I have seen The Pogues many times and been listening to them as long as I have been buying my own music. The best Pogues concert, actually it was a Shane McGowan & The Popes concert, I went to was in Belfast in a small club called Aunt Sally's (Think that was the name).
Shane was up to His usual trick of drinking on stage, on this ocasion a pint of strange coloured liquid ... who knows what it was. He did however hold it together enough to remember His text and unusually deliver a perfect performance. It must have been about 10 or 12 years ago and He could still actually sing pretty good.
You gotta remember Belfast is pretty much home ground for The Pogues and the audience of overenthusiastic young Irishmen & Women went simply crazy. If only iphones were around in those days to record it. There was not a safe corner in the house and at least half of all alcohol bought from the bar was flung in the air. Multiple boddies were lifted and travelled simultaneously accross the crowd in random directions ... a few being flung onto the stage and simply flung back on to the crowd by the ''local Belfast security'' (Khhhmnnn .. local IRA ... enough said about them ...)
Remember this club was not big ... it was complete mayhem in a confined space ... if it wasn't the amazing specticle it was and so good, you couldn't let yourself miss it, no matter the risk, the safest thing to do would have been to get out of there. I stayed and it was worth it, easily in the top 5 of concerts I have been to in my entire life!
From SPOTIFY: The Pogues, Rum, Sodomy & The Lash
So to the album ... with a name like that it had better be a great album and that's just what it is! Amazing song writing ... some of the best ever. Some from Shane and some old Irish songs that from that album forward, Shane simply owned.
A mixture of Punk rock and Irish folk music ... who would have beleived it would work? On a low volume listen, it's easy to think it's just another folk album with some swearing and rough text. Play it loud in a packed Irish Bar and you realise this is as Punk as Punk gets!
Above are a few photo's of the young Shane, His ear dribbling with blood when people started biting each other at an early Clash concert. This was clearly a young man seeking experiences out of the ordinary and I guess that is exactly what Shane McGowan is ... an extraordinary man ... an extraordinary mad Irishman! He has probably overindulged in everything you can overindulge in so you could say He is just a drunken, doped out monkey ... a spectacle! If the saying ''Better to burn out than fade away'' applies to anyone, it applies to Shane. You'd have to be nuts to respect Him for His lifestyle but there is something about attractive about someone seeking destruction and going for it ...
Even when writing this I can almost cry ... I guess that's His legacy ... He touched people with His behaviour, His hideous looks and most importantly, His work ... His music! Fairytale Of New York with Chirsty MacColl will live as long as songs like The Ghetto or New York New York. It's a timeless classic and ensures His legacy but there are so many other songs from Shane deserving similar, wider-public acclamation.
The song on the above Youtube video 'The Old Main Drag' is in my opinion, one of the best written songs of all time. When you look at the photo's of the young man above, see Him in later years performing and hear about 'Shane' ... you realise, He is writing from rather extraordinary personal experience and it's real .. graphically real! Had He been anything other than the crazy wild Man He is, these songs wouldn't exist.
I love Shane McGowan, respect Him and I certainly don't feel sorry for Him. Definitely worth a place in my Top 10! All the songs are crackers with ''Sally McLennan'' a close second but just for it's hard hitting text and slow, almost dragging timing that leaves you feeling you are scraping along the same gutter streets He writes about ... it's gotta be
''The Old Main Drag''
Shane was up to His usual trick of drinking on stage, on this ocasion a pint of strange coloured liquid ... who knows what it was. He did however hold it together enough to remember His text and unusually deliver a perfect performance. It must have been about 10 or 12 years ago and He could still actually sing pretty good.
You gotta remember Belfast is pretty much home ground for The Pogues and the audience of overenthusiastic young Irishmen & Women went simply crazy. If only iphones were around in those days to record it. There was not a safe corner in the house and at least half of all alcohol bought from the bar was flung in the air. Multiple boddies were lifted and travelled simultaneously accross the crowd in random directions ... a few being flung onto the stage and simply flung back on to the crowd by the ''local Belfast security'' (Khhhmnnn .. local IRA ... enough said about them ...)
Remember this club was not big ... it was complete mayhem in a confined space ... if it wasn't the amazing specticle it was and so good, you couldn't let yourself miss it, no matter the risk, the safest thing to do would have been to get out of there. I stayed and it was worth it, easily in the top 5 of concerts I have been to in my entire life!
From SPOTIFY: The Pogues, Rum, Sodomy & The Lash
So to the album ... with a name like that it had better be a great album and that's just what it is! Amazing song writing ... some of the best ever. Some from Shane and some old Irish songs that from that album forward, Shane simply owned.
A mixture of Punk rock and Irish folk music ... who would have beleived it would work? On a low volume listen, it's easy to think it's just another folk album with some swearing and rough text. Play it loud in a packed Irish Bar and you realise this is as Punk as Punk gets!
Above are a few photo's of the young Shane, His ear dribbling with blood when people started biting each other at an early Clash concert. This was clearly a young man seeking experiences out of the ordinary and I guess that is exactly what Shane McGowan is ... an extraordinary man ... an extraordinary mad Irishman! He has probably overindulged in everything you can overindulge in so you could say He is just a drunken, doped out monkey ... a spectacle! If the saying ''Better to burn out than fade away'' applies to anyone, it applies to Shane. You'd have to be nuts to respect Him for His lifestyle but there is something about attractive about someone seeking destruction and going for it ...
Even when writing this I can almost cry ... I guess that's His legacy ... He touched people with His behaviour, His hideous looks and most importantly, His work ... His music! Fairytale Of New York with Chirsty MacColl will live as long as songs like The Ghetto or New York New York. It's a timeless classic and ensures His legacy but there are so many other songs from Shane deserving similar, wider-public acclamation.
The song on the above Youtube video 'The Old Main Drag' is in my opinion, one of the best written songs of all time. When you look at the photo's of the young man above, see Him in later years performing and hear about 'Shane' ... you realise, He is writing from rather extraordinary personal experience and it's real .. graphically real! Had He been anything other than the crazy wild Man He is, these songs wouldn't exist.
I love Shane McGowan, respect Him and I certainly don't feel sorry for Him. Definitely worth a place in my Top 10! All the songs are crackers with ''Sally McLennan'' a close second but just for it's hard hitting text and slow, almost dragging timing that leaves you feeling you are scraping along the same gutter streets He writes about ... it's gotta be
''The Old Main Drag''
When I first came to london I was only sixteen
With a fiver in my pocket and my ole dancing bag
I went down to the dilly to check out the scene
And I soon ended up on the old main drag
There the he-males and the she-males paraded in style
And the old man with the money would flash you a smile
In the dark of an alley you'd work for a fiver
For a swift one off the wrist down on the old main drag
In the cold winter nights the old town it was chill
But there were boys in the cafes who'd give you cheap pills
If you didn't have the money you'd cajole or you'd beg
There was always lots of tuinol on the old main drag
One evening as I was lying down by leicester square
I was picked up by the coppers and kicked in the balls
Between the metal doors at vine street I was beaten and mauled
And they ruined my good looks for the old main drag
In the tube station the old ones who were on the way out
Would dribble and vomit and grovel and shout
And the coppers would come along and push them about
And I wished I could escape from the old main drag
And now I'm lying here I've had too much booze
I've been shat on and spat on and raped and abused
I know that I am dying and I wish I could beg
For some money to take me from the old main drag
With a fiver in my pocket and my ole dancing bag
I went down to the dilly to check out the scene
And I soon ended up on the old main drag
There the he-males and the she-males paraded in style
And the old man with the money would flash you a smile
In the dark of an alley you'd work for a fiver
For a swift one off the wrist down on the old main drag
In the cold winter nights the old town it was chill
But there were boys in the cafes who'd give you cheap pills
If you didn't have the money you'd cajole or you'd beg
There was always lots of tuinol on the old main drag
One evening as I was lying down by leicester square
I was picked up by the coppers and kicked in the balls
Between the metal doors at vine street I was beaten and mauled
And they ruined my good looks for the old main drag
In the tube station the old ones who were on the way out
Would dribble and vomit and grovel and shout
And the coppers would come along and push them about
And I wished I could escape from the old main drag
And now I'm lying here I've had too much booze
I've been shat on and spat on and raped and abused
I know that I am dying and I wish I could beg
For some money to take me from the old main drag
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