November 19, 2020