The song was originally planned as a duet by Shane MacGowan and Pogues bassist Cait O ' Riordan, but O ' Riordan left the band in 1986 before the song was completed.

The Pogues are a Celtic punk band from London, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan.

The roots of The Pogues were formed when MacGowan ( vocals ), Peter " Spider " Stacy ( tin whistle ), and Jem Finer ( banjo ) were together in an occasional band called The Millwall Chainsaws in the late 1970s after MacGowan and Stacy met in the toilets at a Ramones gig at The Roundhouse in 1977.

In 1982 James Fearnley ( accordion ), who had been a guitarist with the Nips, joined MacGowan, Stacy, and Finer, calling the band Pogue Mahone.

Looming over the band at this period ( as throughout their entire career ) was the increasingly erratic behaviour of their vocalist and principal songwriter, Shane MacGowan.

The band was at the peak of its commercial success, with both albums making the top 5 in the UK ( numbers 3 and 5 respectively ), but MacGowan was increasingly unreliable.

According to Shane MacGowan, amongst the reasons of the breakup was disagreement concerning the political orientation of his songs, the band not wanting to sing too obvious pro-republican songs — though some of their previous songs were already politically engaged: for instance, Streams of Whiskey is about the poet and IRA member Brendan Behan.

The band, including MacGowan, re-formed for a Christmas tour in 2001 and performed nine shows in the UK and Ireland in December 2004.

In July 2005, the band — again including MacGowan — played at the annual Guilfest festival in Guildford before flying out to Japan where they played three dates.

Reviewing a March 2008 concert, The Washington Post described MacGowan as " puffy and paunchy ," but said the singer " still has a banshee wail to beat Howard Dean's, and the singer's abrasive growl is all a band this marvelous needs to give its amphetamine-spiked take on Irish folk a focal point.

MacGowan got his first taste of fame in 1976 at a concert by English punk band The Clash, when his earlobe was damaged by Jane Crockford, later to be a member of The Mo-dettes.

After The Pogues threw MacGowan out for unprofessional behaviour, he formed a new band, Shane MacGowan and The Popes, recording two studio albums, a live album, three tracks on The Popes " Outlaw Heaven " ( 2010 ) and a live DVD, and touring internationally.

Strummer occasionally joined MacGowan and The Pogues on stage ( and briefly replaced MacGowan as lead singer after his sacking from the band ).

Dillon appeared in 1987 in the music video for " Fairytale of New York " by the Irish folk-punk band The Pogues playing a cop who escorts lead singer Shane MacGowan into the drunk tank ".

The album showcased their developing sound as the band widely progressed from being a four-piece punk rock outfit, and included collaborations with Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan and Cock Sparrer's Colin McFaull.

The Popes is a band formerly led by Shane MacGowan of the Pogues, who played a blend of rock, and Irish folk, sometimes referred to as Paddy Beat, borrowing from World Beat, a popular genre name in the 1980s.

As well as serving as MacGowan's backing band, The Popes recorded one studio and one live album without MacGowan, and have toured on their own.

Apart from Shane MacGowan ( with whom he co-wrote several songs, including " Fairytale of New York "), Finer was the most prolific composer for the band.

It released some of the earliest records recorded by Billy Bragg, Kirsty MacColl, Shane MacGowan, the band that became Simple Minds, and Joe Strummer.

Or as lead singer MacGowan explained the music: " I couldn't believe that nobody else were doing it, so we went on doing it ourselves ..." The title " Red Roses for Me " is the name of a play by Sean O ' Casey, though his works do not show any direct influence upon the band.

Japan is the last place they all played together before MacGowan was originally sacked in 1991, and they have a strong following there.

#" A Rainy Night In Soho " ( 1991 Version ) ( MacGowan )-4: 48

MacGowan parted with the band after the release of the album, due to problems with his abuse of alcohol and drugs, which had been leading to deterioration of his reliability as a performer.

MacGowan has suffered physically from years of binge drinking.

" The reviewer continued: " The set started off shaky, MacGowan singing of ` goin ' where streams of whiskey are flowin ,' and looking like he'd arrived there already.

" MacGowan says he tried whiskey when he was 10 and continued to drink heavily thereafter.

At first furious, MacGowan later expressed gratitude towards O ' Connor and claimed that the incident helped him kick his heroin habit.

* Roger MacGowan and Frederick Ordway first suggest the concept of machine superorganisms in Intelligence in the Universe.

Waiting for Herb is a 1993 album by The Pogues, their first without former lead singer Shane MacGowan.

MacGowan was already with The Nips, though when they broke up in 1980 he concentrated a bit more on Stacy's Millwall Chainsaws, who changed their name to The New Republicans.

Shane MacGowan came into his own as a songwriter with this disc, offering up poetic story-telling, such as " The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn " and " The Old Main Drag ", as well as definitive interpretations of Ewan MacColl's " Dirty Old Town " and Eric Bogle's " And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda " ( this had previously been covered by Shane's fellow punk contemporaries The Skids in 1981 ).

His autobiography A Drink With Shane MacGowan, co-written with his journalist girlfriend Victoria Mary Clarke, was released in 2001.

The Pogues with Shane MacGowan, October 11, 2006 in San Diego

In 1995, she duetted with Shane MacGowan with " You're the One " for the movie Circle of Friends.

Highlights have included Jimi Hendrix who, on hearing someone else's track being played by mistake ( in the days of live broadcast ), mumbled " I don't know the words to that one, man ", Shane MacGowan of the Pogues ' drunken performance of " Fairytale of New York ", a performance of " Roll with It " by Oasis in which Noel and Liam Gallagher exchanged roles with Noel miming to Liam's singing track and Liam pretending to play guitar, and John Peel's appearance as the mandolin soloist for Rod Stewart on " Maggie May ".

In 2002, Orthodox Celts performed on the Exit festival alongside Shane MacGowan, and Petrović appeared on the stage with MacGowan performing " The Irish Rover " with him.

MacGowan drew upon his Irish heritage when founding The Pogues and changed his early " punk " voice for a more authentic sound with tutoring from his extended family.

* The Snake ( with Shane MacGowan and the Popes, June 1995 )

* The Crock of Gold ( with Shane MacGowan and the Popes, October 1997 )

* Across the Broad Atlantic: Live on Paddy's Day-New York and Dublin ( with Shane MacGowan and the Popes, February 2002 )

They have shared stages with many other bands including Rancid, DragStrip Riot, NOFX, Flogging Molly, Xcrosscheckx, the The Misfits, Metallica, The Rookers, Voodoo Glow Skulls and Shane MacGowan.

In 2006, he won the ITV1 singing competition Stars in Their Eyes with an appearance portraying The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan singing " The Irish Rover ".

He settled in London, where he met Shane MacGowan and Spider Stacy, with whom he founded The Pogues.