Shane MacGowan in 1999.Beeld AP
Shane MacGowan, who passed away in the early morning of November 30, was one of the finest songwriters to emerge from the post-punk 1980s. He sang in the most exciting band of the time: The Pogues. In his artistic heyday, between 1984 and 1990, no one could combine laughter and tears, sadness and cheerfulness or despair and comfort so well in stirring songs with a rare poetic expressiveness.
It most famous song by The Pogues, Fairytale of New York, has been included in the worldwide canon of Christmas music. Quite special for a not at all cheerful song, in which the two protagonists (the other is singer Kirsty MacColl) insult each other. But like all good Pogues songs, the traditional Irish ballad structure had something uplifting, and the chorus at the end offered comfort even on “Christmas Eve in the Drunk Tank,” where the song opens. The evergreen is also a good example of combining Irish folk with Anglo-Saxon rock, which is what MacGowan had in mind with his Pogues.
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Gijsbert Kamer has been a music journalist since 1992. He writes reviews, interviews and reflections on pop and jazz for de Volkskrant.
Shane MacGowan was born on Christmas Day 1957 in Kent, England. His parents were Irish immigrants and it was especially that culture that he was passionate about. In addition to punk, the music movement he was in the middle of in London from 1976-’77. He was a singer in the punk band Nipple Erector for a short time and was part of the same scene that also included The Jam and The Clash.
But MacGowan had little interest in the post-punk and dark wave that swept London in the early eighties. He had now devoted himself to writing lyrics, but did not want to pass as a ‘poet’. He chose to connect his lyrics to Irish traditional music and gathered a great group of musicians around him. They released their first single, The Dark Streets of London, in early 1984 as Pogue Mahone (Gaelic for lick my ass). A sad text on a cheerful melody, where it will be later debut album released that year Red Roses for Me was full of that.
Folk with punk venom
This first album by The Pogues (as they eventually came to be called) was comparable to nothing in the pop music of 1984. Folk played with punk venom. Drinking songs alternated with ballads that sounded like Irish traditionals but turned out to be new. Like Boys from the County Hell with the unforgettable chorus: ‘And it’s lend me ten pounds and I’ll buy you a drink/ And mother wake me early in the morning.’
It second album by The Pogues was even better. Rum, Sodomy & The Lash (1985) was produced by Elvis Costello, and the album also made the band a popular live band in the Netherlands. With The Pogues, howling and crying were never far apart. Flow along in their Streams of Whiskey and shed a tear at The Old Main Drag, in which MacGowan sings about his first years in London: ‘One evening as I was lying down by Leicester Square/ I was picked up by the coppers and kicked in the balls. ‘
The strength of The Pogues was not only Shane who managed to move with his unsteady voice. The band around him played great too. Jem Finer’s banjo and James Fearnley’s accordion proved indomitable time and time again. Unfortunately, so was MacGowan’s drinking and drug consumption. It third and perhaps best Pogues album If I Should Fall from Grace with God (featuring the Christmas hit Fairy Tale of New York) was the last on which MacGowan was artistically in control.
Booze and heroin
Peace & Love (1989) and Hell’s Ditch (1990) featured more and more songs by other band members. MacGowan not only wrote less, he also ignored agreements within the band. In 1991 he was even fired by The Pogues and a sad process of physical decline began, caused by alcohol and heroin use.
He made two nice albums under his own name – with a new band, The Popes – and also showed a good side of himself live here. But his performance at Pinkpop 1995 was an absolute low point. Early in the afternoon, but already drunk, he had forgotten his lyrics and after a few songs he was helped off stage on the microphone stand. On the other hand, the Christmas shows that he gave in Great Britain with the specially reunited Pogues at the beginning of this century were of a moving beauty.
With MacGowan on form, The Pogues were the best band in the world. They played ancient Irish folk songs and added their own classics in Streams of Whiskey, A Pair of Brown Eyes and Sally MacLennane. However tragic his self-destruction was, MacGowan has had no shortage of recognition. He was praised in the highest circles.
Bruce Springsteen visited him in the hospital this year and Bob Dylan, who was never very talkative during performances, briefly reflected on the presence of MacGowan in the audience in Dublin last year. He said he listened to Fairytale of New York every Christmas.
Three other top songs from Shane MacGowan
A Rainy Night in Soho
Of all the ballads that MacGowan wrote, this is the most beautiful. If he was in good form live, you wouldn’t be disappointed with the closing line of this ultimate love song: ‘You’re the measure of my dreams, the measure of my dreams.’
The Broad Majestic Shannon
Live favorite, especially thanks to the full melodic band sound, but also because of a chorus that always moves: ‘Take my hand, and dry your tears baby/ Take my hand, forget your fears babe.’
Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six
MacGowan was very involved in the Irish ‘Troubles’ and wrote very movingly about the wrongly convicted Birmingham Six, which, coupled with Streets of Sorrow by Terry Woods, became a highlight in the oeuvre. ‘Counting years first five then ten/ Growing old in a lonely hell/ Round the yard in a lousy cell/ From wall to wall and back again.’
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2023-11-30 16:24:34
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