The Pogues: Classic or Dud

Mentioned somewhere else that I recently read the "Redemption Song" bio and learned *so much* about Strummer that it changed the way I listen to his songs.

Bloody hell, it's been 20 years?

was there a different version of "Rainy Night in Soho" on the US version of Poguetry in Motion? I don't remember the arrangement being so treacly as the version that's on spotify.

Not sure what's on US Spotify but afaik there are three widely available versions:

From the UK Poguetry in Motion EP (Shane's preferred version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNdeQda2fDg

From the US/Canadian Poguetry in Motion EP (Elvis Costello's preferred version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwPJDfvV6Fc

1991 remix by Steve Lillywhite from the reissue of the EP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSyL-TrD_2g

yes! that second version is the one i remember. elvis is right!

i guess the lillywhite version splits the difference.

thanks!

The picture I saw of Shane just now looked so terrible I 1) won't post it and 2) first thought it had been altered. Sad.

Pretty much every photo I've seen of Shane (including the ones from Springsteen's visit) were a shock to me. I didn't realize he was in such poor health.

This one was *far* worse than the Springsteen one ...

He's being released from hospital though, at least there's that

Of course I love his music, but he's been physically declining for quite a while.

Being constantly drunk and ravaged and a bit unhinged has been his brand for decades.

Obviously I wish peace and love to him and his family and friends and fans. But you can't simultaneously dance on the edge of the abyss and be offended about the existence of the abyss.

I thought that picture was going to be worse, he looks about as good as I'd expect given everything

maybe it's a different photo? they've always been degrees of bad, for decades. The one I saw looked like he had just gotten out of a prison camp.

He's been living on borrowed time since at least the early 90s.

I guess you'll be hearing fairytale of new york a lot this year:
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/2023/11/30/shane-macgowan-fairytale-of-new-york-singer-dies-aged-65/

Classic. RIP.

Yea was gonna say Fairytale is going to hit diff this year. Saw the man perform twice and he was a mess both times. 20 years ago we were regulars at the Tuesday night music-themed pub quiz at the pub he owned. He was often there and I once watched him order a round of drinks while talking about himself in the 3rd person and then realized they were all for him. RIP.

rest in peace to a brilliant songwriter, interpreter, etc.

i’d say it’s time to pour one out, but really it’s time to pour out 10-15

Back in the 80s every article I read about him mentioned his imminent death. I guess making it to Senior Citizen age is something of a win for the human body.

I once watched him order a round of drinks while talking about himself in the 3rd person and then realized they were all for him. RIP.

As fine a eulogy as anyone could want.

oh. that's why he was allowed to leave the hospital... RIP

I am literally fighting back tears. RIP, you bastard.

Dammit I loved his music so much, RIP

so many of his lyrics would be fitting eulogies. always seems to be such with fast-living poets

This is payback for Kissinger, I'm convinced. RIP

😥
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q7307IWwr4

RIP :(

couldn't just let us have Kissinger. RIP....Pogues were always one of my favs

hope you've moved on to a Dirty Old Town in the sky ole pal

Crock of Gold is an excellent doc though just gutting, I don't know if I'd recommend it today.

first thing I wanted to listen to, this version especially

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDvaHvNQsDw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJx5GJFyy9Q

What a singer, what a songwriter, what a presence in the world. Even if he lived the cliche of the self-destructive artist, he never indulged in the pretensions it often encourages. His art was clear-eyed even when it was sentimental. R.I.P. to one of my all-time favorites.

fuck. RIP. loved his music so much

me fave:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNtQ5AnRlz8

thanks for the great songs Shane

Ouch but also yeah, kinda figured this was coming

He could been someone, and was.

I remember Jimmy Tarbuck lauding him as "a brilliant writer"

It's been coming for 25 years. :/

UMS - Haunted is one of my fave songs of all time. Made me so sad earlier when I realized.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCMoXL-Iq1U

It's been coming for 25 years. :/

According to James Fearnley's book, at least 35.

RIP. He's meant a lot to me over 35 years, partly diaspora/background reasons but really a songwriter like no other, god those London songs alone - Transmetropolitan, Dark Streets of London, Old Main Drag, London Girl etc etc - damn.

Now get back out there and fuck them up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vXMRDs8i5g

like the case for a lot of acts, i first became aware of the pogues via an SNL appearance and i was blown away. shane was absolutely unintelligible but completely mesmerizing. so much genius work -- i actually think my favorite for quite awhile was The Snake, i played the hell out of that one.

it is genuinely sad to see him as a young man because he really just looks like a kid around the time the pogues started up, and to see him recently has been depressing. he looked like he was a couple decades older. he had a lot of love in his life, though. so many people stuck by him til the end.

the nipple erector/nips stuff isn't essential but they have some fun stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bDDAOJV1xU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpD4J7ShRDw

Is Elvis C's production of Rum... his best? I think so.

Rum... was the first album I heard, and I didn't love it; I thought the production was too bass-heavy (though I was listening to it on a cassette, in a Walkman) and there were too many slow songs. It wasn't until I tracked down a copy of Red Roses for Me that they really cracked open for me. Nowadays I love their first three albums and the Poguetry In Motion EP, but never heard anything after that. (And of course they were fine actors as well; anyone who hasn't seen Alex Cox's Straight to Hell should, at least once.)

Poguetry In Motion is my favorite, "A Rainy Night in Soho" in particular.

I thought the production was too bass-heavy

did you have some bass boost switch on like they used to have back then? Cuz it's just not overly bass heavy in terms of the mix on speakers or decent headphones

i mean it's got bass, sounds really full and good to me but not weirdly so

Navigator is a pretty good song

"Waxie's Dargle" is full-on mental.

My fave album of theirs for a long time was If I Should Fall From Grace With God and we used to blast it as we peeled out of the high school parking lot. I love the maudlin songs too just in a different way. When they were in party mode they were SO much fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsKa3vcF2Pg