R.I.P. Shane MacGowan

[Johnny Unusual]

Rest in Peace Shane MacGowan

Shane MacGowan: Pogues singer dies aged 65

The Irish singer-songwriter, whose hits include Fairytale of New York, was unwell for some time.

www.bbc.com

You will be missed and I'm sure Fairytale of New York is going to get a lot of play this year.

 

[Phantoon]

The Pogues were a great band. RIP.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

What the fuck, that sucks.

 

[Exposition Owl]

I hope he found some peace in the end.

At the graveside of Cúchulainn
We'll kneel around and pray
And God is in His heaven
And Billy's down by the bay

 

[zonetrope]

Huge bummer. Listen to If I Should Fall from Grace with God if you're somehow reading this thread and haven't heard it.

 

[Pombar]

65 is young, but also I suppose old given the damage his life had done to him. A great musician.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

Oh yeah, I can't say I'm surprised he died, just bummed.

For my part, I have a fairly particular relationship with the repertoire of the Pogues, in that I used to play music at Irish pubs for a living. If you've ever spent time listening to pub bands, Pogues music tends to make up roughly 20% of the repertoire, which means I've played a subset of their songs a HELL of a lot of times. Some of them were great, tons of fun to tear through over and over again. But you get a lot of requests for the stuff, and when you're on your third rendition of Dirty Old Town of the night it can get very tired. My favorite song of theirs to play was probably Sally Maclennane, which has a super fun rhythm and a really solid chorus to belt out. From a pure listening standpoint, I always had a soft spot for Thousands Are Sailing, which I don't think was quite as well known. And a local band that played in the first Irish pub I spent time in had a version of The Boys From County Hell that was so good I think it literally changed the trajectory of my life.

So yeah, RIP Shane.

 

[Falselogic]

As I put in my little personal story thing, there was a time in my life where Shane's music really helped get me through it. This is not surprising but it still sucks a lot.