Irish Soul: Experiencing Shane MacGowan & The Pogues
This blog is part of a ZIO series about Shane MacGowan and The Pogues.
Introduction
This March brought me my first taste of The Pogues live in concert. They played two nights at Roseland Ballroom here in New York City during the week of St. Patrick’s Day (as is their annual tradition), and I was at both shows. Two nights, two completely different experiences.
I was still basking in the afterglow of the concerts while simultaneously trying to work out how best to approach writing a review for a band so fabled as The Pogues, when I received an email from my favorite music writer (and good friend) Innes Reekie. Innes had heard I was at the New York shows, so he offered me an article he'd once written about Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan.
Back in 1996 Loaded Magazine sent Innes off to spend several days with Shane on a visit to the singer’s hometown in Ireland. While many things happened during those days - including missed planes, an appearance by Harvey Keitel, and an impromptu pub performance - a formal interview was not among them, so Loaded never ran the piece.
Zoom In Online will be publishing a week of blogs about Shane MacGowan and The Pogues, beginning today. The first installment sets up the context to Innes' story, and it also touches upon what I find most compelling about this band. Next up will be a review of The Pogues' live show in 2009. The last three blogs will be the main event: Innes' extraordinary article about his adventures with the legendary writer, singer, and performer will finally be published, every word intact.
UPDATE: You can now read Innes' "lost article" about Shane MacGowan:
It's a Long Way to Go… to Tipperary, for a Pocketful of Mumbles & a Fucked Liver
See you on the other side...
The Music
Before Freak Folk, before Neofolk, before PsychFolk, and even before Anti-Folk... there were The Pogues.
The Pogues’ sound combines the instruments and soul of traditional Irish music with the intensity and attitude of the punk movement that was stripping rock music down to its essentials at the time of the band’s inception. Because of these two elements, it’s easy to turn The Pogues into a caricature of “Irish punk” or “Irish music sped up”. But that’s overlooking the pure rock’n’roll bits, the pop hooks, the jazz influence, the dance-inspiring rhythms, the poetic lyrics, and the music that is at once innovative, but also deeply rooted in tradition. It’s also folk music in its truest sense of the word: music for the folks.
Perhaps the best thing I could say about the Pogues’ musical style is that it cannot be described in an elevator pitch.
The Words
“Shane MacGowan is a visionary, one of the finest writers of the century.”
- Joe Strummer
As usual, Joe is correct. Shane's way with words is breathtaking. It's his honesty, empathy, and sense of humor, the poetic turn of phrase, the political themes, his sardonic wit, the tenderness and harshness, excess and insight, and his distinctive delivery that compel me to use that oh so forbidden word: genius.
When I was first delving into the Pogues, it was the lyrical content that struck me most. Shane MacGowan is a great writer in a long lineage that includes W.B. Yeats, James Clarence Mangan, and Brendan Behan. Shane speaks of love and lust, of hope and regret, he paints people we recognize, he comforts us only to draw us back to edge of the abyss, he writes of Irish expatriates in London and America, he challenges us with political ideas we don’t agree with, he makes us sing and dance and laugh, and then he goes and breaks our hearts.
The opening lines of "A Pair of Brown Eyes"
One summer evening drunk to hell
I sat there nearly lifeless
An old man in the corner sang
Where the Water Lilies Grow
And on the jukebox Johnny sang
About a thing called love
And it's how are you kid and What's your name
And how would you bloody know?
In blood and death 'neath a screaming sky
I lay down on the ground
And the arms and legs of other men
Were scattered all around
Some cursed, some prayed, some prayed then cursed
Then prayed and bled some more
And the only thing that I could see
Was a pair of brown eyes that was looking at me
But when we got back, labeled parts one to three
There was no pair of brown eyes waiting for me
The Story
“The British press have been giving me six months to live for the past twenty years. They must be getting pissed off interviewing me by now.”
- Shane MacGowan
The Pogues’ music and lyrics speak for themselves, yet Shane MacGowan the individual continues to attract people the world over, no matter how much he might prefer to go unnoticed. Some of the people who are drawn to Shane feel a connection to his lyrics and lifstyle that have aspects of both the light and the dark sides of life. But as with every other talented artist with a publicized chemical dependency, there are also people who can't see anything past the drink and drugs. Some of those people choose to vilify him, while others deify him, and others still treat him like the court jester.
Shane's story has been repeated countless times over the years, it's a familiar oral history passed down from one person to the next, and now from one generation to the next. However, since his tale is not so well known here in the States...
Shane was born on Christmas Day 1957 in England. His Irish parents soon relocated the family back to County Tipperary in Ireland. He was later back moved yet again to the UK where his poetic prowess earned him a spot at a private school. But it wasn't long before he got expelled for marijuana possession.
After seeing an early Sex Pistols gig, Shane became a regular at punk shows. In fact, he was at a Clash gig the night that Fame decided to thrust herself upon young Shane. He'd been making out with Kate Korus of The Slits during the show when she bit his ear hard, causing it to bleed down his face and neck. A newspaper man snapped a couple photos, and suddenly Shane was the (bloodied) face of “CANNIBALISM AT CLASH GIG”. This incident was perfect for the mainstream media who didn't have a clue what to do with punk culture. The London punk scene of that time was an inspiration for several members of the Pogues. Shane and Spider Stacy actually met each other in the bathroom at a Ramones gig.
In 1982 James Fearnley, Jem Finer, Spider Stacy, and Shane MacGowan formed the band Pogue Mahon (aka “Kiss My Arse”). A short time later, that band picked up Cait O'Riordan and Andrew Ranken and became The Pogues.
The Pogues found success rather quickly, particularly with their second and third albums: Rum Sodomy & the Lash and If I Should Fall from Grace with God. Both of them became instant classics, the latter of which contains the UK’s most popular Christmas song - the irreverent yet touching “Fairytale of New York,” sung by both Kirsty MacColl and Shane MacGowan.
In 1991, The Pogues were on tour in Japan. Shane’s lifestyle had gotten to the point where the band couldn't function, so finally he either walked or was kicked out. It’s unclear which happened, though it was quite possibly a combination of the two.
The Pogues carried on for a bit, including a stint with Joe Strummer taking over singing duties, but they never regained what they had with Shane. Meanwhile, Shane started a new band: Shane MacGowan and The Popes. Just like the Pogues post-Shane, they made some good tunes, but the magic wasn't quite there.
Then in 2001, ten years since their last show together, The Pogues reformed with Shane MacGowan to play some gigs. Reunions are a tricky thing, but this one was an overwhelming success. Since then, they’ve become a touring staple, playing London every Christmas and the U.S. every St. Patrick's Day. And while Shane still drinks with no signs of stopping, it appears that his hard drug-taking days are now behind him.
As much as anyone can know anything about people they’ve never met, The Pogues seem content with their current situation: They get together a few times a year to play their music completely on their own terms. There is word that Shane is writing new songs, but so far the band have no immediate plans to record a new album.
So despite the cynics, the naysayers, the prudes, and the finger-waggers, Shane is very much alive, and the Pogues are a successful band at an age when even the most 'professional' acts have long since hung up their hats.
If I close my eyes and really listen, I can almost hear Shane laughing that laugh at his detractors. It's a beautiful sound.
Check out more of ZIO's Shane MacGowan & Pogues blog series:
It's a Long Way to Go… to Tipperary, for a Pocketful of Mumbles & a Fucked Liver
Live Review: The Pogues @ Roseland Ballroom NYC 2009
For more on The Pogues, visit Pogues.com and Shane MacGowan.com.
Photographer Jenny Hardcore discusses her photo shoot with Shane here on Zoom In Music.
Check out these collaborations: Joe Strummer singing London Calling with The Pogues, The Dubliners and Pogues together doing their take on The Irish Rover, and Nick Cave duets with Shane on What a Wonderful World.
Read The Village Voice article about the Pogues from earlier this year.
Watch the music video for Fairytale of New York.
To keep up with Zoom In Music news, blogs, and videos, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Comments
living or not
January 28, 2010 - 9:18am — the villan (not verified)He outlived Strummer, and I saw The Pouges with strummer. The only one who could´ve replaced him, Shane that is, Joe. Shane´s my favourite drunk...he´s gonna outlive us all!
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