“It revealed to people what you could do with those very spare songs of mine,” Bragg said, “that they were capable of being made to great big pop numbers.
In 1986, MacColl sang on the Smiths single “Ask” and became a close friend and collaborator of the band’s guitarist, Johnny Marr.
Later, when asked how she came up with the sequence, she shrugged: “Well, I put the song I liked best first, and the second best, second … and so on.”Bragg laughed, recalling the anecdote.
A duet about a bickering couple on Christmas Eve, the song was originally sung on a demo by the Pogues’ frontman Shane MacGowan and bassist Cait O’Riordan.
By the time the group cut it, O’Riordan had left the band, and the track needed a powerful female voice.
Persons:
MacColl, Jamie, Louis, Billy Bragg’s “, ” Bragg, Kirsty, ”, Robert Plant, ” Lillywhite, Johnny Marr, “, ” Marr, Joshua Tree, Lillywhite, “ That’s, Shane MacGowan, Cait O’Riordan, O’Riordan
Organizations:
England ”, Lillywhite, Pogues
Locations:
England, York