Sure he’s a chronic, stumbling alcoholic with a mouthful of black stubs for teeth but all that pales beside his art…or does it?
What works of his should I listen to to understand why he is so highly regarded? I’m looking for some suggestions re songs that would illustrate his greatness.
To answer your question: yes, he’s a genius.
Get If I Should Fall From Grace With God, which I think is the best Pogues album.
Most people say Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash is their best album – I think it’s excellent, and it’s the one that got me into them in the first place, but I think it’s a little too confined by tradition. They sound like they were just taking the gimmick of the band (traditional Irish music performed by a punk band) and sticking to that. It wasn’t until the EP Poguetry in Motion and the full-length If I Should Fall From Grace With God that they really broke out. IMO, of course.
Best songs on If I Should Fall… are “Fairytale of New York,” “Turkish Song of the Damned,” “Bottle of Smoke,” and “The Broad Majestic Shannon.”
My favorite lyric by Shane MacGowan is from “Billy’s Bones” on Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash:
And he can’t sing.
But his performance is unmistakable. Pogues songs just aren’t Pogues songs without Shane (cf. Waiting for Herb). Shane made The Pogues. I like his lyrics, and I like his gravelly, smoke-destroyed voice.
I’d suggest Rum, Sodomy & the Lash. I’d say it’s the quintessential Pogues. Their first album (IIRC) was Red Roses for Me. Again IIRC, half of it was the Pogues’s interpretation of traditional songs. RS&tL also has old tunes such as Sally Maclennane and Jesse James. This was the first one I bought (for A Pair of Brown Eyes).
Then there is the Christmas favourite, A Fairytale of New York (with the late Kirsty MacColl); perhaps my favourite Christmas tune of all time with its story of a bickering who find there is love after all.
Peace and Love is a good album, as is A Fairytale of New York Hell’s Ditch digresses a bit from the Pogues “sound” and I think you really need to be a Pogues fan to appreciate it. I think I’ve listened to Waiting for Herb twice. It’s okay, but it’s not The Pogues.
“with its story of a bickering couple…”
One more vote for the Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash album. It was also my introduction to the Pogues back in 1996. And again, “Fairytale of New York” is gorgeous. That’s all there is to it.
I believe there is another recent thread about a new Shane McGowan/Pogues DVD that just came out.
Yeh, the guy’s a bit of a genius. I wouldn’t say that Rum Sodemy and the Lash is over-run by irishness - quite of the opposite. I found (and still find) the excuberance of trad. Irish music fused with the f-you of punk hopelessly exciting, and the songs were (and still are) amazing. On some days, I’m quite happy calling <i>A Pair Of Brown Eyes</i> the best song ever written.
I’m going to jump on the Rum, Sodomy and the Lash bandwagon… I defy anyone to listen to A Pair of Brown Eyes and not say it’s poetry.
If I Should Fall From Grace With God is also a damn fine album. Damn damn fine.
Shane is most definitely is a lyrical genius. Calling him a “muscial” one is laying it on a bit thick - he’s not the worlds greatest singer. Then again the same can be said for Dylan.
Snippets from a handful of my favorite Pogues songs to get you acquainted…
London you’re a Lady
Ah London you’re a lady
Laid out before my eyes
Your heart of gold it pulses
Between your scarred up thighs
Your eyes are full of sadness
Red busses skirt your hem
Your head-dress is a ring of lights
But I would not follow them
Your architects were madmen
Your builders sane but drunk
Among your faded jewels
Shine acid house and punk
You are a scarlet lady
Your streets run red with blood
Oh my darling they have used you
And covered you with mud
It was deep down in your womb my love
I drank my quart of sin
While chinamen played cards and draughts
And knocked back mickey finns
Your piss is like a river
Its scent is beer and gin
Your hell is in the summer
And you blossom in the spring
September is your purgatory
Christmas is your heaven
And when the stinking streets of summer
Are washed away by rain
At the dark end of a lonely street
That’s where you lose your pain
'Tis then your eyes light up my love
And sparkle once again
A Rainy Night in Soho
I’ve been loving you a long time
Down all the years, down all the days
And I’ve cried for all your troubles
Smiled at your funny little ways
We watched our friends grow up together
And we saw them as they fell
Some of them fell into Heaven
Some of them fell into Hell
I took shelter from a shower
And I stepped into your arms
On a rainy night in Soho
The wind was whistling all its charms
I sang you all my sorrows
You told me all your joys
Whatever happened to that old song
To all those little girls and boys
Now the song is nearly over
We may never find out what it means
But there’s a light I hold before me
And you’re the measure of my dreams
The measure of my dreams
Church of the Holy Spook
My Daddy was a sinner, my
Mother was a saintly person
But I ruined my life by drinking, bad
Wives, taking pills and cursing
Rock and Roll you crucified me,
Left me all alone
I never should have turned my back on
The old folks back home
The Broad Majestic Shannon
And the next time I see you we’ll be down at the Greeks
There’ll be whiskey on Sunday and tears on our cheeks
For it’s stupid to laugh and it’s useless to bawl
About a rusty tin can and an old hurley ball
So I walked as day was dawning
Where small birds sang and leaves were falling
Where we once watched the row boats landing
By the broad majestic Shannon
USA
I took the cold bright needle
I used it as a sword
My eyes have seen the glory of
The coming of the Lord
Summer in Siam
When it’s summer in Siam
And the moon is full of rainbows
When it’s summer in Siam
And we go through many changes
When it’s summer in Siam
Then all I really know
Is that I truly am
In the summer in Siam
That thread about the Shane MacGowan DVD.
And yes, he is that brilliant.
Peace in Love is actually my favorite album, but only by a whisker over If I Should Fall From Grace with God. Waiting for Herb is actually quite good (esp. “Drunken Boat” and “Tuesday Morning”) but as Johnny L.A. said, it’s just not The Pogues. Pogue Mahone, their last album, is just bad.
yes, Shane Mcgowan is a genius. and, sorry miller, If I should fall from grace with god is much better than Peace in Love
I didn’t say it wasn’t. I just said which one I like better.
His two albums with the Popes, Crock of Gold and The Snake are both excellent - not as good as Rum, Sodomy and the Lash but far better than Peace and Love or Hell’s Ditch.
Its a little less punk rock, and a lot more American Rock n Roll, but still with a strong dose of trad Irish folk.
And “Sea Shanty” from their first album is my favorite song ever.