Jason Kelce, All-Pro center for the Philadelphia Eagles, and his brother, Travis Kelce, All-Pro tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, recently teamed up to cover The Pogues’ seminal Christmas song, “Fairytale of New York.” Now, in light of Shane MacGowan’s passing, Jason Kelce is paying tribute to the Pogues singer.
“Shane’s prowess as a singer, songwriter, and poet was truly a gift to this world. He could make you feel what he was saying, attaching his soul to his music,” Kelce said in a statement to Consequence. “‘Fairytale of New York’ has long been one of my favorite songs (not just Christmas songs), as it gets to the roots of love, anger, resentment, sacrifice, and ultimately companionship. It lays out what relationships really are, that they are something bigger than yourself; and with Christmas time as the background, the theme works all too well. It was an honor for my brother and I to take a stab at such a beautiful song from a different angle, and his acknowledgement of it is beyond surreal.”
The Kelce brothers’ cover of “Fairytayle of New York” appears on A Philly Special Christmas Special, a new charity album organized by Jason and his Philadelphia Eagles teammates Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata. The cover features Jason taking on MacGowan’s parts, while Travis sings Kirsty MacColl’s vocals.
Following its release earlier this month, MacGowan lauded the cover, writing in a social media post: “Tell them I am knocked out.” Sadly, it would be MacGowan’s final public statement prior to his passing.
Read Jonah Krueger’s new essay on”Fairytale of New York,” the quintessential Christmas song for punks, drunks, and everyone else whose rough around the edges.
