Fairytale of 1987 . . .

(A series of posts leading up to/including The Nocturnes Photo Tour in the West of Ireland, July 15-25, 2013; with a personal Genealogical Research Extension, in and around Ballina, July 25-29 - with follow-up posts continuing here!)

Even tho' it's one of my favorite songs (of the season or no), I try to limit postings of the song or video to one occurrence a year (around this time). Having posted recently to my Facebook timeline for 2013 - that should have been it - but wait, there's more!
 
I submit to you: this clip from from the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show of December 11th, featuring Iron & Wine, Calexico, Kathleen Edwards, and Saint Glen Hansard covering the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York." No match for the original or the Official video for the song (released in Ireland, November 1987), this has got to be one of the best subsequent cover performances of "the best Christmas song ever recorded!" Iron and Wine (Samuel Beam) brought a certain warmth to the male vocal, but it was Kathleen Edwards (playing to Beam's female counterpart), and the Calexico signature horn (trumpets) section that stole the show, IMHO!


Now, I just figured out why this song resonates so much with me: 1987 was the year I spent a month (December, at that!) in Ireland, travelling alone, and meeting up with Irish Ex-pats (house painters/part of the video production crew from San Francisco), home for the Holidays. That trip, I spent little time in the Westport area (my usual home base), instead dividing my time between Dublin and Cork - Ireland's two largest cities. With the urban experience (and driving!), came the constant exposure to radio broadcasts and pop music - and this song by The Pogues was everywhere, it filled the air.

It was (and is, every time I hear it) . . . transcendent.

From The [not so] Daily Nocturne