Lullaby of London

[Guest]

i was just wondering who in fact is playing the Banjo at the very end of Lullaby of London? i know in the town and Country DVD Shane plays banjo on this song. is this him on the album too. i think the last few seconds of music in this song are quite simply amazing. as is the song in general

[John C]

i was just wondering who in fact is playing the Banjo at the very end of Lullaby of London? i know in the town and Country DVD Shane plays banjo on this song. is this him on the album too. i think the last few seconds of music in this song are quite simply amazing. as is the song in general

Watch the DVD a little more closely Shane's 'playing' the banjo alright but he sure as hell isn't playing that part of the track on the CD - my money's on Jem or possibly Terry. I'm sure Mr. Chevron will know the answer if he happens to see this...

[philipchevron]

i was just wondering who in fact is playing the Banjo at the very end of Lullaby of London? i know in the town and Country DVD Shane plays banjo on this song. is this him on the album too. i think the last few seconds of music in this song are quite simply amazing. as is the song in general

Shane went through a brief phase of playing the banjo on stage around March 1988. He was always plugged in but Paul Scully included him in the mix "discreetly", shall we say. The "Town And Country" film was made the same week we recorded "Johnny Come Lately" with Mr Earle and Shane is - to my ears, anyway, [when I still had the use of them, that is] clearly audible on that. He plays a sort of percussive rhythm banjo, not unlike the way I played banjo when I stood in for Jem in early 1985.

He's definitely not playing on "Lullaby Of London" on the album. That sort of shimmering effect on the last few seconds of the track (still sends a shiver down my spine too) was the result of a sort of spontaneous and intuitive gear-change which myself, Jem, James and Terry employed. It took us a while to get there. The Abbey Road recording of the song, from May 1987, is a very early incarnation and, back then, the "gear change" was being handled by Andrew, Terry and Darryl and it does something less subtle but no less effective in its way. You'll hear it on the Box Set, promise.

[Eric V]

You'll hear it on the Box Set, promise.

Oh... you are such a tease.

Edit... I just circled back from reading the news about the boxed set. Very high expectations of glee here. And thank you, sir.

[Andy P. Davies]

I'm fairly sure Shane wrote 'Lullaby of London' while The Pogues were recording the 'Straight to Hell' film with Alex Cox in Almeria, Spain (1986).