Every year that passes, more legends die. When it comes to song writing, Shane was among the best. The Tipperary blooded crooner was born to be a song writer and from an early age, he was well read. By age 13 he was already reading Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Like many geniuses, he was flawed and his fatal flaw was the bottle. The smokes didn't help either, but certainly the alcohol consumed over decades drove him to his early grave.
Who am I to cast aspirations though?
What better way to remember Shane than sharing some of his best known songs with The Pogues and others.
Pull a chair and take a few minutes to remember Shane and listen to these few songs.
This song from the 1985 album Rum Sodomy & the Lash (what a name for an album!) is based on a bar his uncle owned in Dagenham. It starts off "Well, Jimmy played harmonica in the pub where I was born
He played it from the night time to the peaceful early morn
He soothed the souls of psychos and the men who had the horn
And they all looked very happy in the morning"
As you can see Shane is a storyteller. Did I tell you he was Irish? 馃槉
A classic Shane MacGowan song. Here he's saying that he doesn't need anyone else's hell, he's well able to find his own. There's a great sense of place and time here also with the mix of the old man not able to let go of the past and the young guy not able to cope with the present. Not everyone can get inside the picture that Shane can paint, but when you do, he's some man with the pen.
Nothing says it's Christmas like The Pogues and Fairytale of New York. It is the definitive Christmas song for me and many other Irish people. Many's a great night was had at Christmas with this song blasting out and arms wrapped around friends and loved ones.
I knew Shane was sick and hoped that he'd live to see one more birthday which very fittingly was December 25th, yes the man who wrote the best Christmas song of all time was born on Christmas day.
Shane not only sang beautiful and memorable songs with the Pogues, but sang others with other artists, my favourite being Haunted. It hauntes me that both Sinead and Shane both died recently, Shane today and Sinead on July 26th.
I'll leave ye with this one. Released in 1986, two recordings and various mixes of the song were made in the studio.
MacGowan and producer Elvis Costello could not agree on the final cut, one namely Shane wanting the cornet version, and Costello preferring a version with an oboe. Shane won the battle as he often did I reckon.
That's all she wrote folks. I hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane.
Rest in Peace Shane and tell Sinead we said hello.
The image is not my own and was sourced here https://thecatholicirishman.wordpress.com/2015/01/03/shane-mcgowan-portrait-of-an-irish-man/
The YouTube videos shared are not owned by me and I am simply sharing great music with the community here on Hive and the video owner will benefit from additional plays
