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The Ladies said we could as long as we don’t make too much noise and clean up afterwards.
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…and just when you thought you might be getting into the Christmas spirit, this happens:
BBC Radio 1 will not play the original version of Fairytale of New York by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl this Christmas, because its audience may be offended by some of the lyrics.
The station said young listeners were particularly sensitive to derogatory terms for gender and sexuality.
Thank goodness there aren’t any naughty lyrics in them gansta rap, that might offend their delicate sensibilities. 
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The ‘Snowflake’ generation. They’re offended by everything and everyone!
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This has been an ongoing thing for about 10 years I think. I remember a few mates discussing it around 2014/15 and one of them said it had been going for a few years at that point - and he’s into his music and is involved in a couple of punk bands so tends to be in the know on these sort of things
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How many songs,movies and tv shows have used language we now deem inappropriate.We can’t ban or cut words from all or them,nor should we.
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And the other thing that needs to be considered is context. It was written by by Shane McGowen and according to several old Irish guys I know that are into the punk scene, at the time of writing, a number of people in Ireland used the term faggott as a layabout lazy person.
I’m not entirely sure how true that is, but only going on what some people have told me. Any older Irish members that were around in the 80’s can confirm or deny if what I have been told is true or bullshit.
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The band is absolutely clear that the lyrics contain the word as a slur, so any assertions to the contrary are just hand-waving. McGowan was writing lyrics for a character that would use that term accordingly, particularly in that era. He is neither apologetic over it, nor in the least bothered that for some audiences today a more sanitized version is preferred. It is not as if the Pogues never recorded such a version for exactly that purpose.
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It means nothing, other than lip-service so that some people can say, well there is a Mens Day (also), you havent been forgotten. The west is on the moral slide and no one is brave enough to stand up and call it out.
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Didn’t know that. Always thought it was a bit strange as, in my mind it never fit in with what I felt they would sing about lyrically in their other songs, but only really started listening to punk music from that era in the last few years, so have a different view to their lyrics than what people from that time might have.
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Being 50, i imagine i would fall into that catagory but i never heard it used in that context.
Most kids,including myself used that word in the 80’s.While i wouldn’t have been thinking about the impact of language as a teenager, i would have used it as a curse word rather than a slur.While that doesn’t really matter to the person who is impacted by it’s use,there are many things we all say that could potentially hurt someone.Do we make a list of every word that might cause offence and ban them all.Do we cut them from every song,movie and tv show or do we just ban some people from using them?
When words are used to hurt that’s when i have an issue with them.Manys a time i’ve been called “paddy” by mates in different countries and didn’t bat an eyelid but there have been times when people i didn’t know used that same name/word to intentionally cause offense to me and mine.
It’s not even my name 
.
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This should be on a plaque somewhere(maybe it is)
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Christy was great before he went off the drink
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[quote=“HometownZero, post:80, topic:253, full:true”]
It’s radio one lads,is anyone listening to radio one waiting for fairytale to be played? It’s not the first time they’ve done this usually results in said song sales going up! [/quote]
Fair point, and to be honest I can’t actually remember the last time I listened to Radio 1. Possily while they were still playing Blue by Eiffel 65.
Not the worst version I’ve heard, but it’s not really a solo song. Without the 2nd voice it does lose it’s impact I think.
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The context of the song is quite clear. It depicts two people, one a drunk, the other a drug addict, trading insults.
You’re a bum
You’re a punk
You’re an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it’s our last
The terms are meant to be derogatory and hurtful, because the verse is depicting an argument, and that is exactly what people do in a slanging match in the real world.
I was not offering an apology, or defence for the lyrics; they are what they are.
What I found amusing, and why I drew attention to the story, was the idea that Radio 1’s “young listeners” might be offended by such language, which, when compared with the everyday language used by a majority of youngsters, as typified in the lyrics common in gansta rap, is very mild, bordering on the innocuous.
In a word, it smacks of hypocrisy which is, I’m afraid, symptomatic of the ever burgeoning woke and censorious culture of the BBC.
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What seems to have been missed by Radio1, is that a good songwriter that can portray a ‘minds eye’ imagery such as Shane MacGowan does, or a Pogues collaboration will leave lyrics to be interpreted in many ways by differing listeners… (Drunken Boat is a prime example)
It is what makes a good song become a great song… and stays to the forefront for many years…
Simply put. “It is a slanging match between a man and woman whom are familiar to each other… both have had a few drinks is how I imagine it…”
In real-life things get said in such moments…
Hey Radio1, that’s life. Pity you weren’t so PC when Saville was presenting top of the Pops…!
Remember many years back… DJ Dipstick Mike Ward got ‘Relax’ by Frankie Goes to Hollywood banned for the same reason… It is songs like this that become ingrained in the DNA of youth…
So What… it is all part of growing up is it not…!
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And for you Sir, for that Treatise, there could only be one reward:
Courtesy of the British Board of Censorship.
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I proper love faggots,what’s not to love.
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This is peculiar, but against a flurry of ‘alien hunters’ its more likely the work of an artist. Georgia Guide Stones are far more concerning!
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