Shane McGowan - hypocrite?

bernardbresslaw

bernardbresslaw

Striker
Hypocrite or is it just me struggling to understand the complexities of the Irish political landscape of the 70s/80s?
Seemed happy enough to make his name & fortune in the UK but looks like it was through gritted (rotten) teeth?

"MacGowan’s enthusiastic endorsement of Irish uprisings against the British and adoration of the IRA – “I felt ashamed I didn’t have the guts to join [them],” he says at one point."

www.theguardian.com

Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan review – a sombre salute

Julien Temple rounds up the old gang for bleakly worshipful profile of the recalcitrant Pogues star
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 


bernardbresslaw said:
Hypocrite or is it just me struggling to understand the complexities of the Irish political landscape of the 70s/80s?
Seemed happy enough to make his name & fortune in the UK but looks like it was through gritted (rotten) teeth?

"MacGowan’s enthusiastic endorsement of Irish uprisings against the British and adoration of the IRA – “I felt ashamed I didn’t have the guts to join [them],” he says at one point."

www.theguardian.com

Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan review – a sombre salute

Julien Temple rounds up the old gang for bleakly worshipful profile of the recalcitrant Pogues star
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
Click to expand...
Sometimes you need to look past the failings of drink & drug use, political opinions & all the other stuff to just stand back & admire how f***ing brilliant his sings are. Stuff like Lullaby of London, Pair of Brown Eyes, Broad Majestic Shannon & Body Of American man. Unbelievable.


This morning on the harbour
When I said goodbye to you
I remember how I swore
That I'd come back to you one day
And as the sunset came to meet the evening on the hill
I told you I'd always love you
I always did and I always will
 
bernardbresslaw said:
I thought pints of vermouth were his poison?
Click to expand...
Well golden brown is a song about heroine. And also this In 2001, Sinéad O'Connor reported MacGowan to the police in London for drug possession—in what she said was an attempt to discourage him from using heroin.[23] At first furious, MacGowan later expressed gratitude towards O'Connor and claimed that the incident helped him kick his heroin habit
 
Longy said:
Sometimes you need to look past the failings of drink & drug use, political opinions & all the other stuff to just stand back & admire how f***ing brilliant his sings are. Stuff like Lullaby of London, Pair of Brown Eyes, Broad Majestic Shannon & Body Of American man. Unbelievable.


This morning on the harbour
When I said goodbye to you
I remember how I swore
That I'd come back to you one day
And as the sunset came to meet the evening on the hill
I told you I'd always love you
I always did and I always will
Click to expand...
Wonderful song that. Streets of Sorrow / Birmingham Six just randomly played on my Spotify. It sums up the feelings at the time with the Troubles, wrongful arrests etc. I'm in no way defending those responsible for the murders of innocent people just commenting on the music.
 
tenpins said:
Wonderful song that. Streets of Sorrow / Birmingham Six just randomly played on my Spotify. It sums up the feelings at the time with the Troubles, wrongful arrests etc. I'm in no way defending those responsible for the murders of innocent people just commenting on the music.
Click to expand...
Aye, think there’s a story of them doing TOTP, or some other BBC show, said it was called Streets of Sorrow & moved into Birmingham Six. Apparently there was mass panic when they realised what they were singing about.

Haven’t listened to that for ages. I’ll revisit tonight.
 
Longy said:
Sometimes you need to look past the failings of drink & drug use, political opinions & all the other stuff to just stand back & admire how f***ing brilliant his sings are. Stuff like Lullaby of London, Pair of Brown Eyes, Broad Majestic Shannon & Body Of American man. Unbelievable.


This morning on the harbour
When I said goodbye to you
I remember how I swore
That I'd come back to you one day
And as the sunset came to meet the evening on the hill
I told you I'd always love you
I always did and I always will
Click to expand...

I've mentioned on here before that one of my biggest regrets was turning down a free ticket for one of their Christmas gigs in Kilburn in 86 when I was at a party in the East End.
 
Longy said:
Aye, think there’s a story of them doing TOTP, or some other BBC show, said it was called Streets of Sorrow & moved into Birmingham Six. Apparently there was mass panic when they realised what they were singing about.

Haven’t listened to that for ages. I’ll revisit tonight.
Click to expand...
It was on channel 4. I think it was Ben Elton or something and they cut to adverts.
 
Longy said:
Aye, think there’s a story of them doing TOTP, or some other BBC show, said it was called Streets of Sorrow & moved into Birmingham Six. Apparently there was mass panic when they realised what they were singing about.

Haven’t listened to that for ages. I’ll revisit tonight.
Click to expand...
Wasn't it either Friday or Saturday night live on ch4 they got cut off iirc?

Beaten to it!
 
All these musical “legends”, I feel a bit uneasy about things they’ve done. Particularly heroin, but John Lennon was a massive wife beating, adulterous, shit dad, smack head who wrote great songs. Johnny Rotten is like a caricature who’s a great frontman. Ian Brown’s went off his tits on the whole anti COVID thing, but was part of an era defining band. They’re all tossers really. But with Shane MacGowan I can’t look past the songs. They’re too good.
 

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