Ending the week on a high-voltage note, but also as tribute to Shane MacGowan who was lead vocalist and writer for The Pogues in their first session for John Peel on April 10, 1984. MacGowan left us, sadly but not unexpectedly, yesterday at age 65.
He had been in ill health for some time. A family statement said he died at 3.30am on 30 November, and was described as “our most beautiful, darling and dearly beloved”.
His wife Victoria Mary Clarke wrote in a statement on social media: “Shane will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life … I am blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him.”
In December 2022, MacGowan was hospitalised with viral encephalitis, and as a result spent several months of 2023 in intensive care.
MacGowan sought to bring the power of Irish folk music to the rock scene, with his writing drawing from literature, mythology and the Bible. “It became obvious that everything that could be done with a standard rock format had been done, usually quite badly,” he told the NME in 1983 as the Pogues were getting off the ground. “We just wanted to shove music that had roots, and is just generally stronger and has more real anger and emotion, down the throats of a completely pap-orientated pop audience.”
He frequently wrote about Irish culture and nationalism and the experiences of the Irish diaspora, reclaiming the racist “Paddy” stereotype – or reinforcing it, depending on who you asked. Early in his career, he often performed in a union jack suit – but in Julien Temple’s 2020 documentary, Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan, he said: “I was ashamed I didn’t have the guts to join the IRA – and the Pogues was my way of overcoming that.”
The Pogues drew rave reviews for their debut album, 1984’s Red Roses for Me, but the group struggled to capitalise on its success owing to its highly combustible lineup – which sometimes saw the Clash’s Joe Strummer fill the absent MacGowan’s shoes. They released two more classic albums in 1985’s Rum Sodomy & the Lash, produced by Elvis Costello, and 1988’s If I Should Fall From Grace With God.
Shane MacGowan is survived by Clarke, whom he married in 2018. They met when MacGowan was 24 and she was 16. He also once said he fathered a son, born around 1991. “I wouldn’t wish myself on any kid as a father,” he told the Telegraph. He is also survived by sister Siobhan and father Maurice.
Other musicians paying tribute included Mercury prize-nominated Irish folk group Lankum, who called him “a titan”, while folk-rock singer-songwriter Frank Turner called him “one of the all time greats”. The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess called him a “lyrical genius” responsible for “some of the most exhilarating shows I’ve ever witnessed”.
In one of his final interviews, with the Guardian’s Simon Hattenstone, Shane MacGowan insisted that despite his reputation for having a death wish, he wanted to live. “Of course I like life,” he exclaimed.
Here is Shane McGowan with The Pogues and their very first session for John Peel – broadcast on April 10, 1984
(Special thanks to The Guardian for the above obit and biography – couldn’t have done it without ya!)
