I’d never heard of The Pogues before the SDMB, where the posters talked about them all the time. Then I happened across If I Should Fall from Grace with God (the documentary, not the song) on Sundance halfway through the program, and this was the first Pogues song I heard. I went out and bought their greatest hits album the next day and soon had all of their CDs with Shaney Mac on vocals. That was 7 1/2 years ago, and I still go through withdrawal if I spend more than a week without listening to their music. I even like the Popes’ Crock of Gold.
Uplifting? Maybe in the way that a Hans Christian Anderson story is uplifting: at the end, you’re left with this incredible sense of relief that you aren’t any of the people you just read about. This is a song about two hopeless drunks, trapped in an utterly dysfunctional relationship. You get the impression that they’ve done this, “I hate you! You ruined my life! DON’T LEAVE ME!” routine a hundred times, and they’re going to keep doing it until one of them drops dead from cirrhoses. Even the end, with the kinda-sorta happy ending where they admit that as bad as things are in their lives, they still love each other, is made bittersweet at best by the recognition that these two people are likely incredibly unhealthy for each other, that neither is going to be able to sober up and fix their lives so long as they’re trapped in this circle of co-dependence.
By the way, the BBC produced a documentary a while ago about the making of this song. It’s available on YouTube in six parts. It includes interviews with the members of the band, as well as producer Steve Lillywhite and Kirsty McColl’s mother.