A Furious Devotion: The Life of Shane MacGowan

Product Information

MacGowan was hospitalised for an infection on 6 December 2022. [39] [40] He was diagnosed with encephalitis. [41] He would draw anywhere then,” says Clarke. “On a restaurant menu, a hotel room-service card, or my receipts and bank statements. Even the walls, but not once on a canvas.” Irish Post, 2020 https://www.irishpost.com/news/the-pogues-controversially-branded-english-rather-than-irish-on-wikipedia-189680 Ali Ryan (30 October 2016). "Shane MacGowan's partner reveals he is 'sober for the FIRST time in years' ". Goss.ie. Archived from the original on 27 January 2019 . Retrieved 26 January 2019. I've never been a big fan of The Pogues or indeed bothered to find out much about their front man, the larger than life Shane MacGowan. However, living in the UK in the 90s it was hard not to see him occasionally and he is definitely a commanding presence when he does appear on TV for example. Whenever I have seen him performing or interviewed he seems to have been virtually paralytic with booze or some other substance and indeed, that does seem to have been the story of his life pretty much.

Top 50 Heroes poll in today's NME". morrissey-solo.com. 10 May 2006. Archived from the original on 18 October 2015 . Retrieved 24 August 2015.In 2016, Clarke revealed to the press that MacGowan was sober "for the first time in years." She explained that the origins of MacGowan's drinking problem stemmed from several years of "singing in bars and clubs and other venues where people go to drink and have fun" and that "his whole career has revolved around it and, indeed, been both enhanced and simultaneously inhibited by it". She said that his drinking was not a problem for many years but "went from being just a normal part of life" to becoming very unhealthy, a circumstance made much worse due to the introduction of hard drugs such as heroin. She explained that a serious bout with pneumonia, compounded by an excruciatingly painful hip injury which required a long stay in the hospital, was ultimately responsible for his sobriety. The lengthy hospital stay required a total detox, and MacGowan's sobriety continued after he got home. [38] In 2001, MacGowan coauthored the autobiographical book A Drink with Shane MacGowan with Victoria Mary Clarke. Adams applauded Clarke – “the ginger lady” – for curating more than 3,000 sketches, scribblings and “any number of graphic, phallic and provocative drawings and paintings by Shane which she salvaged, which she saved and which is now presenting to the world”. Dwyer, Michael (2 August 1987). "Mac the Mouth". The Sunday Tribune. Archived from the original on 8 June 2009.

Born on Christmas Day 1957 in Kent, MacGowan is best known as the unruly elf who duets so bleakly on Fairytale of New York. He is now, reluctantly, a seasonal fixture, like Mariah Carey in her “sexy Santa” suit. But he is also recognised as a great songwriter, as well as the creator of powerful cover versions of traditional Irish ballads. With the Pogues he made five influential albums, that, with his drunken rabble-rousing, established him as a music industry legend. “I am not a mythical creature though,” he says. “I am very much a human being. I am a primate. I am an animal and an animal has a soul. I believe that we all have one big soul. Everybody on this planet.” Kent concurs when I suggest that his perennial theme might be the corrosive effects of fame and privilege. Shane opens door for drawing to go under the hammer". Independent.ie. 29 November 2012. Archived from the original on 12 December 2010 . Retrieved 19 April 2014. If you're gonna big up Donald Trump after four years, and put it on YouTube or Facebook, then you've descended to a level of self-loathing. At the same time you just can't get enough of the public staring at youI enjoyed this telling of MacGowan's life; it is well written and easy to consume. It is clear that Balls has set out to provide a "warts and all" narrative and there is plenty of material here, that's for sure. I do think that it must be a particular challenge to write a bio of a subject still alive since it necessitates spending time getting material not only from those that know him, but also from the horses mouth so to speak. What often happened is that the author and the subject become friends and therefore I wonder if objectivity suffers. We are told, time and again, how shy Shane is and what a overall "good guy" he is whilst at the same time, being informed about his claims to violence, temper and general proclivity for being obnoxious. Now, it is not up to me to judge any one's lifestyle and I have absolutely no problem with hedonism, in fact I often wish I had lived a life more along those lines. However, it does seem to have been so central to his life that the negatives, although mentioned frequently, seem a little understated to me, at least until the final chapter. A deep dive into the legacy of an Irish icon. Richard Balls serves up the most thorough account of the man — and myth — to date.' Rolling Stone All I see in Shane MacGowan is a guy getting older and now in a wheelchair, and it's heartbreaking, man, it's f***ing heartbreaking. People are being way too indulgent with him It's amazing MacGowan is still alive. He has seen many of his friends and peers succumb to the drink and drugs lifestyle he has somehow survived, albeit in a state of greatly diminished health. When one sees him performing on videos from the Pogues heyday, drunk, almost slurring his words, rotting teeth in his mouth and cigarette in hand he doesn't look long for this world yet he is still here. I am not really qualified to rank him in a pantheon of songwriters but he was undoubtedly very gifted in this area, his classic, unorthodox Christmas "Fairly Tale of New York" being deservedly his best known and evocative work. Thin Lizzy: Phil Lynott with Brian Downey and Gary Moore in 1974. Photograph: Michael Putland/Getty

I have noticed that if you allow yourself to cry and to feel all of the fear and even to collapse, and you don’t judge yourself for your feelings and you have compassion for yourself and everyone else around you even in the really dark moments, it’s like that is the real meaning of going with the flow.And so, revealed here, is Shane’s propensity for the wild, for the absurd, for the political, for the beautiful, all funnelled and threaded through the needle of his pen. But, this time, not via the tool of language. Instead, Shane’s visual acuity will take the lead here. His visions will speak for themselves. Johnny Depp, who collects MacGowan’s art, writes in a foreword for The Eternal Buzz…: “It’s rare for a creative genius like Shane to have one avenue of output. Such an incendiary talent is likely to have a multitude of facilities whereby his talent might infiltrate the atmosphere and change the climate as we know it. By this time, the relentless touring schedule was leaving its mark, and MacGowan was hospitalized (the first of many hospitalizations) with pneumonia. The band closed the year 1985 as darlings of the U.K. music press and embarked on their first tour of America the following year, where they played to raucous, sold-out crowds. For the band’s third and arguably best album, If I Should Fall From Grace With God, manager Frank Murray enlisted Steve Lillywhite to produce.