How does that old saying go again? "If you want to get rich and never have to worry about money ever again, write a Christmas tune." Well, something along those lines.

It's little wonder that Shane MacGowan recently got his teeth fixed, as he has a lot to smile about at this time of year.

You know how every time you turn on the radio from the start of November until the end of December, you're bound to hear 'Fairytale of New York', The Pogues tune with the late Kirsty MacColl, at least once? Well, it's been revealed that the Pogues frontman earns a whopping estimated £386,000 (€525,000) a YEAR in royalties from the song.

Shane, you missed a trick - you should have got diamonds instead of ceramics.

He recently told The Irish Times: "We just set it at Christmas. Apart from that it was Pogues subject matter: a couple fighting . . . We didn’t look to any other Christmas songs; we just did our own one. It wasn’t calculated. I wasn’t interested in writing Christmas songs. We just wrote a good song that happens to be at Christmas. [We wrote it] on and off for two years because we had to get the right lyrics. Some songs come in one rush; others you tinker with.” 

Via NME.com