The Pogues – Fairytale of New York


The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl – Fairytale of New York (Chords)

One of the joys of Christmas is that Shane MacGowan is on the radio and TV as often as he should be the whole year round. Since the BBC has decided that the words ‘faggot’ and ’slut’ are perfectly fine and it looks like being Christmas number one, here’s Fairytale of New York.

I tried a bunch of different ways to play the intro and narrowed it down to two. This one:
Fairytale of New York Pogues intro ukulele tab

And this one:
Fairytale of New York Pogues intro ukulele tab

I prefer the second one because of all the open strings.

I had a tendency to get a little lost in the chords during the penny-whistle parts, so I had to start counting. For the first one, after ‘…dreams come true’ and the repeat of the intro:

D,2,3. D,2,3. D,2,3. A,2,3. D,2,3. G,2,3. A,2,3. D,2,3.

The second (after the first chorus) is even trickier to follow:

D,2,3. A,2,3. Bm,2,3. G,2,3. D,2,3. D,2,3. D,2,3. A,2,3.

D,2,3. Bm,2,3. D,2,3. G,2,3. D,2,3. D,2,3. A,2,3. D,2,3.

8 Comments

  1. weelie December 21st, 2007 9:30 am

    This is my xmas numero uno. We even played it at the pre-jam of our uke xmas party a week ago. I only sang backing vocals, as I had no clue about the chords.

  2. Woodshed December 21st, 2007 6:51 pm

    It’s definitely one of my favourites too. Possibly number two after Helen Love.

  3. Jimmy December 24th, 2007 2:02 pm

    Super cool. At science class we were learning the reaction of sugar on teeth, and the powerpoint that went with it was just a photo of Shane McGowan. Hm.

    The perfect Crimbo-Uke hit!

  4. Stephie January 19th, 2008 7:00 am

    This is smashing! This song warms the cockles of my heart! Huge Pogues fan and a newbie Uke player….yippee!

  5. Woodshed January 19th, 2008 3:45 pm

    Glad you like it, Stephie.

  6. Harry December 23rd, 2008 11:27 pm

    Nicely done!
    My Dad on guitar, Sister on piano and Me on banjo- uke, go hillbilly on this song and have a family jam!

    Great Job!

  7. Woodshed December 27th, 2008 9:37 am

    Harry: Sounds like a lot of fun.

  8. Christmas Ukearist! « Monday Ukearist November 28th, 2009 10:06 am

    [...] Fairy Tale of New York (We have to do this one!)  There’s a twiddly bit too that folk can learn if they choose [...]

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