Just seen the breaking news. He’d been in intensive care with a lingering
infection and was discharged only last week.
BBC story here:
j
That is sad. Not exactly out of the blue, but sad nonetheless.
I guess he won’t see another one.
A life lived at breakneck pace, at least for a while. RIP.
Listening to the excellent Bottle of Smoke in remembrance. Also, here, have a Sickbed of Cuchulainn as well.
It’s a miracle that he even made it to 65. Listening to “Fairytale Of New York” (which probably is my favorite song of all, ironically a Christmas song because I hate almost all other Christmas songs) this season will be special. Maybe he was the greatest drunk genius of all time, a poet through and through.
A great light, snuffed out. He’s one that I would wonder, from time to time, if he was still alive, and was mildly surprised to find that he was. I guess that mild surprise has been put to rest now, along with Shane.
I remember reading about his hard core boozing escapades in the '80’s, or coming up on 40 years ago, so I reckon he could’ve hit 100 with cleaner living. But would he have wanted to?
Not completely unexpected, given the state of his health this past year, and the kind of life he lived. Still, though. Far be it from me to question God’s mysterious ways, but out of the recently departed, was it really the war criminal that should’ve lived to 100?
Many didn’t think he would survive the eighties with his hard living. I remember one interview where he put it on a naturally strong constitution.
He put tremendous passion into his music. The Pogues brought Celtic folk to much broader audience. Musically they did not venture far off the traditional, but made it more accessible with their energy.
Look at it this way: who will leave the greater legacy? I predict people will still enjoy Shane’s songs in 100 years. And singing the best version of the greatest anti-war song ever is the greater achievement than for instance toppling democratically elected governments by force in your backyard and replacing them with fascists.
I’m a mess of feelings right now. Sorry that he’s dead; amazed he lived that long; grateful for his talent; angry and sad that he pissed it up the wall. And kinda relieved, too, as his life had become painful to watch.
My favorite Shane story is one that I read in an in-flight magazine decades ago, and which I have not seen recounted elsewhere. As closely as I can remember (and that applies particularly to the French bit) it goes like this. The Pogues are on tour, and the morning after the gig, press have crowded into the bar-restaurant of their hotel for breakfast interviews. Band members drift in… and eventually a horribly disheveled Shane staggers in and, as he arrives, loudly proclaims in a still-drunken slur:
L’âge de jeunesse torturée
Murmurs of What did he say? What did he say? The age of tortured youth? - and everybody whips out their pad and pencil to record the wisdoms they are about to hear. Apart from the barman, who picks up a glass; because he has heard it before and knows that what Shane actually said, through his broken and rotten teeth, was: Large gin and tonic
Ah well. It was great fun until it wasn’t. A mess of feelings, like I said. I’ll offer A Rainy Night In Soho.
j
My big strong Marine husband (whose father died from alcoholism) loved to hear ‘Fairytale of NY’ once a year at Christmas and ask me to find it on youtube. We would both sit listening with tears rulling down our cheeks… RIP.
Re: HK dying at 100 I wrote to a friend, “The Irish have a saying/toast: May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead” and I added “not for him”
I played a youtube live performance video of FoNY with Kirsty MacColl the other night and remarked to my wife, “This guy must have the constitution of Keith Richards”. Oh well. Haven’t looked yet but I’m sure Rolling Stone has better things to say about Shane.
I saw the Pogues in a small Hollywood club in the mid80s. Lots of energy. I wish I appreciated it more at the time
That’s a great story. Thanks.
Fuck. Not surprising at all, but still, fuck.
I only got to see the Pogues in concert once, and it was sadly during Shane’s period of exile from the band. It was a blazing show, but I always felt I had missed something epic. (TBH I kind of feel the same way about only getting to catch the Replacements in concert after they’d sobered (kind of) up)
If I Should Fall From Grace With God was the first album I had by the band. I listened to that cassette so many times that I’m fairly certain I could karaoke 90% today, 35 years later. Between Shane and Sinead, it’s been a rough year for Irish music.
This my favorite pogues song :-
Was it with Joe Strummer on the mic? Because that would have been some kind of consolation, at least for me. Sadly, I never saw the Pogues, with or without Shane, which is a shame.