"There's a Tesco on the sacred ground,
Where I pulled her knickers down,
Where Judas took his measly price,
And St Anthony gazed in awe at Christ
Down on Rain Street"
In addition to Shane's offerings, staggering one and all, are a couple of Terry Woods numbers (The ragged, angry "Rainbow Man" and the closing "Six To Go", a beautiful chant-a-long sounds like it arose fully formed from 'tween the cracks of the Sahara) and Jem Finer's "The Wake Of The Medusa" which, as Gavin Martin notes, "linked the tale behind the famous cover artwork used on Rum, Sodomy & The Lash" - a reworking of Théodore Géricault's The Raft Of The Medusa with the band-members seamlessly added to the horrific tableaux amongst those scurvy- and insanity-ravaged sailors - "with a bitter commentary on the legacy of Margaret Thatcher."
Hell's Ditch. Aye.
I walked about with an erection for a fortnight after the first listening, and whilst it pained me some, knowing that this was all there was to be had, the fifth and final Pogues record with Shane's words being wrung screaming out Shane's own yap, still the ecstasies conjured in the head-bumps and the blood-pump and the loin-stump had me wandering the estates like a man possessed with the gargle o' Lucifer's bollocks for those fourteen holy days and nights.
Had it been this new fangled remastered edition I'd heard back then, chances are that delirium would've lasted a solid month, seeing as how it now runs for 20 tracks as opposed to 13.
Now, pray tell, son, what at all are these new additions?
I'll tell you, surely I will, for they're a joy to have coil around the ossicles a time.
"Jack's Heroes", being the world-cup single recorded with The Dubliners, and its far-superior B-Side, a glorious, galloping take on "Whiskey In The Jar", are all the fun in the world, particularly the latter there, with Ronnie Drew and Shane tripping' o'er one another's beards in majestic, frenzied fashion throughout. They fairly singe the fugg from off the mentals, aye.
Many's a night way back when I roared with all the purple in my liver 'alongside those manic verses.
The duo of Jem Finer compositions, both featuring intense, if occasionally garbled, vocals from Lord MacGowan, are better again, particularly the bitter, snarling "Bastard Landlord".
First time I heard "Bastard Landlord" it was by way of a thirty second sound clip offered on Paddy Rolling Stone, the official Shane MacGowan website. God alone knows how often I replayed those thirty seconds, and should He ever feel like revealing the number He'll probably also offer a thought with regards the immense shame and sorrow I brought upon my family and upon the head of Lars Ulrich when, one winters night, I heard tell of an entity by the name of Napster which would, so the crack-raw fiends stood round the bus-shelter assured me, guide me towards a complete version of this most incredible recording.
Article comments
1 - -E
Congrats! This article has been selected as one of this week’s Editors’ Picks.
2 - Duke De Mondo
thank you!