How Shane MacGowan really felt about ‘Fairytale of New York’
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Exclusive: Musician’s wife, artist Victoria Mary Clarke, recalled spending Christmas with the late singer-songwriter and how he left behind ‘reams’ of prose. Shane MacGowan’s wife, Victoria May Clarke, has revealed how the late Pogues frontman felt about the success of his biggest hit, “Fairytale of New York”, as she reflected on their Christmases together.
![[Shane MacGowan died last year, aged 65]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/12/14/10/PA-20318173.jpg)
MacGowan, who rose to national fame after co-founding The Pogues in 1982, was also born on Christmas Day in 1957, to Irish parents who raised him in Kent, England. He died on 30 November last year, aged 65. “Shane was not fussed about Christmas at all, like he always said, ‘It’s Jesus’s birthday,’” Clarke recalled in an interview with The Independent.
“He never thought it was about presents or turkeys or any of that stuff. He indulged me, because I always insisted on having a tree, and he would think that was cute with the decorations. “But he wasn’t fussed about presents unless they were things that he really wanted. The last Christmas he was here, I got him some albums that he absolutely loved and he was really excited about them. He wasn’t a materialistic person.”.
Clarke, who recently held her first solo art exhibition at the City Assembly House in Dublin city centre, said she and MacGowan tended to prefer “quiet” Christmases: “He loved to go to his family in Tipperary, that was his favourite thing to do.”.
