Diane, Blackpool
So great it's beyond words. It's timeless & classic. Some Christmas songs should be buried deep and never heard again ever!

Pete Fenelon, York
One of three Christmas songs that isn't instantly emetic - the others being Tom Waits "Xmas Card From a Hooker In Minneapolis" and the other John Lee Hooker's "Blues For Christmas". Real life doesn't stop just because the tinsel is up.

Kate from Nottingham
Apart from taking down the Christmas tree, the year long wait to hear this poetic, lyrical and timelessly Celtic classic being played in pubs and shops is one of the main causes of my post-Christmas blues

Annie O'devlin /Limerick
Hi I love this song and having met the man himself can see why he produced this work of art he is a very talented guy and despite that a lovely man who's company I enjoyed very much .Fairytale of new york is wonderful and truly uplifting

pauline, london
"MacGowan wrote it specifically with Kirsty MacColl in mind as a duet partner" er, not according to the film on BBC3. It was a totally random match up after some failures. They weren't even in the studio at the same time recording it!

Erwin Brys / Antwerp (Belgium)
Undoubtedly the best Christmas song I've ever heard!!

Ian Smith Worthing
This is definately the best. It combines 'down and out' humour with street-level love and bitterness. Its melody and bitter-sweet lyric is classic. The musical arrangement is just superb and both vocals are so complimentary and a joy to listen to. One we will listen to for all time. God rest Kirsty.

Charlotte Moore Isleworth
I love this song! its the best christmas song because of kirsty and shanes two different voices add irish charm to it ( fab in all ways!)

Col from Preston
Begins with MacGowan knocked up in the drink tank (police cells) in New York, then the band kicks in and McColl/MacGowan tell a tale of shattered dreams ending in squalor and recrimination on Christmas Day. I've tried thinking of any other Christmas song that gets better the more you listen to it; there isn't one. Second best, but a long way behind, is Stop the Cavalry. Not at all surprised that it's only 83 in the charts. The people who buy singles these days, average age 9, wouldn't know good music if they fell over it.

Michelle Macclesfield
I love the song and have fond memories of Christmases where me and the family sat crooning out the words, drunk as skunks, however, I don't know if it is THE greatest. It is definately in the top three. I love to kick my heels up to Wizard's, I wish it could be Christmas Everyday, (My personal favourite) and I have to admit that I get carried away with Slade's Merry Christmas everybody!!!!

Connor Sephton, Lancashire
Excellent song, Christmas Cheer mode won't wear off until AT LEAST February now!

Alison Harper, Glasgow
Undoubtedly the best. Although the lyrics aren't all nicey nice and sicky sweet, stick it on in a pub or near any group of people and you're guaranteed that everyone there will be having a VERY merry Christmas and singing along!

George Rigden
I DAMN HOPE IT REACHES NUMBER ONE THIS YEAR! truly the greatest Christmas song of all time, robbed of the number one slot in the 80's - lets not have it again!

pauline gallagher, middlesbrough
really enjoyable song, great to sing along to really gets you in the mood for christmas parties, top quality

Matthew Wolstenholme, Manchester
This is and always will be the best christmas song ever, infact it is one of my favourite, if not my favourite song of all time, even if it is a christmas one! The best thing about late November is me being able to play this song in all its glory, the lyrics are genius, its a great story, and Kirsty and Shane have done wonders, it truly is a work of art. I can't tell you how much that gorgeous music near the end makes me smile, its a work of art. It needs so much more credit than what it deserves. As for the Ronan Keating version, his voice is awful on it, I don't mind him, but that song is horrible how hes done it. Total dissapointment. Infact no one should cover it cause it will never ever be as good.

Jude, Edinburgh
Wait all year to bellow out 'you scumbag you maggot' and it be in the christmas spirit. Am disgusted, appauled, all the other words there are, that the only version people seem to be playing at the moment is ronan keating and some random woman. Sacrilage!

Trevor W - Wakefield
The ultimate. A tale of bitter love told around the fire in a flickerin' Dublin boozer. It's got the lot.

Darren, Mansfield
It's half romantic and half bitter and twisted and contains the best ever line from a song.

Robert, Southampton
One of the best Christmas songs of all time, love the lyrics, the melody and the fantastic line "I could have been someone, but so could anyone".

Erik Brouwers, Simpelveld, the Netherlands
I'm a huge fan of the Pogues and this is definitely their best song!

Roisin Treacy, Hamilton, New Zealand
best chrissy song ever. Good craic!!!!!!

Rob Harper Montgomery Powys
Good song nice to hear it apart from at Christmas !

rach england
its realy funny the things she says about him. hahahaha. n yer its a good song but it can somtimes get on your nerves. n sometimes it does not make sense. so.... anyway. thank you and good night. xxxxxx

Thanasis Vikopoulos Thessaloniki Greece
Simply the greatest Christmas single. Only a Master like Shane could write something like that. Thanks a lot

Tim from Japan
The switch, stepping on the last note of the piano riff after "when all our dreams come true...." turning that melancholy into the beginning of an upbeat, angry jig, makes me very happy. The range, in musical style, colision of points of view, and of emotion, make this a contender for the greatest pop single ever. The to and fro of the points of view,with tragedy and hope, blame and self realisation, and no clear winner... this is love. This is Christmas.

victoria jackson wolverhampton
definately the best christmas song ever !!!!!

Andrew Rigby from Liverpool
While I also like the version featuring the much-maligned Ronan Keating, the Shane and Kirsty original is still the best. And yes, the best Christmas single ever by some distance. It's sad, happy, morose and optimistic all at once - particularly when he sings to her about how he kept her dreams with him, put them with his own and built his own dreams around her. I fill up when listening to it - not just because it's a great song but also for poor, tragically missed Kirsty McColl. Wherever you are,love, you're immortal.

mc johnsonburger
watched the pogues the night before my wedding with my current wife. When they played this I cried and we had a wee kiss. - bit soppy sorry - then she punched me in the mouth so I'd look more like Shane

George, Bristol
the greatest ever Christmas Record without a doubt - I think its true Genius, beautiful and the only christmas song that can be played to death to anyone without them getting fed of with it! its a classic - number 84? there is no justic in the world!

Danny , London
The coolest Christmas song ever. It's set in New York-the coolest city in the world. Shane McGowan has the coolest voice and Kirsty MacColl balances it perfectly. Why only 84. The best song never to be number 1.

Tanya Knox ...........Bradford, West Yorkshire
Its classy and unique, funny yet magical too.

Sunny, London
I remember when this was released in 1987 as a schoolboy. And still now in 2004 it's still fresh as it was then. What a song. An all time classic not just around Xmas time but anytime of the year. Teenagers still phone in asking who's the artist ? Where can I get ? This just proves this is song is timeless.

Danny
The best Christmas song ever.No Contest!

steve - sunderland
This song is great. Everytime I hear it, it still sounds great. It lets you know of the joy and sadness at Christmas.

Simon/London
Simply the best Christmas song ever written by one of Ireland's greatest song writers. It fits the Christmas spirt.

Isabel,Seville(Spain)
I think this is one of the most beautiful Christmas songs I´ve ever heard, It reminds me of great times and of Ireland of course.HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!!!!!!

Georgia - Cardiff
I think this son is the ultimate christmas song. I listen to it every year to get christmas freezing up your spine!

Robert, Durham
I love 'Fairytale Of New York,' but honestly I think 'Christmas Lullaby' by Shane MacGowan is even better.

Sarah, Coventry
Only 84th??!! What is the world coming to. This has got to be one of those that everyone sings along to with their best mate, waving a pint in the air, and remembers that they really do love Christmas!!

Katie / Cork
One of the best Christmas Songs ever written. No other Christmas song comes close. Shane and Kirsty, pure magic.

billy
without a doubt one of the finest songs ever written. head and shoulders above most of the songs on this list. why is it only no. 84?

Glenn, Mansfield
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful !

Bruce, Newmarket
Without doubt the greatest Christmas record ever, perfectly capturing the hope and despair and recriminations that is the true spirit of Christmas.

Freya, Kent
Probably one of the best songs I have ever heard! I am a big fan of The Pogues, and have most of their albums.

Barry O' Loughlin, Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland.
Possibly the greatest Irish song of all time, much superior to anything ever written by B*n*.

Adam Hipkin, Portsmouth.
'I could have been someone, but so could anyone.' doesn't get any better than that and still brings goose pimples to the back of my neck.

Warmley/Bristol
true brilliance - the only christmas song ever written that can be loved by everyone who hears it and listened to at any time of the year. by far the best song never to get to number 1.