Higher Close ReadingChristmas Quiz

The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl’s“Fairytale of New York”

Higher Christmas Quiz 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

Read paragraph 1 and explain in what ways is “Fairytale of New York” a Christmas song that wasn’t about Christmas?2U

It’s about spoiled hopes and tattered wishes The holiday season causes more trouble

than it’s worth

Question 2 How does the writer use word choice here (p.2) to

show his taste for typical Christmas songs? 4A “homesick sentimentality”

“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” “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

Identify and explain the benefit of the use of sentence structure in paragraph 3. 2A

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.

Question 4

Explain why the band “almost wore out a video of Once Upon a Time in America” while they were touring Europe (p 5). 2U

They had not actually been to America They were looking for ideas about what

New York was like

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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 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 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

“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

Question 7

How does the writer’s use of language in paragraph 8 convey the problems with the first version of the song? 2A

“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.

Question 8

What was the band’s reaction to the real New York, when they finally saw it in 1986? (paragraph 9) 1U

It was better than they had expected it to be and almost seemed like a fantasy land.

Question 9

What effect does the use of parenthesis have on paragraph 11? 1A

“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.

Question 10

Why weren’t the band keen on using Kirsty MacColl for the vocals? (p.12) 2U

She may have been popular but she didn’t cope well in front of crowds and there were also legal issues.

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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) 2U

It is unclear whether: The couple are having a fight after the man was

arrested Or the drunken man is imagining the entire thing.

Question 12 How does the writer create a smooth link

between paragraphs 13 and 14?2A

“And can we trust the narrator anyway?” 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 How effective do you find the writer’s references to

the lyrics in paragraph 15? 2E

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.

Question 14 In paragraph 16, explain how the writer’s use of language sets the

scene of New York on Thanksgiving Week. 4A/E

“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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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

Comment on the writer’s use of the word “galvanising” in paragraph 17. 2A

“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.

Question 16 Why didn’t the band mind that the song didn’t

reach number 1? (p.18) 3U

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.

Question 17

Explain the ways “Fairytale of New York has ended up being a parable of the band's life together”. 3U

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.

Question 18

How effective do you find the final sentence of the passage as a conclusion to the article as a whole? 2E

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.

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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 Overall, what do you consider to be the writer’s personal opinion on

the Pogue’s classic Christmas hit, “Fairytale in New York”? 4E

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”.

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