Shane McGowan- R.I.P.

my favourite christmas music .R.I.P.Shane

Oreo Had anyone even given him a thought in donkeys years?

What world do you live in? He always had a wide and appreciative audienc through all his complex life.

As I said, I write as a person whose music tastes are narrowly defined by classic music, yet I have known about him and seen his name and music mentioned and played since he first hit the headlines.

Oreo fairytale " has been in the music charts every year since it was first released .Most folk would know who Shane was the song is iconic and I'm glad to see it at Number one today .
He was a highly intelligent man with a disturbed background who'll be remembered by millions here and abroad

He was a very troubled man whose experiences in his life will have deeply damaged him. And that's putting it lightly. Privileged is not a word that I would apply to him.

Oreo SM won a scholarshp to Westminster School but was expelled at the age of 14, i think for drink and/or drug ofences

I fail to see how that background can have been of any use in the music career he followed. On the contrary, Punk was an aggressivey urban working class genre and I would have thought McGowan's background wold have been a real disadvantage.

No need in this case, but have noticed when anyone who was either well known or even slightly known has just died there is a rush to praise and mourn.Had anyone even given him a thought in donkeys years? The fact that I hadn’t heard of him means others haven’t either, tho I had heard of The Pogues.
I shall bow out now gracefully.😁

I think he got there on a scholarship, but so what? What are you trying to achieve here? A lot of posters appreciated his music and mourn his passing. You don’t - and in fact hadn’t heard of him. AFAIK he never hurt anyone, and the man has just had his funeral - why the need to do him down?

Iam64

Oreo - no the Pogues are not punk.

According to wiki they are.Mind you if as claimed by a poster that they read on wiki that McGowan was given two bottles of Guinness a day, then all can’t be believed.😄
It also says he went to a prep school in England then onto Westminster School, so a privileged upbringing.

he prayed every day, he prayed for lots of different people and he cried a lot when the queen died. He spoke from his heart

Oreo Shane mcGowan was far more than just known in Ireland. He had a huge international presence.

My music is classical and I have little interest in much else and I have heard of Shane McGowan and known his standing from the start of his career. I happen also to love Fairytale of new York

Oreo - no the Pogues are not punk.

He certainly spoke to me karmalady.

He was a genius poet. He was incredibly clever and talented winning a scholarship to westminster school when he was a teenager

Read the words and try to understand what he was saying. He was speaking to a lot of people through his music

RIP

Must say I dislike Fairytale Of New York which is the only Pogues song I know, and have never heard of Shane Mc Gowan. Obviously well known in Ireland , but am amazed at how many on here knew his work, wasn’t it mostly punk rock?

A wonderful tribute to a wonderful wordsmith. Highlights for me were the men’s choir, his sister Siobhan’s eulogy and Nick Cave singing A Rainy Night in Soho.

An amazingly uplifting funeral, wonderful to see dancing in the aisles, my husband has always been prone to say services in catholic churches whenever we went together, were so much more off the wall than ones in the CofE he remembered. He loves that aspect and the fact that given the congregation in his opinion are more diverse the responses are often wonderfully out of sync everyone going at a different speeds, particularly the Irish who are prone to talk quite quickly. We both said "that looked to be an amazing funeral a celebration of everything he stood for, no dirge like hymns or droning sermons, uplifting eulogies and a joyous occasion done in a truly Irish tears to the eyes way"

Shane sounded such a character in so many ways, something I read that surprised me, allegedly he cried his eyes out when the Queen died.

RIP Shane. I didn’t watch all the funeral but what I did see seemed a fitting tribute. The musicians and singers who performed Fairytale in the Church - glorious

It's my favourite Christmas song. His funeral and the lining of the streets with people showed what high regard he was held.

What a wonderfully uplifting and joyous funeral it was, with amazing singing.

I was reading that he was a super bright child and was reading classics at a very young age. He got into a top school but was expelled.

Proper Irish funeral. My Mum would be howling her eyes out.

I saw some of the funeral it was very uplifting the music was terrific.Very fitting it was mainly his music they played and by such great Irish musicians and singers I saw one of my favourites Sharon Shannon in the congregation.A real"Irish" funeral as remembered from my childhood and The Parting Glass was beautiful .I'm over 60% Irish according to my DNA ,watching this today I felt 100% Irish ,it was a wonderful send off for Shane Now,will Fairytale of New York finally make it to number one this year?

The funeral Mass is still live o BBC news channel. Shane's wisow has just complwted her eulogy. The Pogues are now performing The Parting Glass, before the Final Commendation.

Funeral on the news now. The streets of Dublin are packed with people. A fitting tribute to Shane.

love the Pogues because of their roughness and the voice of the Irish diaspora that came through in his songs and which my family are part of.

MayBee70

Doodledog

There is a very good documentary about him on iPlayer, called Crock Of Gold. There was a lot more to Shane McGowan than Fairytale of New York. He was very talented and had an interesting life.

Thanks for that. I saw a documentary about him a while back and wanted to see it again but couldn’t remember what it was called. I’ve always loved his music but saw him in a new light after watching the documentary. Such a complex enigma of a man. I’ve also never understood how some people can talk so differently from the way they sing.

Crock of Gold is on BBC 2 tonight at 11:15