Terry Flood Poet Lyric

Notes About The Poem

 

Easily my favourite Christmas song of all time is 'Fairy Tale Of New York' by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl. With the death of Shane MacGowan I decided to write something to the tune of 'Fairy Tale'. I did this once before with 'He's My Other' but I'd presumed that 'Fairy Tale' was a worldwide hit... which,  astoundingly... it wasn't!

With this in mind, I have rearranged verses to create a (hopefully) better read. Thus... fans of 'Fairy Tale Of New York' may struggle to match my words to the tune... or perhaps, have fun trying.

I've tried to supply a link to 'Fairy Tale Of New York' but no can do... just google it!

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Scary Tale Of New York

It’s Christmas Eve, Babe
In the car pound
It shouldn’t be this way
Should not have been found

But I’m the lucky one
I am the thirteenth one
And when I got a scare
I hi-tailed out of there

But everywhere I went
It seems a ghoul was sent
Until I smashed my cab
With one unholy dent

So happy Christmas
My wife and baby
I have to leave you now
And that’s no maybe…

I’ve got lungs that are punctured from ribs that are broke
A spectre glared at me and called me a joke
I should have completed that line up that day
To comprehend fate would always have his way

                  *

Twas on Christmas Eve in two-thousand-and-one
Twelve yellow cab drivers at down of the sun
They waited in line just outside Central Park
And sat, engines idling, until it was dark

But where they went when they went, nobody knew
Those cabs disappeared without leaving a clue
Yet twenty years on during each Christmas new
Don’t hail yellow cabs or you’ll disappear too

It’s crazy, it’s hazy, a bell tolled aloud
And New York cab drivers found thirteen’s a crowd 
Till voices, malignant and laden with spite
Said, “Fear not the water; the ice shall not bite.”

For years hacks have dug but their efforts are thwarted
For little is known and far less is reported
One night on his iPhone from inside the park
One Journo’s last words were, “Sod this for a lark!”

Don’t enter the park in the depths of the night
It’s more than just baddies that hide out of sight
It might not be muggers that give you a fright
If that was the problem they’d lock it up…. Right?

But rumours like tumours spread like baby boomers
Resulting in whispers from some doom and gloomers
So now I bring word and it’s slightly absurd
But when I’m gone please tell the world what you’ve heard…

That twelve police divers found twelve taxi drivers
In twelve sunken taxis, that’s twelve non survivors
In Central Park’s lakes with their feet off the brakes
Of twelve rotting drivers, just one re-awakes

That Yellow cab driver was not a survivor
But turned his head slowly to wink at the diver
The diver recoiled and soon riddled with fears
Kept asking how sunken men still can shed tears

And yet as twelve taxis were hauled from the drink
Detectives were left with no clue what to think
Twelve zip up bags lay, side by side, straight and neat
But each long lost driver had gone from his seat

And that’s when it started, those dearly departed
Set out to relocate their loves broken hearted
Some say that they wander in search of their wives
Who if found ‘in company’ soon lose their lives

But those cabs retrieved that were riddled with rust
Some fifteen years later were finally crushed
Yet parapsychologists try to keep tabs
On twelve phantom drivers in twelve phantom cabs

And now the Big Apple is too scared to sleep
In Grand Central Station the fears now run deep 
The whispering walls that now whisper aloud
Are screaming out threats that the dead have avowed

On Fifth Avenue men with half rotted faces
And clothes that are sodden take shambling paces
They stumble their way into unprepared places
And innocent people become murder cases

                  *

And the boss of the NYPD said
Just file it all away
We must not ladle fear on Christmas Day

                  *

A distant bell now tolls
It’s called so many souls
It seems that finally
Its waters beckon me

And so my final act
To spell out every fact
I testify to you
So do what you must do

From now there will be seen
What should have always been
One more man - slimy green
And phantom cabs… thirteen

                  *

And the boss of the NYPD says
Just file it all away
We must not ladle fear on Christmas Day

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Linda Alice Fowler December 13, 2023 at 7:07 AM What a fun (?) story Terry. I like your version best. Did it take that many years to write? LOL :) Terry Flood December 14, 2023 at 4:11 PM Thanks, Linda. Spent a solid week on this…. I guessed it wouldn't achieve universal acclaim as, outside the UK (apparently) the song isn’t widely known. If I got half a dozen people to google the original, then I’m happy.

Lin Lane December 8, 2023 at 11:37 AM ohhh, Terry. Where in the dark world did this come from? That's not a fairytale... it's a nightmare tale! You've created another saga of fear and dread, resulting in 12 dead. Terry Flood December 8, 2023 at 2:41 PM A little late for Halloween I guess… but then it was based on a Christmas song. It’s a shame that over 30 views were had before I realised the LAPD slip up (see my reply to Tom, below). It’s always tricky writing new lyrics to a song that you thought was a global hit, but wasn’t, which is why I’d hoped to embed the song’s video. Alas, it just wouldn’t happen.

Tom Cunningham December 7, 2023 at 8:21 PM Brilliant Terry, I think FONY is everyone's favourite Christmas song. Your lyrics are perfect as I always end up singing it with my daughter after drinking lots of 'tea' lol. Have a great weekend. Ho ho ho. Tom Terry Flood December 8, 2023 at 12:57 AM Thanks, Tom. Of course, if the Yuletide gremlins hadn’t changed ‘NYPD’ to ‘LAPD’ it may have been a little better. I’ve corrected that now…. Duh! Enjoy your ‘Tea’ ;-)