Shane MacGowan
Encyclopedia
Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan (born 25 December 1957) is an Irish
musician and singer, best known as the original singer and songwriter of The Pogues
.
in 1957, to Irish parents. MacGowan spent his early childhood in Tipperary
before his family moved back to England when he was six and a half. He lived in many parts of the south-east, including Brighton
and London
.
MacGowan's mother, Therese, was a singer and traditional Irish dancer, and had worked as a model in Dublin. In 1971, after attending Holmewood House School
at Langton Green
, Tunbridge Wells, MacGowan earned a literature scholarship and was accepted into Westminster School
, a renowned English public school
close to the Houses of Parliament. He was found in possession of drugs and was expelled in his second year.
MacGowan got his first taste of fame in 1976 at a concert by English punk band The Clash
, when his earlobe was damaged by Jane Crockford, later to be a member of The Mo-dettes
. A photographer snapped a picture of him covered in blood and it made the papers, with the headline "Cannibalism At Clash Gig". Shortly after this, he formed his own punk rock
band, The Nipple Erectors
, later renamed "The Nips".
. Many of his songs are influenced by Irish nationalism
, Irish history
, the experiences of the Irish in London and the United States
, and London life in general. MacGowan has often cited the 19th-century Irish poet James Clarence Mangan
and playwright Brendan Behan
as influences.
Between 1985 and 1987, he co-wrote what is perhaps his best-known song, "Fairytale of New York
", which he performed with Kirsty MacColl
. In the coming years MacGowan and The Pogues released several albums successfully. After The Pogues threw MacGowan out for unprofessional behaviour, he formed a new band, Shane MacGowan and The Popes
, recording two studio albums, a live album, three tracks on The Popes "Outlaw Heaven" (2010) and a live DVD, and touring internationally.
In 1997, MacGowan appeared on Lou Reed
's "Perfect Day", covered by numerous artists in aid of Children in Need
. It was the UK's number one single for three weeks, in two separate spells. Selling over a million copies, the record contributed £2,125,000 to the charity's highest fundraising total in six years.
In 2010, MacGowan offered a piece of unusual art to the ISPCC (Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
) to auction off to support their services to children.
It ended up fetching €1,602 for the charity.
The Pogues and MacGowan reformed for a sell-out tour in 2001 and each year from 2004 to 2009 for further tours, including headline slots at Guilfest
in England and the Azkena Rock Festival in Spain. In 2005, The Pogues re-released "Fairytale of New York" to raise funds for the Justice For Kirsty Campaign and Crisis At Christmas. The single was the best-selling festive-themed single of 2005, reaching number 2 in the UK Charts. In the autumn of 2010, he played a number of shows with a new five-piece backing band, including In Tua Nua
rhythm section Paul Byrne (drums) and Jack Dublin (bass), with manager Joey Cashman on whistle. This line up went to the Spanish island of Lanzarote in November 2010 to record a new album.
In 2006, he was voted 50th in the NME Rock Heroes List. He has been seen many times with The Libertines
and Babyshambles
singer Pete Doherty
. MacGowan has joined Babyshambles on stage. Other famous friends include Johnny Depp
, who starred in the video for "That Woman's Got Me Drinking", and Joe Strummer
, who referred to MacGowan as "one of the best writers of the century". Strummer occasionally joined MacGowan and The Pogues on stage (and briefly replaced MacGowan as lead singer after his sacking from the band).
His sister is Siobhan MacGowan
, a journalist, writer and songwriter, who released her album Chariot in 1998, and published a children's novel, Etain's Dream. In early March 2007, MacGowan announced plans to marry his longtime girlfriend, Victoria Mary Clarke
.
Shane is the subject of a number of books and paintings. In 2000 Tim Bradford used the title Is Shane MacGowan Still Alive? for a humorous book about Ireland and Irish culture.
"Shaman Shane-The Wounded Healer" by Stephan Martin brands Shane as a latter-day London-Irish spirit-raiser and exorcist. This commentary is found in the book "Myth of Return - The Paintings of Brian Whelan
and Collected Commentaries, 2007". London Irish artist Brian Whelan
paints Shane, his works are featured on Shane's official website, and is also the illustrater of The Popes "Outlaw Heaven" cd (see above).
intoxicated behaviour has often been reported on in the press. MacGowan claims to have been introduced to alcohol and cigarettes by his aunt on the promise he would not worship the devil
. In a 2007 interview with the Daily Mirror he told a reporter: "I was actually four when I started drinking. I just remember that Ribena
turned into stout and I developed an immediate love for it." MacGowan says he tried whiskey when he was 10 and continued to drink heavily thereafter.
In 2001, Sinéad O'Connor
reported him to the police in London for drug possession — in what she said was an attempt to discourage him from using heroin. At first furious, MacGowan later expressed gratitude towards O'Connor and claimed that the incident helped him kick his heroin habit.
Speaking on BBC Four
's Folk Britannia television programme in early 2006), Robyn Hitchcock
recalled: "I remember going to the Hope and Anchor [a punk venue in London]. The Pogues were all on stage and ready, it was a full house, but they hadn't started yet. Then this character shambled in through the door and shambled downstairs. I thought, 'Jesus, you're not letting that guy in are you?'. Then he walked on stage. That guy was Shane MacGowan."
On 7 September 2002 MacGowan became so intoxicated before a performance at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin that he stopped singing and threw up over fans in the front row. Fiona Wynne wrote in the Daily Mirror that the consequent criticism of MacGowan's behaviour, "who was in a wheelchair after breaking his leg", led Sinéad O'Connor to call Joe Duffy's RTÉ Liveline
programme three days later to defend him, saying: "He is an angel near the end who needs support. He's too far gone to stop drinking; he has an illness that cannot be cured, and as far as I can see, the end is near for him".
MacGowan has suffered physically from years of binge drinking
. He often performs while drunk
and has been impaired in interviews. In 2004 on the BBC
TV political magazine programme This Week he gave incoherent and slurred answers to questions from Janet Street-Porter
about the public smoking ban in Ireland.
MacGowan's fiancée, Victoria Mary Clarke
, blamed his alcoholism for an earlier split, but in a 2007 interview, she said, "[Shane] loves a drink and he probably always will. But he drinks less than people think and I haven’t seen him drunk for quite some time". She blamed his problems with drink on fans ("it became difficult for us to get from A to B without being dragged into bars by well-wishers desperate to buy him a drink") and social anxiety. ("To cope with his social anxiety, he began drinking more and more")
The Pogues singles
Solo singles
Guest appearances
LPs
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
musician and singer, best known as the original singer and songwriter of The Pogues
The Pogues
The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
.
History
MacGowan was born in Pembury, Kent, EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1957, to Irish parents. MacGowan spent his early childhood in Tipperary
Tipperary
Tipperary is a town and a civil parish in South Tipperary in Ireland. Its population was 4,415 at the 2006 census. It is also an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, and is in the historical barony of Clanwilliam....
before his family moved back to England when he was six and a half. He lived in many parts of the south-east, including Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
MacGowan's mother, Therese, was a singer and traditional Irish dancer, and had worked as a model in Dublin. In 1971, after attending Holmewood House School
Holmewood House School
Holmewood House School is an IAPS independent, co-educational Preparatory School for boys and girls aged 3 - 13, located in Langton Green, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent.-History:...
at Langton Green
Langton Green
Langton Green is a village in the borough of Tunbridge Wells, England, lying around two miles west of the town centre along the A264. It is located within the parish of Speldhurst although it has its own church on the village green. There is a village primary school, Langton Green CP School...
, Tunbridge Wells, MacGowan earned a literature scholarship and was accepted into Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
, a renowned English public school
Independent school (UK)
An independent school is a school that is not financed through the taxation system by local or national government and is instead funded by private sources, predominantly in the form of tuition charges, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and so is not subject to the conditions imposed by...
close to the Houses of Parliament. He was found in possession of drugs and was expelled in his second year.
MacGowan got his first taste of fame in 1976 at a concert by English punk band The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
, when his earlobe was damaged by Jane Crockford, later to be a member of The Mo-dettes
The Mo-dettes
The Mo-dettes were an all-female punk band, formed in 1979 by Kate Korris, an original member of The Slits and brief member of The Raincoats, and Jane Crockford, former member of The Bank of Dresden.-Biography:...
. A photographer snapped a picture of him covered in blood and it made the papers, with the headline "Cannibalism At Clash Gig". Shortly after this, he formed his own punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band, The Nipple Erectors
The Nipple Erectors
The Nipple Erectors are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1976 by female punk artist Shanne Bradley and are notable as Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan's first musical group.-Career:...
, later renamed "The Nips".
Fame
MacGowan drew upon his Irish heritage when founding The PoguesThe Pogues
The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
. Many of his songs are influenced by Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
, Irish history
History of Ireland
The first known settlement in Ireland began around 8000 BC, when hunter-gatherers arrived from continental Europe, probably via a land bridge. Few archaeological traces remain of this group, but their descendants and later Neolithic arrivals, particularly from the Iberian Peninsula, were...
, the experiences of the Irish in London and the United States
Irish diaspora
thumb|Night Train with Reaper by London Irish artist [[Brian Whelan]] from the book Myth of Return, 2007The Irish diaspora consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa,...
, and London life in general. MacGowan has often cited the 19th-century Irish poet James Clarence Mangan
James Clarence Mangan
James Clarence Mangan, born James Mangan was an Irish poet.-Early life:Mangan was the son of a former hedge school teacher who took over a grocery business and eventually became bankrupt....
and playwright Brendan Behan
Brendan Behan
Brendan Francis Behan was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English. He was also an Irish republican and a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army.-Early life:...
as influences.
Between 1985 and 1987, he co-wrote what is perhaps his best-known song, "Fairytale of New York
Fairytale of New York
"Fairytale of New York" is a song by the Irish rock group The Pogues, released in 1987 and featuring the British singer Kirsty MacColl. The song is an Irish folk style ballad, written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan, and featured on The Pogues' album If I Should Fall from Grace with God...
", which he performed with Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty Anna MacColl was an English singer-songwriter.MacColl scored several pop hits from the early 1980s to the early 1990s...
. In the coming years MacGowan and The Pogues released several albums successfully. After The Pogues threw MacGowan out for unprofessional behaviour, he formed a new band, Shane MacGowan and The Popes
Shane MacGowan and The Popes
Shane MacGowan and The Popes was a band formerly led by Shane MacGowan of the Pogues, who played a blend of rock, and Irish folk, sometimes referred to as Paddy Beat, borrowing from World Beat, a popular genre name in the 1980s. Shane MacGowan and the Popes released two studio and one live album in...
, recording two studio albums, a live album, three tracks on The Popes "Outlaw Heaven" (2010) and a live DVD, and touring internationally.
In 1997, MacGowan appeared on Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
's "Perfect Day", covered by numerous artists in aid of Children in Need
Children in Need
Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...
. It was the UK's number one single for three weeks, in two separate spells. Selling over a million copies, the record contributed £2,125,000 to the charity's highest fundraising total in six years.
In 2010, MacGowan offered a piece of unusual art to the ISPCC (Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is an Irish charity that advocates for children's rights and provides services for children in need...
) to auction off to support their services to children.
It ended up fetching €1,602 for the charity.
GuilFest
GuilFest, formerly the Guildford Festival of Folk and Blues is a music festival held in Stoke Park, Guildford, England each July. The festival, like the larger Glastonbury Festival, features a range of genres including rock, folk, blues, and in recent years pop...
in England and the Azkena Rock Festival in Spain. In 2005, The Pogues re-released "Fairytale of New York" to raise funds for the Justice For Kirsty Campaign and Crisis At Christmas. The single was the best-selling festive-themed single of 2005, reaching number 2 in the UK Charts. In the autumn of 2010, he played a number of shows with a new five-piece backing band, including In Tua Nua
In Tua Nua
In Tua Nua was an Irish rock group who achieved a modicum of fame and success in both Ireland and Europe throughout the late 1980s.- Biography :...
rhythm section Paul Byrne (drums) and Jack Dublin (bass), with manager Joey Cashman on whistle. This line up went to the Spanish island of Lanzarote in November 2010 to record a new album.
In 2006, he was voted 50th in the NME Rock Heroes List. He has been seen many times with The Libertines
The Libertines
The Libertines were an English rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât and Pete Doherty . The band, centred on the song-writing partnership of Barat and Doherty, also included John Hassall and Gary Powell for most of its recording career...
and Babyshambles
Babyshambles
Babyshambles are an English indie rock band established in London. The band was formed by Pete Doherty during a hiatus from his former band The Libertines, but Babyshambles has since become his main project . Babyshambles has released two albums, three EPs and a number of singles...
singer Pete Doherty
Pete Doherty
Peter Doherty is an English musician, writer, actor, poet and artist. He is best known musically for being co-frontman of The Libertines, which he reformed with Carl Barât in 2010. His other musical project is indie band Babyshambles...
. MacGowan has joined Babyshambles on stage. Other famous friends include Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, who starred in the video for "That Woman's Got Me Drinking", and Joe Strummer
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor , best remembered by his stage name Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the British punk rock band The Clash. His musical experience included his membership in The 101ers, Latino Rockabilly War, The Mescaleros and The Pogues, in...
, who referred to MacGowan as "one of the best writers of the century". Strummer occasionally joined MacGowan and The Pogues on stage (and briefly replaced MacGowan as lead singer after his sacking from the band).
His sister is Siobhan MacGowan
Siobhan MacGowan
Siobhan MacGowan was born in Brighton, England in 1963. She is the sister of Shane MacGowan, lead singer of the Irish group The Pogues.-The Pogues:...
, a journalist, writer and songwriter, who released her album Chariot in 1998, and published a children's novel, Etain's Dream. In early March 2007, MacGowan announced plans to marry his longtime girlfriend, Victoria Mary Clarke
Victoria Mary Clarke
Victoria Mary Clarke is an Irish journalist and writer. She writes a column for the Sunday Independent. She has also written for The Guardian and the Daily Mail. She is the author of Angel in Disguise?....
.
Shane is the subject of a number of books and paintings. In 2000 Tim Bradford used the title Is Shane MacGowan Still Alive? for a humorous book about Ireland and Irish culture.
"Shaman Shane-The Wounded Healer" by Stephan Martin brands Shane as a latter-day London-Irish spirit-raiser and exorcist. This commentary is found in the book "Myth of Return - The Paintings of Brian Whelan
Brian Whelan
Brian Whelan is a noted London-Irish painter, author and occasional film maker.-Family life:Brian Francis Whelan was born 3 May 1957 in Ealing, London, of Irish Catholic parents. His father came from Dublin and his mother from Kilkenny...
and Collected Commentaries, 2007". London Irish artist Brian Whelan
Brian Whelan
Brian Whelan is a noted London-Irish painter, author and occasional film maker.-Family life:Brian Francis Whelan was born 3 May 1957 in Ealing, London, of Irish Catholic parents. His father came from Dublin and his mother from Kilkenny...
paints Shane, his works are featured on Shane's official website, and is also the illustrater of The Popes "Outlaw Heaven" cd (see above).
Substance abuse
Shane MacGowan is known for his prolific use of legal and illegal drugs, and his erratic,intoxicated behaviour has often been reported on in the press. MacGowan claims to have been introduced to alcohol and cigarettes by his aunt on the promise he would not worship the devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
. In a 2007 interview with the Daily Mirror he told a reporter: "I was actually four when I started drinking. I just remember that Ribena
Ribena
Ribena is a British brand of fruit-based uncarbonated soft drink, carbonated soft drink and fruit drink concentrate produced by GlaxoSmithKline. The original and most common variety contains real blackcurrant juice.- History :...
turned into stout and I developed an immediate love for it." MacGowan says he tried whiskey when he was 10 and continued to drink heavily thereafter.
In 2001, Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
reported him to the police in London for drug possession — in what she said was an attempt to discourage him from using heroin. At first furious, MacGowan later expressed gratitude towards O'Connor and claimed that the incident helped him kick his heroin habit.
Speaking on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
's Folk Britannia television programme in early 2006), Robyn Hitchcock
Robyn Hitchcock
Robyn Rowan Hitchcock is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano and bass guitar....
recalled: "I remember going to the Hope and Anchor [a punk venue in London]. The Pogues were all on stage and ready, it was a full house, but they hadn't started yet. Then this character shambled in through the door and shambled downstairs. I thought, 'Jesus, you're not letting that guy in are you?'. Then he walked on stage. That guy was Shane MacGowan."
On 7 September 2002 MacGowan became so intoxicated before a performance at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin that he stopped singing and threw up over fans in the front row. Fiona Wynne wrote in the Daily Mirror that the consequent criticism of MacGowan's behaviour, "who was in a wheelchair after breaking his leg", led Sinéad O'Connor to call Joe Duffy's RTÉ Liveline
LiveLine
Liveline is an Irish radio interview and phone-in chat show broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 each weekday afternoon between 13.45 and 15.00. The programme, which is currently presented by Joe Duffy and known for its slogan "Talk to Joe", seeks the public's opinion on various questions, normally one or more...
programme three days later to defend him, saying: "He is an angel near the end who needs support. He's too far gone to stop drinking; he has an illness that cannot be cured, and as far as I can see, the end is near for him".
MacGowan has suffered physically from years of binge drinking
Binge drinking
Binge drinking or heavy episodic drinking is the modern epithet for drinking alcoholic beverages with the primary intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time. It is a kind of purposeful drinking style that is popular in several countries worldwide,...
. He often performs while drunk
Drunkenness
Alcohol intoxication is a physiological state that occurs when a person has a high level of ethanol in his or her blood....
and has been impaired in interviews. In 2004 on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV political magazine programme This Week he gave incoherent and slurred answers to questions from Janet Street-Porter
Janet Street-Porter
Janet Street-Porter is a British media personality, journalist and television presenter. She was editor for two years of The Independent on Sunday. She relinquished the job to become editor-at-large in 2002...
about the public smoking ban in Ireland.
MacGowan's fiancée, Victoria Mary Clarke
Victoria Mary Clarke
Victoria Mary Clarke is an Irish journalist and writer. She writes a column for the Sunday Independent. She has also written for The Guardian and the Daily Mail. She is the author of Angel in Disguise?....
, blamed his alcoholism for an earlier split, but in a 2007 interview, she said, "[Shane] loves a drink and he probably always will. But he drinks less than people think and I haven’t seen him drunk for quite some time". She blamed his problems with drink on fans ("it became difficult for us to get from A to B without being dragged into bars by well-wishers desperate to buy him a drink") and social anxiety. ("To cope with his social anxiety, he began drinking more and more")
Selected discography
The Nips/Nipple Erectors- Bops, Babes, Booze & Bovver (2003 Archived Compilation)
The Pogues singles
- "Poguetry In Motion E.P." (#29 UK)
- "The Irish RoverThe Irish Rover"The Irish Rover" is a traditional Irish song about a magnificent, though improbable, sailing ship that reaches an unfortunate end. It has been recorded by numerous artists, some of whom have made changes to the lyrics....
" (featuring The DublinersThe DublinersThe Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...
) (#8 UK) - "Fairytale of New YorkFairytale of New York"Fairytale of New York" is a song by the Irish rock group The Pogues, released in 1987 and featuring the British singer Kirsty MacColl. The song is an Irish folk style ballad, written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan, and featured on The Pogues' album If I Should Fall from Grace with God...
" (featuring Kirsty MacCollKirsty MacCollKirsty Anna MacColl was an English singer-songwriter.MacColl scored several pop hits from the early 1980s to the early 1990s...
) - #2 UK; Reissued in 1991 (#24 UK), 2005 (#3 UK) and 2007 (#4 UK) - "FiestaFiesta (The Pogues song)"Fiesta" is a single by The Pogues, featured on their 1988 album If I Should Fall from Grace with God. It was written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan, based on a Spanish fairground melody Finer had picked up...
" (#24 UK)
Solo singles
- "What a Wonderful WorldWhat a Wonderful World"What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in 1968. Thiele and Weiss were both prominent in the music world . Armstrong's recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999...
" (with Nick CaveNick CaveNicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
, #69 UK) - "The Church of The Holy Spook" (with The Popes, #74 UK)
- "That Woman's Got Me Drinking" (#34 UK)
- "Haunted" (with Sinéad O'ConnorSinéad O'ConnorSinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
, #30 UK) - "My WayMy Way (song)"My Way" is a song popularized by Frank Sinatra. Its lyrics were written by Paul Anka and set to music based on the French song "Comme d'habitude" composed in 1967 by Claude François and Jacques Revaux, with lyrics by Claude François and Gilles Thibault. Anka's English lyrics are unrelated to the...
" (#29 UK) - "I Put A Spell On YouI Put a Spell on You"I Put a Spell on You" is a 1956 song written by Screamin' Jay Hawkins, whose recording was selected as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It was also ranked #320 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.Although Hawkins'...
" (with Nick Cave, Chrissie Hynde, Mick Jones, Johnny Depp, Bobby Gillespie, Glen Matlock, Paloma FaithPaloma FaithPaloma Faith is a British singer-songwriter and actress. In 2009, she released her debut single "Stone Cold Sober", then her debut album, Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?, which was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. Her debut album stayed within the top 40 album...
and Eliza Doolittle)
Guest appearances
- "Perfect Day" (Children in NeedChildren in NeedChildren in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...
single, #1 UK) - "The Wild RoverThe Wild RoverThe Wild Rover is a popular folk song whose origins are contested.According to Professor T. M. Devine in his book The Scottish Nation 1700 - 2000 the song was written as a temperance song. The song is found printed in a book, The American Songster, printed in the USA by W.A...
" (with Sinéad O'ConnorSinéad O'ConnorSinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
) - Soldat Louis, album Auprès de ma bande, 1993 - "The Wild Rover" and "Good Rats" (with Dropkick MurphysDropkick MurphysDropkick Murphys are an Irish-American punk rock band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. The band was initially signed to independent punk record label Hellcat Records, releasing five albums for the label, and making a name for themselves locally through constant playing and yearly St....
) - "Ride On" and "Spancill Hill" (with CruachanCruachan (band)Cruachan [kroo-a-khawn] is a Celtic metal band from Dublin, Ireland that has been active since the 1990s. They have been acclaimed as having "gone the greatest lengths of anyone in their attempts to expand" the genre of folk metal. They are recognised as one of the founders of the genre of folk metal...
) - "What a Wonderful World" (with Nick CaveNick CaveNicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
, 1992) - "God Help Me" (with The Jesus and Mary ChainThe Jesus and Mary ChainThe Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride, Glasgow in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid...
, Stoned & DethronedStoned & DethronedStoned & Dethroned is the fifth album by the Scottish alternative band The Jesus and Mary Chain. After spending most of 1992 touring, including a slot on that year's Lollapalooza tour, the band went into the studio during January 1993 with the notion of recording an acoustic album...
, 1994) - "Suite sudarmoricaine", "Tri Martolod", "The Foggy Dew" (with Alan StivellAlan StivellAlan Stivell is a Breton musician and singer, recording artist and master of the celtic harp who from the early 1970s revived global interest in the Celtic harp and Celtic music as part of world music.- Background: learning Breton music and culture :Alan was born in the Auvergnat town of Riom...
, Again, 1994) - "Death Is Not The End" (on Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Murder BalladsMurder BalladsMurder Ballads is the ninth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in 1996 on Mute Records. As its title suggests, the album consists of new and traditional murder ballads, a genre of songs that relays the details of crimes of passion."Where the Wild Roses Grow," a duet featuring...
LP, 1996) - "Waiting 'Round To Die" (on The Mighty Stef's 100 Midnights, 2009)
- "Four Leaf Lover Boy" and "Full of Sh*t" (on Galia Arad's Ooh La Baby, 2010)
- "Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth" (on The Priests' Noel, 2010)
LPs
- Red Roses for MeRed Roses for MeRed Roses for Me was the first full length album by the London-based band The Pogues and was released in 1984. It is filled with traditional Irish music performed with punk influences. Traditional songs and ballads mixed with Shane MacGowan's "gutter hymns" about drinking, fighting and sex was...
(with The PoguesThe PoguesThe Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
, October 1984) - Rum Sodomy & the Lash (with The Pogues, August 1985)
- If I Should Fall from Grace with GodIf I Should Fall from Grace with GodIf I Should Fall from Grace with God was well-received by critics. Mark Deming of Allmusic awarded the album four and a half out of five stars, calling it "the best album the Pogues would ever make." Robert Christgau gave the album a B+ and said that "neither pop nor rock nor disco crossover stays...
(with The Pogues, January 1988) - Peace and LovePeace and Love (Pogues album)Peace and Love is a 1989 album by The Pogues, their fourth full-length studio production.The album continued the band's gradual departure from traditional Irish music. It noticeably opens with a heavily jazz-influenced track...
(with The Pogues, 1989) - Hell's DitchHell's DitchHell's Ditch is the fifth full-length album by The Pogues, and the last to feature front man Shane MacGowan as a member. Released in 1990, the album continued the group's slow departure from Irish music, giving more emphasis to rock and straight folk rock, and forsaking their earlier staples of...
(with The Pogues, 1990) - The Snake (with Shane MacGowan and the PopesShane MacGowan and The PopesShane MacGowan and The Popes was a band formerly led by Shane MacGowan of the Pogues, who played a blend of rock, and Irish folk, sometimes referred to as Paddy Beat, borrowing from World Beat, a popular genre name in the 1980s. Shane MacGowan and the Popes released two studio and one live album in...
, June 1995) - The Crock of GoldThe Crock of GoldThe Crock of Gold was the second full length album by Shane MacGowan and the Popes and was released in November, 1997. The Crock of Gold followed The Snake, MacGowan's first solo album after the breakup of The Pogues, and was less critically acclaimed than its predecessor...
(with Shane MacGowan and the Popes, October 1997) - Across the Broad Atlantic: Live on Paddy's Day - New York and Dublin (with Shane MacGowan and the Popes, February 2002)
Filmography
- The Punk Rock MovieThe Punk Rock MovieThe Punk Rock Movie was assembled from Super 8 camera footage shot by Don Letts, the disc jockey at The Roxy club during the early days of the UK punk rock movement, principally during the 100 days in 1977 in which punk acts were featured at The Roxy club in London.-History:Roxy club disc jockey...
- 1979 (archive footage appearance as himself) - Eat the Rich - 1987
- Straight to Hell - 1987
- The Pogues - Live at the Town & Country - 1988
- The Ghosts of Oxford Street - 1991
- Shane MacGowan & The Popes: Live at Montreux 1995 - 1995
- The Filth and the FuryThe Filth and the FuryThe Filth and the Fury is a 2000 rockumentary film about the Sex Pistols directed by Julien Temple.-About the film:The Filth and the Fury is the second movie Julien Temple made about The Sex Pistols. His first effort was The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, which was released in British cinemas on 15...
- 2000 (archive footage appearance as himself) - If I Should Fall From Grace: The Shane MacGowan Story - 2001
- Westway to the WorldWestway to the WorldThe Clash: Westway to the World is a 2000 documentary film about the British punk rock band The Clash. In 2003 it won the Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video....
- 2002 (archive footage appearance as himself) - The LibertineThe Libertine (2005 film)The Libertine is a 2004 film starring Johnny Depp, John Malkovich, Samantha Morton and Rosamund Pike. Directed by Laurence Dunmore in his first outing and adapted by Stephen Jeffreys' from his play of the same name, the film stars Johnny Depp as John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, a notorious rake...
- 2005 - Harry Hill's TV BurpHarry Hill's TV BurpHarry Hill's TV Burp is a British television comedy programme produced by Avalon Television for ITV and hosted by comedian Harry Hill. The show presents a satirical look at the week's television, including extracts from TV shows with added sketches, observational voice-overs, and guest appearances...
- 2007 - Harry Hill's TV Burp - 2010
External links
- Official Shane MacGowan website
- http://www.myspace.com/thenippleerectors
- Official Pogues website
- Official Brian Whelan website