Watch: Hozier and Jessie Buckley cover 'Fairytale of New York' for Shane MacGowan tribute album

Irish singer Hozier and actress Jessie Buckley have teamed up to release a cover of The Pogues' 1987 song 'Fairytale of New York' as part of Shane MacGowan's tribute album, 20th Century Paddy.

"We approached the song with a hope of honouring everything about it that we had loved for as long as we had known it and, as members of a generation born after its release, as long as we could remember," Hozier commented on the release.

"A song that broadened for us once, and now again, our understanding of just how unpredictably dynamic and imaginatively expansive a love song can be; the ground it can cover, the story it can tell. A story told in longing, in humour, in failure, in love, in pain, in acceptance, in loyalty. A song as beloved and familiar to us as home itself."

The original song was a duet between MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl and was a Christmas No. 1 in Ireland in 1987. 36 years later, the song returned to the top of the Irish Singles Chart on December 8, 2023, coinciding with MacGowan's funeral.

In 2024, Hozier performed 'Fairytale of New York' during Saturday Night Live's Christmas special, joined by three others: Melissa McMillan, Rachel Beauregard and Kamilah.

"To step into the very studio that Shane, Kirsty and The Pogues recorded 'Fairytale of New York' and to sing this eternal song of all our hearts, full of hope and humanity was pure joy," added Buckley.

"When Hozier, one of Ireland's greatest artists and souls asked me to be part of it, I felt like the luckiest woman in the world. What a pleasure! What a song! What a gift to get to sing this story!"

20th Century Paddy has been released today, also featuring a duet between Johnny Depp and Imelda May, as well as features from the likes of Kingfishr, U2 and Bruce Springsteen.

The 36 tracks span the length of MacGowan's musical career, whose first album with The Pogues, Red Roses for Me, was released in 1984.

Watch the music video below.