Why F-word shouldn’t mean Fairytale of New York ban
THE timeless Fairytale of New York by The Pogues and the late Kirsty MacColl is, perhaps, the ultimate Yuletide anthem.
It captures perfectly the dashed hopes of the everyman and woman as their dream of a perfect Christmas collapses around them in a river of poverty and booze-fuelled resentment.
It’s become an enduring symbol of a simpler time, which provides a momentary reprieve from the forced pleasantries that overwhelm so many of us during the festive season.
Ironically, now the song itself has become a source of anxiety as a debate rages about whether it’s homophobic.
The line in question, “You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot”, delivered by MacColl as a retort to Shane MacGowan calling her “an old slut on junk”, has many calling for the song to be censored or banned.
The F-word is, of course, widely known and used as a homophobic slur.
I am open to it being muted, out of respect for how times have changed. This for me does not represent a massive encroachment into free speech.
Before we rush to dismiss the concerns expressed by many, we must empathise with how they may feel to hear a word, historically used as a form of abuse, being freely spoken on radio or screamed by revellers in bars and clubs. But banning the song from radio is a step too far.
If you really want to critique the song’s shortcomings through a social justice lens, then the F-word is not the only problematic aspect of this exchange; there is ageism, misogyny and the mocking of addiction and alcoholism.
The question is whether these words were used deliberately to promote prejudice or whether they were written to authentically portray two deeply flawed characters.
As a writer and performer, I take issue with the standards that musicians are held to with regards to their material – the idea that if an artist creates characters that express regressive attitudes or use problematic language then they, as writers, are guilty by default.
This rarely happens to writers of fiction, drama or theatre.
You don’t see people charging into Ian Rankin’s house accusing him of murder, do you? Thousands of people die grizzly deaths every year at the hands of violent calculated murderers, yet we can distinguish between art and life when it comes to TV shows such as Dexter.
How many people expressed shock at a Christmas song before going home to watch a cynical, hyper-sexualised, ultra-violent, television show famous for themes of sexual violence, coercion and incest – Game of Thrones?
I stand with those who would like the word muted in the public domain. As an artist myself, I don’t regard this as a massive compromise. Nor would I shy away from being challenged or accuse people with concerns of being “snowflakes”.
The N-word is rightly muted in every rap record you hear on radio and we do not bat an eyelid.
But where I draw the line is when people refuse to consider the writer’s intention or the broader context in which the work was created.
Let’s discuss the F-word and its implications for the LGBT community and let’s be charitable to the concerns expressed – they are valid. But let’s not have a knee-jerk reaction to ban it based on a moral impulse we haven’t taken time to think through.
Not least when we’re all into at least one song or TV show that is equally (or even more) problematic.