The Medusa Fora

I have been listening to a lot of Hell's Ditch lately, and I've come to the conclusion that "Rain Street" has got to be one of MacGowan's best lyrics. I never released how cleaver it was, besides the verse about the priests (pointed out on www.poguetry.com).

There's a Tesco on the sacred ground
Where I pulled her knickers down
While Judas took his measly price
And St Anthony gazed in awe at Christ
Down on Rain Street

This is genius really.

Agree, a true MacGowan classic I also think that his ragged voice at that point really adds to the feeling and atmosphere of the song...

Bless me father I have sinned
I got pissed and I got pinned
and God can't help the state I'm in
Down on Rain Street

Agree with all that. I also love the way he sings "A stupid fucking place to be" later on and it kind of sums up the feeling of the whole song.

Great song. I've always preferred the live "I tried to take a late night fix" as opposed to the studio "I tried to take a late night piss" line. Seems more in keeping with the song as a whole, but fell foul of censorship, I guess.

Kilmichael wrote:Great song. I've always preferred the live "I tried to take a late night fix" as opposed to the studio "I tried to take a late night piss" line. Seems more in keeping with the song as a whole, but fell foul of censorship, I guess.

But then the next part "But the toilet moved so again I missed" doesn't work anymore, and I think those two lines together capture a lot of the song's feel, as well.

leadshoes wrote:

Kilmichael wrote:Great song. I've always preferred the live "I tried to take a late night fix" as opposed to the studio "I tried to take a late night piss" line. Seems more in keeping with the song as a whole, but fell foul of censorship, I guess.

But then the next part "But the toilet moved so again I missed" doesn't work anymore, and I think those two lines together capture a lot of the song's feel, as well.

That's exactly the way i see it too.

Seanpat wrote:
There's a Tesco on the sacred ground
Where I pulled her knickers down
While Judas took his measly price
And St Anthony gazed in awe at Christ
Down on Rain Street

This is genius really.

The http://www.poguetry.com site references Judas as betraying Jesus but misses what i think the real point of this line is. I think Shane is refering to Judas as being the prostitutes' pimp who takes his cut of Shane's money.

I would agree as well, but it just struck me......It's possible he was going to the toilet to have his fix and missed while trying to take his seat......

just a thought

NewJerseyRich wrote:I would agree as well, but it just struck me......It's possible he was going to the toilet to have his fix and missed while trying to take his seat......

just a thought

That's always been my interpretation - that he was sitting on the toilet for a fix, the toilet moved so again he missed (his vein).

Kilmichael wrote:

NewJerseyRich wrote:I would agree as well, but it just struck me......It's possible he was going to the toilet to have his fix and missed while trying to take his seat......

just a thought

That's always been my interpretation - that he was sitting on the toilet for a fix, the toilet moved so again he missed (his vein).

I do love lyrics with double meaning

NewJerseyRich wrote:

Kilmichael wrote:

NewJerseyRich wrote:I would agree as well, but it just struck me......It's possible he was going to the toilet to have his fix and missed while trying to take his seat......

just a thought

That's always been my interpretation - that he was sitting on the toilet for a fix, the toilet moved so again he missed (his vein).

I do love lyrics with double meaning

Oh I see what you're thinking, but I always thought of it as a funny scene where a pissed drunk Shane was blaming the toilet moving for his own drunken ineptitude at aiming.

leadshoes wrote:

NewJerseyRich wrote:

Kilmichael wrote:

NewJerseyRich wrote:I would agree as well, but it just struck me......It's possible he was going to the toilet to have his fix and missed while trying to take his seat......

just a thought

That's always been my interpretation - that he was sitting on the toilet for a fix, the toilet moved so again he missed (his vein).

I do love lyrics with double meaning

Oh I see what you're thinking, but I always thought of it as a funny scene where a pissed drunk Shane was blaming the toilet moving for his own drunken ineptitude at aiming.

Well, I think you're exactly right - I think that is the way the studio version is supposed to be interpreted, as a comical scene. I think the live version has much darker connotations - I think Shane was going through a dark time when he wrote it, which I guess would be early 1990, and was (allegedly) heavily into drugs then. But I suppose, as with all great lyrics, it's open to interpretation.

Kilmichael wrote:
Well, I think you're exactly right - I think that is the way the studio version is supposed to be interpreted, as a comical scene. I think the live version has much darker connotations - I think Shane was going through a dark time when he wrote it, which I guess would be early 1990, and was (allegedly) heavily into drugs then. But I suppose, as with all great lyrics, it's open to interpretation.

I know "Hell's Ditch" got a re-write, at the prodding of Jem Finer, who said it arrived as totally x-rated, so it's possible that there were some similar revisions to Rain Street.

Kilmichael wrote:

leadshoes wrote:

NewJerseyRich wrote:

Kilmichael wrote:
Well, I think you're exactly right - I think that is the way the studio version is supposed to be interpreted, as a comical scene. I think the live version has much darker connotations - I think Shane was going through a dark time when he wrote it, which I guess would be early 1990, and was (allegedly) heavily into drugs then. But I suppose, as with all great lyrics, it's open to interpretation.

Yeah, he was getting to sound really rough at that point, so it was possibly drugs in addition to the alcohol. He's also mentioned being subjected to ECT shock therapy in a couple of songs (Dark Streets and Pinned Down/Alone in the Wilderness), which I always took as drawing from his own life, and I've wondered if that had a significant effect on his mental state during some years. Anyway, I'll agree that the live version you mention does add to the bleakness of the song.

Low D wrote:

Kilmichael wrote:
Well, I think you're exactly right - I think that is the way the studio version is supposed to be interpreted, as a comical scene. I think the live version has much darker connotations - I think Shane was going through a dark time when he wrote it, which I guess would be early 1990, and was (allegedly) heavily into drugs then. But I suppose, as with all great lyrics, it's open to interpretation.

I know "Hell's Ditch" got a re-write, at the prodding of Jem Finer, who said it arrived as totally x-rated, so it's possible that there were some similar revisions to Rain Street.

I wonder how much more x-rated Hell's Ditch could have been? Maybe he expanded on the naked howling freedom? And what does this part mean?:

As for our lady she kneels down
Her neck is bent, the blade comes down

Is she/he decapitated?

As far as I'm informed, Shane himself never received ECT but saw it on other patients at Bethlem in London. But at the time they recorded the album, Shane was in a pretty bad state as his vocals can tell. I suppose the drinking around the clock plus the tons of other stuff he was taking simply took their toll.