Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

It’s a new day. Light all those Biden polls of young people on fire and throw away the ashes.

Come on, man.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Second rate reporter says what?

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

I was promised a recession.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

People are complicated. Love is not.

You are here: Home / Absent Friends / Shane McGowan, RIP

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29Comments

  2. 2.

    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.

  4. 4.

    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! 😀

  10. 10.

    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.

  12. 12.

    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.

  13. 13.

    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

  14. 14.

    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.

  15. 15.

    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.

  17. 17.

    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.

  18. 18.

    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.

  22. 22.

    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.

  27. 27.

    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.

  29. 29.

    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.

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