How come "How Come?"

**Sun Feb 03, 2008 7:18 pm**

How did the Pogues come about to perform/record "How Come" co-written by Ronnie Lane - his first single after the breakup of the Faces?
Considering the official recording discography consists of very few non-Pogues / Non-trad. tunes, and there are thousands of potential covers to choose from, I'm mildly curious. Don't get me wrong- I'm a huge Ronnie Lane fan. (I'd take a bullet for him.) And, clearly, it was a perfect song for the Pogues.
Was this song someone's lifelong goal to record this to album, a spontaneous choice, or pressure from the record company to produce a hit?
Regardless, I'm glad it's on record. It's a great version of a great song written by one of the greatest songwriters ever.
(I'm listening to Kuschty Rye - The Singles as I type this.)
RIP - Plunk

**Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:09 pm**

FAY wrote:How did the Pogues come about to perform/record "How Come" co-written by Ronnie Lane - his first single after the breakup of the Faces?
Considering the official recording discography consists of very few non-Pogues / Non-trad. tunes, and there are thousands of potential covers to choose from, I'm mildly curious. Don't get me wrong- I'm a huge Ronnie Lane fan. (I'd take a bullet for him.) And, clearly, it was a perfect song for the Pogues.
Was this song someone's lifelong goal to record this to album, a spontaneous choice, or pressure from the record company to produce a hit?
Regardless, I'm glad it's on record. It's a great version of a great song written by one of the greatest songwriters ever.
(I'm listening to Kuschty Rye - The Singles as I type this.)
RIP - Plunk

It was the record company's idea. As they had been with "Hony Tonk Women", Warners were totally gung-ho about "How Come", and saw it as a certain hit. Unfortunately, the only reliable way to prove your record company wrong is to see the farce through from start to finish. Which is not intended as a negative reflection on either Ronnie Lane's song or on the Pogues' version of it, it is merely a tribute to the cloth ears of the Brothers Warner.

**Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:39 am**

Ok, thanks so much for answering.
But, it still begs the question....
How come, "How Come?"
I mean, "Honky Tonk Women" is such a perfunctory, elementary no-brainer for ANY band. (ie- "Louie Louie") - even if you're being ironic.
Yet, a Ronnie Lane HIDDEN GEM is a bit curious.
Did someone in the band suggested it...???
Spider? Jem?
(there's no way a 20-something record exec pulled this out of his/her arse.)....
WHAT other "pop songs" were tossed about by WHOM and WHEN (ie- Shane/2007 soundcheck "Rise" - PIL)????????
To the best of your recollection....
Please....
I want a complete list... :wink:

**Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:17 am**

FAY wrote:Ok, thanks so much for answering.
But, it still begs the question....
How come, "How Come?"
I mean, "Honky Tonk Women" is such a perfunctory, elementary no-brainer for ANY band. (ie- "Louie Louie") - even if you're being ironic.
Yet, a Ronnie Lane HIDDEN GEM is a bit curious.
Did someone in the band suggested it...???
Spider? Jem?
(there's no way a 20-something record exec pulled this out of his/her arse.)....
WHAT other "pop songs" were tossed about by WHOM and WHEN (ie- Shane/2007 soundcheck "Rise" - PIL)????????
To the best of your recollection....
Please....
I want a complete list...

We have never dealt with 20-something record execs in all our time at Warners. But yes, a 50-something record exec really did pull it out of his arse. Don't look to me for examples of rational thought among record company personnel. They get an itch and nothing else matters until they can scratch it.

**Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:15 am**

From memory, doesn't the original tune feature a Mandolin?
If I had to guess, that'd be the tenious connection made by a record exec, both bands feature a mandolin player.

**Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:18 am**

FAY wrote:Ok, thanks so much for answering.
But, it still begs the question....
How come, "How Come?"
I mean, "Honky Tonk Women" is such a perfunctory, elementary no-brainer for ANY band. (ie- "Louie Louie") - even if you're being ironic.
Yet, a Ronnie Lane HIDDEN GEM is a bit curious.
Did someone in the band suggested it...???
Spider? Jem?
(there's no way a 20-something record exec pulled this out of his/her arse.)....
WHAT other "pop songs" were tossed about by WHOM and WHEN (ie- Shane/2007 soundcheck "Rise" - PIL)????????
To the best of your recollection....
Please....
I want a complete list...

wait.....off topic but....Shane sang Rise at a soundcheck? when? where? solo or w/Pogues? any recordings? i'd love to hear that!

**Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:11 pm**

Yes, it was reported by Phil - or maybe James - on this forum that they rehearsed "Rise" into "Summer of Siam" in a failed experiment.

I, too, would love to hear that.

**Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:33 pm**

This was always my least favorite track on the album, perhaps my absolute least favorite pogues song period, and finding out it was forced on the consumers by the record label makes me like it even less...

scott

**Sat Feb 09, 2008 10:46 pm**

At least I know who to blame for it kicking off that album. How Come and Honkey Tonk Women are probably (definitely) the two most misguided Pogues recording decisions, and it's nice to know the lapse in judgment wasn't that of the band.

**Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:43 pm**

DrugProwlingWolf wrote:At least I know who to blame for it kicking off that album. How Come and Honkey Tonk Women are probably (definitely) the two most misguided Pogues recording decisions, and it's nice to know the lapse in judgment wasn't that of the band.

The story with "Honky Tonk Women" is slightly different. As 50 million bar bands (who can't be wrong) will tell you, "HTW" is fun to play. In our case, it was only a short step from this to recording it for a B side. Which is what we did. Some time later the Brothers Warner noticed it and reasoned it had simply been "lost" on a B side. Hence the reissue as an A side. I actually quite like our recording and I like Spider's vocal on it, but not in a million years would I have volunteered it as a Single. It was decisions like these that made the singles market ultimately collapse. The record companies have only themselves to blame. It's not just the majors either. Myself and the Men They Couldn't Hang had to fight Demon Records to keep "Green Fields Of France" as the A side of that single. Demon wanted to flip it for "Whiskey With Me Giro" or "Donal Where's Your Troosers?", I can't actually remember which.

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