The Medusa Fora

does anyone know how the collaboration between the pogues and steve on johnny come lately earle came about?

Don't know how they met but the lyrics are reminiscent of Shane ie drinking, rain, love, war etc all set in London. I'm not saying Shane was the first to write about these things but you can see his influence.

"I'm a big fan of The Pogues," confesses Earle. "The first album I heard was Rum, Sodomy And The Lash, and I just about wore it out. My production manager on last year's tour - BILL RAMEY - was the Pogues' tour manager on their first U.S. tour. He called me up when I was in London and said The Pogues wanted to meet me.

"They were in London, recording the demos for If I Should Fall From Grace With God at Abbey Road. They were hiding from their label, so they were booked as THE TERRY WOODS QUARTET.

"So I hung out with them, and we stayed at the Columbia Hotel in London. That's where the idea for `Johnny Comes Lately' came from, because it's about an American flyer mouthing off at thebar in Camden during World War II. The Columbia Hotel is where a lot of American flyers stayed during the war.

"Stylistically, I ripped it off so badly from the Pogues that it just seemed like the thing to do is record it with them."

Recorded the day before St. Patrick's Day, Earle said the mix remained untouched for the album, which was finished in Memphis in June

Taken from Here.

Hope that kinda answers your question

steve earle is great....he sometimes covers "if i should fall from grace with god" in concert

thanks for the insight

steve earle also writes about his adventures with the pogues in the latest reissue of 'if i should fall from grace with god'

the reissues have been great by the way, great liner notes... perhaps a few errors in the lyrics?

Earle is one amazing talent. He knows excellent shit when he sees it, too.
Any of the artists I've heard from E-Squared (his former label) are awesome. Marah, Bap Kennedy, The V-Roys... all groups hardly anyone's heard of that everyone should! Bands like that make the prominence of Blink 182 and Nickelback so much harder to swallow.

For anyone who hasn't heard them, I think most Pogues fans would love Marah. They're a Philadelphia-based group. Real-deal rock 'n' roll with a good scattered banjo, squeeze box, mandolin, etc. Top notch performers, too.

Pittman wrote:For anyone who hasn't heard them, I think most Pogues fans would love Marah. They're a Philadelphia-based group. Real-deal rock 'n' roll with a good scattered banjo, squeeze box, mandolin, etc. Top notch performers, too.

Amen to that, brother. As far is i'm concerned theyre the best young rock'n'roll band working today. And "Round Eye Blues" is surely a contender for best Vietnam song ever written- quite a feat when you consider they werent even born at the time.

Dunno if this has been posted yet. If it has - please forgive me.

A short excerpt from "The life and near death of Steve Earle":

"The celtic influence on the album continued with "Johnny come lately", a razor-sharp spin on the GI in London theme that Steve had written specifically because he wanted to work with Irish band the Pogues. He had met the band, once described as a cross between the Sex Pistols and the Chieftains, in London in 1987. The were recording "If I should fall from grace with god" at the time. A mutual fascination with Celtic and Appalachian music, serious partying, and each other meant that they soon became firm friends - hence, the reference to drinking Camden town dry.
"Johnny come lately" was recorded in mid-march at Livingstone Studios in London, with Chris Birkett engineering again and Neil MacColl on mandolin. Shane MacGowan turned up for hours late for the session.Touring with the Pogues a few months later in support of the album, Steve and the rest and the band would draw straws in the morning to see who would get the hard-living MacGowan out of his alcohol-fumed bunk. "When you pulled back the curtain, your eyebrows melted"."

Please educate me about this song in relation to the Pogues. Why did this collaboration occur when it did? Why was this song so prevalent in live sets around '88? (I believe...?) Please, feel free to offer other interesting bits of trivia.