Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan has died aged 65
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Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan has died aged 65, just a week after being released from hospital.
News of his death was confirmed by his wife, Irish journalist and author Victoria Mary Clarke, who said in a statement: “Shane will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of mine life.” .
Since then, tributes have poured in: Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar wrote that he had “wonderfully captured the Irish experience,” while his former bandmate shared a black-and-white image of MacGowan smiling on stage.
Last week it was announced he would be released from hospital ahead of his upcoming birthday on Christmas Day. In a post last Wednesday evening, his wife tweeted a picture of him wearing a scarf and bobble hat and thanked the nursing staff for their support.
MacGowan announced last year that he had been diagnosed with encephalitis in a video posted to social media on New Year’s Eve.
According to the NHS website, it is a rare but serious condition where the brain becomes inflamed.
From the 1980s he led the Irish punk band The Pogues. The band is best known for their 1987 hit, the festive song “Fairytale Of New York.”
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Watch MacGowan’s final television appearance before his death
Here is MacGowan singing “Dirty Old Town” at Dublin Simons Christmas Eve Busk in 2021:
Watch: The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan’s final performance before his death at age 65
Watch Shane MacGowan perform “Dirty Old Town” for Dublin Simons Christmas Eve Busk 2021. On Thursday, November 30, it was announced that The Pogues frontman had died at the age of 65. He had been treated for months for viral encephalitis – a serious illness that causes swelling of the brain. “Shane will always be the light I have before me, the measure of my dreams and the love of my life,” said wife Victoria Mary Clarke. Two years ago MacGowan appeared at the Christmas Eve Busk and performed “Dirty Old Town” at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in aid of the Simon Community in Dublin. The song was originally written by Ewan MacColl in 1949 and was popularized by the Dubliners and later the Pogues.
Kevin Perry1 December 2023 05:00
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Tom Morello remembers MacGowan and Sinead O’Connor
Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello remembered MacGowan with a video of his and Sinead O’Connor’s 1995 duet “Haunted.” O’Connor died in July this year at the age of 56.
Kevin Perry1 December 2023 04:30
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Shane MacGowan: the shy and complex genius behind the Pogues
For many years you only had to look at MacGowan’s mouth to get a sense of his moderate lifestyle. Writing for The Independent in 2015, journalist Richard Jinman described it as “a monument to rock and roll excess; a frightening cave hollowed out by misfortune and misbehavior.” MacGowan confirmed a long-standing rumor that some of the damage was caused by biting into a vinyl copy of The Beach Boys Greatest Hits Volume 3: “I was crazy,” he told The Independent. Convinced that he was having conversations with “the Americans” after World War III, he declared, “This is what I think of American culture,” and took a bite out of the transcript.
Read MacGowan’s obituary by independent music editor Roisin O’Connor here:
Kevin Perry1 December 2023 04:00
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The night Kiefer Sutherland met Shane MacGowan
Among the clips making the rounds on social media is an interview given by Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland on Irish program The Late Late Show in 2019.
In it, the 24 star recalled how he first met MacGowan when he had dinner with Ronnie Wood and Sinéad O’Connor.
The couple apparently had a disagreement over politics and ended up fighting.
“Shane MacGowan had a cast on his right arm at the time that looked as good as anything I’d ever seen,” Sutherland said, “and he didn’t have many teeth at the time either, so fighting just seemed unfair.”
Hours later, the actor said MacGowan tapped him on the shoulder and said he needed somewhere to stay that night.
“I was so impressed by his directness that I said, ‘Do you want something to drink?'”
The two went back to Sutherland’s hotel and when he got up early the next day, “all the blankets were folded perfectly…” [and] There was a note he had written on hotel stationery and it was the most beautiful letter I had ever read.
“It was like poetry. It was just a thank you note, but it was so generous in what he had to say about me, our night, and humanity, and it was quite long. And I received that letter to this day because it changed my perspective – don’t judge a book by its cover and very rarely trust first encounters.”
Kevin Perry1 December 2023 03:30
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The Shane MacGowan I knew was so much more than a Christmas caroler
The last time I heard the Pogues’ debut album, I thought I heard a ghost. Fading out on side one, a Corkman recites a Gaelic phrase that translates to “There’s no place like home” and performs a short solo chant.
That was my uncle, Tom O’Grady, whose voice I hadn’t heard in the ten years since his death – his contribution only appears on the vinyl LP if you run out the needle. Tom wasn’t a singer, let alone a musician. He owes his appearance on the record to his friendship with Shane MacGowan, the band’s frontman and chief songwriter, who sadly passed away today at the age of 65.
The couple met in the early 1980s at Rocks Off, the record store on Hanway Street, an alley off Tottenham Court Road in central London, where Tom shopped and Shane worked before the Pogues took off. They shared a passion for music, films and general carousing, although their shared ethnicity was undoubtedly important to their friendship as well. As was the case with most immigrants to Britain at this time, you were drawn to your own country.
Kevin Perry1 December 2023 03:00
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Sinn Féin president describes MacGowan as a “poet”
Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald has described Shane MacGowan as “a poet” who is unique in telling “the Irish story”.
She said that Ireland “has lost one of its most beloved icons and the world has lost one of its greatest songwriters.”
“Shane was a poet, a dreamer and a social justice advocate. He was a committed republican and a proud Irishman.
(PA)
“No one has told Irish history like Shane – stories of emigration, heartache, despair, redemption, love and joy.
“Shane has brought his unique musical style to every corner of the world and his music will continue to be enjoyed by generations to come.
“Today we mourn him. He was one of the best of us. Ni bheidh a leitheid aris ann.
“I would like to express my deepest condolences to his wife Victoria, his sister Siobhan, his extended family and his large circle of friends.”
Kevin Perry1 December 2023 02:30
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Fairy Tales of New York: How the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl made the Christmas classic
“Fairytale of New York” is a drunken anthem for people with broken dreams and abandoned hopes. It’s therefore a perfect contrast to some of the cheeky evergreens we bring out every Christmas.
The song begins with its narrator, an Irish immigrant, being thrown into a drinking pool to sleep off his Christmas rush.
When he hears an old man sing the Irish ballad “The Rare Old Mountain Dew”, he begins to dream of his memories of the female character in the song and so begins the story of two people who fell in love in America just for their love to see plans for a bright future shattered.
Kevin Perry1 December 2023 02:05
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Nitin Sawhney pays musical tribute to MacGowan
A beautiful musical tribute to MacGowan from Ivor Novello award-winning multi-instrumentalist Nitin Sawhney, who plays a solo piano version of “Fairytale of New York”:
Kevin Perry1 December 2023 01:04
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Bono posts an illustrated tribute to MacGowan
U2 frontman Bono posted an illustration of MacGowan on social media as a tribute to his death.
The image contains lyrics from The Pogues’ song “A Rainy Night in Soho” and is accompanied by the caption: “Shane MacGowan’s songs were perfect, so he or we, his fans, didn’t have to…”
The two Irishmen were long-time friends, and MacGowan lived for a time in Bono’s guest house at his home on Dublin’s south coast overlooking the bay and the railway line. In a 2022 interview with The Times, MacGowan recalled: “Bono put in a glass roof and a glass wall. I used to wave my dick at the train as it went by, hoping they thought it was Bono’s.”
Kevin Perry30. November 2023 11:40 p.m
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Paul Weller remembers MacGowan: “What a companion”
In January 1977, Shane MacGowan played his part in getting up-and-coming band The Jam signed to a contract when he told Polydor’s A&R man Chris Parry he should give them a try to support Bearded Lady at The Marquee. Today, former The Jam frontman Paul Weller posted a short, sweet message of remembrance: “What a life mate, I love you.”
Kevin Perry30. November 2023 11:27 p.m