The Medusa Fora

corncrake wrote:amazed my post drew such weird responses. it was sarcasm. my advice to those who wish to share their dislikes with the rest of us: who cares? I don't like cheese, but don't feel I need to share that with the world(until now)

Since a topic with "Your favorite Pogues song" already existed, I thought it would be interesting to see what people think about their least favorites. If the likes and dislikes of the board members are not interesting or important, then go and close the forum. And I would not go so far as to compare Pogues-songs with cheese. Cheers!

touchy, touchy.

Fiesta

When speaking of the great first five albums there is only one song that I really do not like and that is "Rainbow Man".

I don't like Metropolis much, it doesn't really do much for me - and I'm sorry to say Blue Heaven isn't high on my playlist. Bastard Landlord is probably my least favourite but only due to the quality of the recording/production, probably why it was only a b-side.

eta - and now Blue Heaven is stuck in my head

Serves you god damn right !!

There are no bad songs during the MacGowan-era Pogues in my opinon, sure there are a few missteps here and there:

1. The Wake of the Medusa
2. Rainbow Man
3. Blue Heaven
4. Tombstone
5. Night Train To Lorca

I tend to lean more toward the Waiting For Herb and Pogue Mahone albums, while there was still some great songs, I tend to not listen to these albums that often. Well to each his own I suppose.

pogues24 wrote:1. The Wake of the Medusa
2. Rainbow Man
3. Blue Heaven
4. Tombstone
5. Night Train To Lorca

Holy cow, u mention 3 of my favorite no shane vocal tracks there (1, 4, and 5) Shame on you!!! j/k... to each their own.

scott

Wow, pogues24 doesn't like Wake of the Medusa? I like it a lot, and the thunder sounds way at the end, just when you think the song is long over. But, back to the topic. I think Fiesta sounds like a total wedding reception song, although it is fun to watch live. (But Spidey needs to cut out the beer tray Whack-a-mole thing he's got going on with his head. He's going to give himself brain damage!)

Overrated? Summer In Siam. Too long with too few words and even less meaning, and no fabulous instrumental to distract. Not that i don't like it, but i could never suss out why it was so popular. Was a single, even had a video. Thank goodness there was no extended mix!

I personally dislike Summer in Siam.
From Shane's own stuff, Skipping Rhymes is brutal!

Low D wrote:Overrated? Summer In Siam. Too long with too few words and even less meaning, and no fabulous instrumental to distract. Not that i don't like it, but i could never suss out why it was so popular. Was a single, even had a video. Thank goodness there was no extended mix!

The single was the extended mix, in a sense. The song as Shane wrote it was never meant to extend beyond one verse, something I understood and agreed with completely, but we were the minority view and it was also clear the record company was not about to accept a single that was about a minute long. I always felt extending the thing missed the point and worked to the song's detriment, and above all I'm grateful Shane never succumbed to the pressure to write a second verse of lyrics.

I enjoy Summer in Siam, I think it's quite good.

Though there are those songs, I'm not sure what you would call them, Middle eastern sound influenced?
The Wake of the Medusa,
The Girl from Wadi Hammamat, I'm not super fond of

Then Fiesta I know is high energy live, but not a fav

Just a fantasy here, and maybe some problems I don't know about for the boys to play, but couldn't a few songs like....

Nancy Whiskey
St John of Gods
Victoria
Song with no Name

Possibly ever get one or so of these into the shows? I realise there's a great stack of Pogues back catalog not played but these are a few other Shane songs I think might have "live show" legs, with lyric he'd have memorized, no? I mean if you can do Cracklin Rosie? Please don't misconstrue as a complaint, not at all, just curious.

philipchevron wrote:

Low D wrote:Overrated? Summer In Siam. Too long with too few words and even less meaning, and no fabulous instrumental to distract. Not that i don't like it, but i could never suss out why it was so popular. Was a single, even had a video. Thank goodness there was no extended mix!

The single was the extended mix, in a sense. The song as Shane wrote it was never meant to extend beyond one verse, something I understood and agreed with completely, but we were the minority view and it was also clear the record company was not about to accept a single that was about a minute long. I always felt extending the thing missed the point and worked to the song's detriment, and above all I'm grateful Shane never succumbed to the pressure to write a second verse of lyrics.

That's actually pretty much exactly how it comes across. Interesting how that decison - right or wrong - did lead to it taking on a bit of it's own life as a schmaltz-sax lounge number, which I guess is why it was (and remains) fairly popular. I guess Bros. Warner wouldn't have the guts to release something like Hell's Ditch as a lead-off single, huh?

To truly appreciate Summer in Siam, as I do, you kinda just have to "feel" the beautiful simplicity of it. It is written like a hiaku, to reflect the Asian theme. When I'm listening to this song, I'm not even hearing the words as much as I am lost in a vision of riding on an elephant thru a balmy tropical forest in a soft veil of rain. To understand this song is to see the sheer genius of it. It will grow on you like kudzu up a tree if you let it!