Higher Close Reading
Christmas Quiz
The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl’s
“Fairytale of New York”
Higher Christmas Quiz
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Before we start on the Close
Reading Quiz, we’re going to
do a little analysis challenge.
Get your team name on your
answer sheet and your first
challenge is to analyse the
song’s title while you have a
listen to it.
If it’s about a wayward
couple who have lost hope,
why is it called a “Fairytale of
New York”?
Round One – 10 marks
Complete questions 1-4.
You have 10 minutes
Once your time is up, swap sheets
clockwise and we’ll mark them up
Question 1
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Read paragraph 1 and explain in what ways
is “Fairytale of New York” a Christmas song
that wasn’t about Christmas?
2U
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It’s about spoiled hopes and tattered wishes
The holiday season causes more trouble
than it’s worth
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Question 2
How does the writer use word choice here (p.2) to
show his taste for typical Christmas songs? 4A
“homesick sentimentality”
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“Sentimentality” means prone to tender emotions or
feelings
This suggests that the writer feels that “White Christmas”
contains too much nostalgia and feelings that could be
exaggerated just to evoke feelings of happiness from the
audience.
“bullish bonhomie”
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“Bonhomie” means good-natured while “bullish” means
optimistic
This suggests that the writer feels that “Merry Xmas
Everybody” is overly cheery and happy, while this is not
really what Christmas is like for everyone.
Question 3
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Identify and explain the benefit of the use of
sentence structure in paragraph 3.
2A
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Parenthesis - ("Pogue mahone" means "kiss
my arse" in Gaelic)
Provides the meaning of the band’s full
name and gives an idea of the band’s
general attitude – that they are quite brash,
rude and upfront – as well as linking to their
Irish roots.
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Question 4
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Explain why the band “almost wore out a
video of Once Upon a Time in America”
while they were touring Europe (p 5). 2U
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They had not actually been to America
They were looking for ideas about what
New York was like
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Scores on the Doors
Current leaders:
Round Two – 11 marks
Complete questions 5-10
You have 15 minutes
Once your time is up, swap sheets
counter-clockwise and we’ll mark them up
Question 5
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Explain the contrast presented by Fearnley in paragraph 6, when
speaking of Shane MacGowan, the band’s singer.
2A
The contrast created is that the general opinion of MacGowan was a
swearing drunk, while the truth was that he was a hard worker.
Public Image:
“wayward alcoholic with a bombsite of a mouth”
“wayward” implies that MacGowan was often led astray by drink, while
the metaphor “bombsite of a mouth” suggests that the things he said
were a disaster and led to trouble and chaos
Reality:
“the clever, diligent craftsman who sweated for two years to make
Fairytale of New York perfect”
“craftsman” suggests that MacGowan considered his songwriting to be
an art and it was a skill he worked hard to improve, while
“sweated…perfect” shows that he actually took time and effort to make
the song as good as it could be and it was something he struggled to
achieve.
Question 6
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How effective do you find the use of the phrase
“embryonic classic” in paragraph 8? What does it tell you
about the first demo of the song?
3A/E
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“embryonic” creates images of an unborn child.
This suggests that it was expected that the song would be
a success before it was even completed.
Just as an embryo still needs time to grow and develop
into a fully-formed child, so too did the Pogues’ song need
time to become a hit.
This is an effective phrase to use as it implies that people
had unrealistic expectations of the song as it could not
become an instant “classic” straight away. It needed time
to develop into one
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Question 7
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How does the writer’s use of language in paragraph
8 convey the problems with the first version of the
song?
2A
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“The melody limps, the lyrics stumble”
The word “limps” implies that the music was uneasy
and did not flow naturally. It suggests it was not at
its best and was perhaps damaged or incomplete in
places.
The word “stumble” suggests that the song’s lyrics
struggled to fit with melody and implies that they fall
out of place occasionally, too.
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Question 8
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What was the band’s reaction to the real
New York, when they finally saw it in 1986?
(paragraph 9)
1U
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It was better than they had expected it to be
and almost seemed like a fantasy land.
Question 9
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What effect does the use of parenthesis
have on paragraph 11?
1A
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“Chrissie Hynde (feasible) and Suzi Quatro
(less so).”
The use of parenthesis lets the reader know
what chance the band had of getting each
singer to perform with them.
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Question 10
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Why weren’t the band keen on using Kirsty
MacColl for the vocals? (p.12)
2U
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She may have been popular but she didn’t
cope well in front of crowds and there were
also legal issues.
Scores on the Doors
Current leaders:
Break – we start again at 9:45
Round Three – 10 marks
Complete questions 11-14
You have 10 minutes
Once your time is up, swap sheets
clockwise and we’ll mark them up
Question 11
In what ways is the song “teasingly
elliptical”? (paragraph 13)
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2U
It is unclear whether:
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The couple are having a fight after the man was
arrested
Or the drunken man is imagining the entire thing.
Question 12
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How does the writer create a smooth link
between paragraphs 13 and 14? 2A
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“And can we trust the narrator anyway?”
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Starting with the word “And” shows that the writer
is going to continue his point from the previous,
which was about whether or not the story is
really happening.
The phrase “trust the narrator” links with the rest
of the paragraph as the writer goes on to explain
why the man in the song is not a very reliable
character.
Question 13
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How effective do you find the writer’s references to
the lyrics in paragraph 15? 2E
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The use of lyrics are effective as the writer is trying
to highlight the “brilliance” of the song. By quoting
some of the lyrics, he is able to use them as
evidence to back up his opinion.
It also lets the reader have a closer look at the
relationship within the song as he claims that the
man in the song “responds, with all the warmth
he's been withholding”, showing that while the
couple seemed to be angry with one another for a
time, he does seem to genuinely care about the
woman in question.
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Question 14
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In paragraph 16, explain how the writer’s use of language sets the
scene of New York on Thanksgiving Week.
4A/E
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“The air was bitterly cold and fairy lights twinkled in the trees.”
“bitterly cold” tells us that it was the kind of temperature that was
almost bitingly cold. It shows that the weather at the time was not very
pleasant in New York.
“fairy lights twinkled” shows that even though the weather was
unpleasant, the city looked beautiful. It creates the image of New York
appearing like something from a Christmas card.
The use of these cliches – “bitterly cold” and “lights twinkling” – also
continues this idea that the version of New York that the Pogues
witnessed was “like New York than the movies” (paragraph 9) – this
makes it seem almost like a fairytale, just like the title of the song.
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Scores on the Doors
Current leaders:
Round Four – 10 marks
Complete questions 15-18
You have 10 minutes
Once your time is up, swap sheets
counter-clockwise and we’ll mark them up
Question 15
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Comment on the writer’s use of the word
“galvanising” in paragraph 17.
2A
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“galvanise” means to coat or cover over something
It also gives the idea of bringing two things
together.
In this case it gives the idea that the song
managed to take over the band and keep them
together. It managed to cover up MacColl’s stage
fright and the song was a success, too.
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Question 16
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Why didn’t the band mind that the song didn’t
reach number 1? (p.18)
3U
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It reached the top spot in MacGowan’s
homeland.
He didn’t think British listeners would
appreciate it anyway.
It became the dark horse of Christmas songs.
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Question 17
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Explain the ways “Fairytale of New York has ended
up being a parable of the band's life together”.
3U
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They were full of great ideas when they had just
started.
Things didn’t go as well as they had planned.
They managed to overcome their differences in the
end, even though things were tricky for a while.
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Question 18
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How effective do you find the final sentence of the passage as
a conclusion to the article as a whole?
2E
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The final phrase “The ending is completely open” is a good way
to end the passage, because first of all, it echoes MacGowan’s
previous words in the interview, when the passage reads:
"You really don't know what is going to happen to them," says
MacGowan. "The ending is completely open."
By linking back to the interviewee’s previous words, the writer
is reminding them of them and giving the reader the opportunity
to ponder the song’s final words as they reach the final words
of the article. This works well as it is not only the song whose
“ending is completely open”, but the article too since these are
the last words. It gives the reader an opportunity to think about
the song some more, even once the writer has finished putting
forward his own opinion.
Scores on the Doors
Current leaders:
Tie-Breaker – 4 marks
Complete question 19
You have 5 minutes
Once your time is up, swap sheets
clockwise and we’ll mark them up
Question 19
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Overall, what do you consider to be the writer’s personal opinion on
the Pogue’s classic Christmas hit, “Fairytale in New York”?
4E
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I think the writer really cares for the song. First of all, in the article’s
title, he refers to it as a“classic Christmas anthem”, implying that he
sees it not just as a Christmas song, but as a Christmas song that
has stood the test of time and become a “classic”, as well as being
described as an “anthem”, suggesting that it is a song everyone
sings along to and knows all the words of. As well as that, he
describes the song as containing “brilliance” in the ninth paragraph.
He goes into great detail about the song’s lyrics, suggesting that
this is a song he has listened to repeatedly. Earlier in the passage,
the writer argues that the song feels “more emotionally “real”” than
other popular Christmas songs. By comparing it to these other
songs, he is showing his personal opionion by stating that he
considers the Pogues’ hit to contain a better picture of Christmas
that these other “classic” song show. This also suggests that he
has a deeper connection to “Fairytale of New York” and that it
means more to him than “White Christmas” or “Merry Xmas
Everybody”.
Final Scores on the Doors
The Winners Are: