New York Sun: Poet in the Beerlight

**Mon Mar 20, 2006 11:27 am**

Poet in the Beerlight

New York Sun
By MARTIN EDLUND
March 20, 2006
Full URL

***
(only Pogues related part)

<blockquote>New York City was treated to another, equally rare sighting over the weekend with the return of Shane MacGowan to the Pogues on Thursday at the Nokia Theater in Times Square. It was the first time he's toured with the group in America since the other members kicked him out for perpetual drunkenness in 1991.

The Pogues exemplify two Irish traditions. Their music blends the traditional sounds of the tin whistle, accordion, and mandolin with Clash inspired punk. And with MacGowan at the helm, they also keep alive (if barely) the tradition of the hard-drinking Irish poet with an eye and taste for tragedy.

A romantic figure, MacGowan is also a cautionary one. Only 49 years old, he lumbered around the stage with his knees bent and his feet sliding on the floor like a septuagenarian. His once-slurred speech is now totally unintelligible.

MacGowan formed the Pogues in 1982 in London. The original name, Pogue Mahone, was Gaelic for "kiss my ass," and that about summed up his attitude. The group's careening pub-punk won it a quick cult following in Britain and America, one that included such prominent admirers as Elvis Costello, Nick Cave, Sinead O'Connor, and Joe Strummer. But MacGowan was determined to be the master of his own ill fate. As the band's fame intensified, so did his drinking - his erratic onstage behavior soon gave way to absenteeism. In 1988, he missed most of an opening tour for Bob Dylan. Three years later, the band finally gave him his walking papers.

There are those who would rank MacGowan up there with Dylan as a lyricist. And Thursday's show included much of his best work: "Streams of Whisky," "The Old Main Drag," "Dirty Old Town." "A Pair of Brown Eyes" begins, as all his songs seem to, "one summer evening drunk to hell." Overindulgence, and the broken dreams that are its cause and inevitable result, is Mac-Gowan's great theme.

Thursday night's show ended with one of the best examples along these lines: "Fairytale of New York," perhaps the most hopeless Christmas song ever written, and certainly one of the best. It begins in a drunk tank on Christmas Eve with an old man who knows it's his last, and generally deteriorates from there. MacGowan and his female counterpart - in this case Emma Finer, daughter of mandolin player Jem Finer - berate each other: "You scumbag, you maggot / you cheap lousy faggot," she sang, "Happy Christmas you arse / I pray God it's our last." But it ended on a note of redemption - or temporary reprieve, anyway. As she and MacGowan approximated a lurching waltz at center stage under fake snow, Finer stepped nimbly backward to avoid being trampled.</blockquote>

**Mon Mar 20, 2006 11:46 am**

MacRua wrote:Poet in the Beerlight

New York Sun
By MARTIN EDLUND
March 20, 2006

1....perpetual drunkenness....

2...His once-slurred speech is now totally unintelligible......

3...determined to be the master of his own ill fate....

Hey Bossman... these journos, eh? Do they just get this shite from some pre-chewed fucking pap machine at CubScoutReporterCentral?

1. If there were a trophy for perpetual inebriation, then I reckon Oliver Reed would STILL hold it posthumously....

2. Trying cleaning yer ears out, and listening twat. Oh, and turn off yer I-Pod next time.

3. Wish I could. I'm only first mate of mine :wink:

**Mon Mar 20, 2006 2:25 pm**

Mr Ranken's precis of the US reviews:

"The band was great, the singer was drunk, tears were shed for the Famine"

**Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:20 pm**

Who's Emma Finer? :wink:

**Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:21 pm**

Is there a reviewer in this country, anywhere, who can accurately name all the musicians and the instruments that they actually play? Anywhere?

**Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:33 pm**

philipchevron wrote:Mr Ranken's precis of the US reviews:

"The band was great, the singer was drunk, tears were shed for the Famine"

HAH!

Nice one Mr. R. - Thanks Mr. C!

**Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:36 pm**

Quincy Dan wrote:Is there a reviewer in this country, anywhere, who can accurately name all the musicians and the instruments that they actually play? Anywhere?

Based on the sampling we've seen here, it doesn't seem so.

I can't grasp why correctly matching the bandmembers to the instruments they play and pairing up bandmembers' given names to their surnames seem to present such challenges for these reviewers.

If they're not familiar with the band, there are any number of sources that could provide this information -- album credits, this site, etc. Lots o' sloppy work makin' it to print...

**Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:48 am**

philipchevron wrote:Mr Ranken's precis of the US reviews:

"The band was great, the singer was drunk, tears were shed for the Famine"

The art of deconstruction at its finest. :lol:

That's a close second to the wonderful “The salmon are early in the Usk. He’s in his waders out in the river.”

**Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:42 am**

carol wrote:
Quincy Dan wrote:Is there a reviewer in this country, anywhere, who can accurately name all the musicians and the instruments that they actually play? Anywhere?

Based on the sampling we've seen here, it doesn't seem so.

I can't grasp why correctly matching the bandmembers to the instruments they play and pairing up bandmembers' given names to their surnames seem to present such challenges for these reviewers.

If they're not familiar with the band, there are any number of sources that could provide this information -- album credits, this site, etc. Lots o' sloppy work makin' it to print...

Exactly, it's not as if they couldn't find out their correct names and which instruments they play. It's just as if they couldn't be bothered to find out.

**Wed Mar 22, 2006 10:17 pm**

Heather wrote:Who's Emma Finer?

She's the "daughter of the mandolin player, Jem Finer"

**Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:58 am**

Noel Kenny wrote:
Heather wrote:Who's Emma Finer?

She's the "daughter of the mandolin player, Jem Finer"

**Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:50 am**

Noel Kenny wrote:
Heather wrote:Who's Emma Finer?

She's the "daughter of the mandolin player, Jem Finer"

I was under the impression he was the whistle-player. :roll:

**Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:58 am**

With all respect to Shane's prowess as a lyricist, Ewan MacColl would probably disagree that 'Dirty Old Town' is one of his best works. :wink:

**Sat Mar 25, 2006 8:53 am**

Algernon wrote:With all respect to Shane's prowess as a lyricist, Ewan MacColl would probably disagree that 'Dirty Old Town' is one of his best works.

Believe me, 'tis a point I've made frequently. Amazing the number of people who don't know. And the number who thus never make the connection to Kirsty....

**Sat Mar 25, 2006 11:50 am**

Algernon wrote:
Noel Kenny wrote:
Heather wrote:Who's Emma Finer?

She's the "daughter of the mandolin player, Jem Finer"

I was under the impression he was the whistle-player.

I'm getting really confused now

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