Irish music legend Shane MacGowan has given his blessing to Ed Sheeran after the Galway Girl star covered the Christmas classic Fairytale of New York.
Sheeran has received a wave of online criticism after he performed the song festive favourite.
However, co-writer MacGowan has defended Sheeran and insisted he “loves” the cover.
Shane’s partner Victoria said: “Shane loves when people cover his material and Ed’s version is really good. He loves it.
“I don’t understand a lot of the criticism. Some people were even suggesting Ed shouldn’t have covered it because he’s English, well, Shane was actually born in England!
“We love Ed, in fact he’s more than welcome to call around while he’s over in Dublin. We’d love to see him for a sing-song.”
Sheeran has Irish grandparents and has always been happy to embrace his heritage.
He admitted he knew he would face criticism for taking on such an iconic song.
He said: “It’s a cover that you shouldn’t really touch. I’m going to get murdered for doing this.”
Sheeran will perform the song on the Late Late Show. He will also sing his own song Nancy Mulligan, which tells the story of his grandparents’ romance.
He said: “Nancy Mulligan is about my grandfather and my grandmother.
“My grandfather is a Protestant from Belfast and my grandmother is a Catholic from Wexford and when they got married it was like a real thing.
“But they went against people, got married and ended up being married for 66 years before my grandfather passed away.”
Take a look at Sheeran’s cover of Fairytale of New York.
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