I said earlier that I would put up a thread for Shane McGowan tonight if no one else did. Sorry to say that I didn’t know his music, but he obviously touched a lot of lives here.
NYT Gift Link: Shane MacGowan, Songwriter Who Fused Punk and Irish Rebellion, Is Dead at 65
Seems like he deserves a good Irish wake.
twbrandt
MacGowan’s lyrics were raw, brutally honest, and razor sharp. He will be missed.
RaflW
Fairytale of New York is in heavy rotation in my Xmas iTunes library every year. I still miss Kirsty MacColl (dunno why, but her Walking Down Madison has always brought me pleasure). I’m not sure I feel that much about McGowan, but there are definitely more Pogues songs I like.
He is one of those figures who never seems to really (publicly, at lest) regret his alcoholism, though I’m sure it contributed to dying at 65. RIP.
laura
What Charlie said: https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a46000208/shane-macgowan-pogues-death/
They pay the price in life for the gifts they try So Hard to give us.
Evap
I saw the Pogues in Austin, TX in the late 1980s. Shawn was completely out of it (drunk, high, who knows) and could hardly sing.
Kirsty MacColl one of my all time favs and I love Fairytale. But she was so much more than that. What’s not to love about someone who writes a song called There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis! 😀
laura
Kirsty was prescient: https://youtu.be/knc9LKjukSQ?si=2a7WteYo3t1Hy_y0
RaflW
@Evap: Oh, man, that song is fantastic.
Old School
@Evap: They just released an eight disc box set from Kirsty. I’m tempted, but am hoping the price will drop a little.
Evap
@Old School: my spousal unit bought it for me. He’s a keeper!
Old School
@Evap: Nice!
sanjeevs
Not many people can say the created not just a fistful of classic songs, but a whole new subgenre of music.
Growing up in Ireland, Irish music, sport, dance and the language were all terminally uncool. Shane MacGowan changed that for music. Others did it for Irish sports (hurling, Gaelic football) and dance.
And they all did it by looking outside – to punk , the English Premier League, flamenco etc.
The Irish language is still in a poor state, maybe because the advocates tend to be an insular lot.
HumboldtBlue
Youse want music?
This is how John Cole manages his blog.
Splitting Image
Since we’re celebrating the lives of dead Pogues, my favourite song of theirs is actually “Thousands are Sailing”, by the late Phil Chevron. “Lorelei” was another great song of his.
Kirsty MacColl had a hit on her own with “They Don’t Know”, covered by Tracy UIlman.
Out of MacGowan’s many great songs, “Lullaby of London” has been a favourite for a long time, as is “A Rainy Night in Soho”. “Turkish Song of the Damned” is great too.
MacGowan was also a great interpreter of other people’s songs. The Pogues’ version of “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda” is great, as is the version of “The Irish Rover” MacGowan sang with Ronnie Drew and the Dubliners.
May the ghosts that howl ’round the house at night never keep them from their sleep. May they all sleep well down in hell tonight, or wherever they may be.
PJ
Shane was a brilliant songwriter, one of the greats, for a few brief years. He wrote about outsiders and outcasts with deep sympathy but never with pity, and there seemed to be a rage or defiance grounding the best of his songs. And he could write melodies that seemed like they’d always been there. This is one of them, “A Pair of Brown Eyes”:
https://youtu.be/zNtQ5AnRlz8?si=H6ASW-KGq5PnjJxF
PJ
@RaflW: I was surprised he made it out of his thirties. When he did, I thought he’d a liver forever, like Keith. But Shane lived the way he wanted to. Much later, he did seem to regret the heroin, but escaping or avoiding was not something he was ashamed of.
Doc Sardonic
Getting dumpster fired tonite…….Shane’s passing is a downer, but Henry shucking this mortal coil and sliding head first into hell, I figure a good drunk is what’s called for. Shane, may the angels greet you with a pint of the finest, Henry, enjoy the rustiest of the demon’s dildos in every orifice you posess. Raise a glass for Shane.
Jay
@Doc Sardonic:
Glass raised for Shane.
cain
I loved the Pogues .. it was such a great band. Although I always felt .. ‘damn Shane when don’t you sound drunk:
Hate to see the state of his liver.
Jay
The Pogues had a huge impact in Canada.
They made alt/punk Celtic cool.
There are at least 8 bands that topped Canadian charts that would not have existed, but for the Pogues.
I used to, a long time ago, work with a couple of Newfies and a couple more Atlantic Canadians. John’s brother, owned a cleaning Company and rented a house in New West. Once a month, he would hold a “kitchen party”, a raver. Tables would be destroyed, couches, chairs and end tables trashed, from people dancing on them and stomping to Alt/Punk/Celtic. Yes, we were drunk.
The next day, his cleaners would clean the house, trash what was broken and haul it to the dump, then he would refurnish from Value Village or Sally Ann.
Epic parties and once in a blue moon, there was a band.
Seanly
There was never real justice for the negliegent homocide of Kirsty MacColl.
Much to the everlasting chagrin of the BBC, there was a long-running campaign to make “Fairytale of New York” the #1 holiday song on the BBC IIRC.
Jay
@Seanly:
Yup, no justice.
Corruption and 1% money.
Doug
@HumboldtBlue: “Play the five tones”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZj7gUIO-2k
Ramalama
I always attributed Shane’s singing as Irish mumble mouth than booze, though I remember reading something Sinead O’Connor said about Shane crashing her house and just vomiting everywhere and generally horrifying her and maybe her kids. When I first heard the Pogues I thought the lead singer was a dead ringer for one of my uncles who had extreme mumble mouth until I finally finally broke the code. My brother when he was four years old crashed his crazy car and ended up in the hospital. Nurses tried to ask him who hit him, and he kept telling them that nobody’d hit him…he crashed his crazy car. But they couldn’t understand him because he too had the mumble mouth. We’ve got some Irish in us. But now am wondering if my bro started drinking EARLY.
Marmot
RIP
murderbot 2.2.0
@PJ: RIP Shane McGowen:
@cain: RIP Shane McGowen dead at 65. Cause of death: Shane McGowen.
Miss Bianca
@Evap: And who could forget “In These Shoes”? :)
MikefromArlington
Saw him @ The 9:30 Club in D.C. a while back
Paul in KY
Mentioned in an earlier thread that I saw Shane & the boys at Bogarts in Cincinnati. Place was jumping that night. So glad I saw them! He was one of a kind.
Was circa 1991 when I saw them. Shane was a bit tipsey.
Paul in KY
@Doc Sardonic: I will raise a glass tonight for Shane McGowan.
Bart
I still recall seeing the Pogues at Pukkelpop 1991, with Shane drinking an ungodly amount of alcohol throughout their performance and getting increasingly unintelligible (and it wasn’t like he was easy to understand to begin with). A week or so later the band sacked him “following a chaotic live performance at the WOMAD Festival held in Japan”.
I’m surprised his death has touched me so much.