“The word was used by the character because it fitted with the way she would speak and with her character,” Shane McGowan said. “She is not supposed to be a nice person, or even a wholesome person. She is a woman of a certain generation at a certain time in history and she is down on her luck and desperate.”

Fairytale ending: Shane McGowan explains ‘faggot’ reference in Christmas song (Irish Times)

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49 thoughts on “F Sharp”

        1. realPolithicks

          If you don’t know what “hock a gollier” means I’m guessing you’re not from Dublin.

          1. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

            I presume it means spit (as it’s Mildred and she’s that kind of gal) but I’ve never heard it before.
            I am from Cork, where we call it gobbing.

        2. Brother Barnabas

          it’s a genteel dublin expression meaning “i’d march straight narrow up to that head, grab him by the back of his hair, shove his face into my crotch and have him gobble me fanny whether he’s into it or not”

          that’s what millie means anyway

  2. Murtles

    It’s a disgrace and should be banned
    *walks away singing
    ♫…Lips like strawberry wine
    You’re sixteen, you’re beautiful and you’re mine…..♫

  3. The Bad Ambassador

    Won’t somebody think of the sluts, and the junkies and the maggots too? Those derogatory terms are also used in “Fairytale of New York” – who’s fighting their corner?

    Also, what are we doing to get Father Ted banned. I mean, how many times do guests to the Craggy Island parochial house politely refuse cups of tea only to have Mrs Doyle push her luck with an incessant stream of “Go on, go on, go on, go on”. #NoMeansNo

    AKA Paul Howard tweeted the following the other day: “I predict that, by the year 2025, the fear of causing offence will have turned us into a completely silent species”.

  4. Ollie Cromwell

    Tbh,I’d like the whole song banned from until December 24th then play the bottom out of it for 24 hours and forget about it for another year.
    The only good thing about the constant Christmas airplay is that it helps pay for Shane McGowan’s new teeth.

  6. Rep

    Gay people? Have you been subjected to enough homophobic abuse in your lifetime that this phrase might have serious negative connotations to you? Well get over it as us who have not been subjected to this abuse like this song and love to belt out that phrase really loudly while drunk.

    1. Captainpants

      Id imagine the decades of homophobia my gay friends have suffered would have given them a thicker skin than to be offended by the use of a word by a fictional character inside a pop song.

      1. Nigel

        Having a thick skin isn’t the same as not acknowledging that a hugely popular – the MOST popular – now-ubiquitous sentimental favourite Christmas song contains a homophobic insult. Simply pointing this out is enough to send everybody into screaming conniptions. Some people don’t like the fact that their twinkly commodified popular culture has rough edges and dark sides.

      2. SOQ

        So tell me your story about snowflakes and echo chambers and PC gone mad and then, I will tell you how my story about I was called ‘faggot’ while receiving a permanently damaged nerve in one eye. Now you can believe me or not but it did happen, including an official record on An Garda Síochána’s Pulse system.

        Fact not fiction.

        The London Irish punk scene, of which McGowan was a part, tried to push buttons (trolls?) but the word still has connotations in the wider world. He wrote a great Christmas song, probably one of the best ever but that word is still sandpaper to people like me.

        I personally wince when I hear the starting chords so I switch the radio off when it comes on. Maybe that is just my own experience and memories. Hopefully the next generation can laugh it off but I doubt it.

          2. millie st murderlark

            They got to you too, I see.

            They’ve done that to me before.

            WORSE THAN TROTSKY SO THEY ARE.

        2. Ollie Cromwell

          Honest question.
          Does it make any difference that Kirsty MacColl is singing the lyric rather than Shane McGowan ?
          I ask because in different circumstances the use of the N-word is apparently fine if it’s used by a black person but not a white one.
          Rather like the term fag-hag seems acceptable slang amongst the gayers.
          But hey,according to some munters on here I’m a gammon.
          I have feelings too you know but overall I roll with the punches.

  7. Dub Spot

    The man’s on his honeymoon FFS and he has to come out and answer this bagáiste lady-parts.

    Is McDermott trying to get a Flake special on tomorrow’s Daily Star cover?

  9. Otis Blue

    Never heard of McDermott but on a related point, what the hell has happened to the Last Word? I’d always thought Matt Cooper was decent enough but for the last while his show has been captured by this type of guff.

    It’s absolutely unlistenable.

  10. Catherine costelloe

    Should serve pease pudding & faggots at their Christmas party and belt out this song!!

  11. rotide

    Give me strength.

    I would warn Eoin not to read any Mark Twain for fear it would give him an embolism, but It’s probably unnecessary.

  12. Junkface

    Let’s ban everything! Just whitewash generations of Art and culture from the past, because what we have going on now is the best Shizz ever.

    The left is eating itself. The right are retarded. Both want to destroy our freedom to think and be independent adults. That is all

    1. Nigel

      Or rather le’ts not talk about stuff like how a once charming and coy duet has aged into sounding like a date-rape anthem and how a festive song belted out by drunk party-goers has a massive homophobic slur in it without have yet another immature hissy fit like this one. Stuff like this can’t even be pointed out without O YEAH YOU WANT TO BAN IT RIGHT SO LETS BAN PANTS BECAUSE UPSIDE DOWN PANTS LOOK LIKE REINDEER HORNS AND HORNINESS MEANS THEIR MALE SEXUAL PREDATORS SO THERE NYAH. Feckin’ children.

      1. rotide

        “coy duet has aged into sounding like a date-rape anthem”

        No it hasn’t.

        At all.

        People calling that song ‘problematic’ are just tools.

        1. Nigel

          At the end of the day, there is no snowflake more snowflakey than someone who just wants everybody to LEAVE MY FAVE XMAS CHOONS ALONE YOU TOOLS. AND BY FAVE I PROBABLY MEAN JUST SOME SONG THAT PLAYS CONSTANTLY IN THE BACKGROUND THIS TIME OF YEAR THAT I BARELY NOTICE UNTIL SOME YOUNG PERSON REINTERPRETS THE LYRICS IN A WAY I DISAPPROVE OF.

  13. Frank Lee O’Bese

    What about Fat Bottomed Girls? Don’t hear that one blared our as you cross the line of the “mini-marathon”, do ya?.Disgraceful #toxicmalemasculinity #bodyshaming by a gay man-fronted band who should be standing up in solidarity for the majority of millennials. Ban it. Where’s my copy of Cosmo and the Irish Times “running” page?

    1. Nigel

      Such withering scorn just because of a word in a song that some people dare to not like. A sort of panic. About gay people. There should be a phrase for that.

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