-The Herald: Shane writing a song about a serial killer

[MacRua]

Pogues star is inspired by Bible John
The Herald
January 14 2005
PHIL MILLER, Arts Correspondent
Full URL
<blockquote>SHANE MacGowan, the former lead singer of The Pogues, has found musical inspiration in one of Scotland's most infamous serial killers.
The singer, who is in Glasgow this weekend to perform at the Celtic Connections music festival, is writing a song about Bible John, the killer of three women in the late 1960s whose identity has eluded detectives.
MacGowan is currently writing the song, which will be called Bible John, so that it can appear on his next album after being told details of the case by his manager.
The singer and songwriter, whose most famous song is the Christmas hit, A Fairytale of New York, is a regular visitor to the city and has previously penned songs about his admiration for Glasgow and Celtic Football Club.
He could give the song its first public performance to-night at the Barrowland , the dancehall where Bible John preyed on his victims, although the co-writer, Joey Cashman, said it is far from complete.
Cashman, the former tour manager of The Pogues and MacGowan's personal manager, suggested the subject after being told about the details of the killings on a recent visit to the city.
The song will appear on the singer's next album with his new band, The Popes, with whom he is playing tonight.
Police believe the murders of Patricia Docker, 25, Jemima McDonald, 32, and Helen Puttock, 29, in Glasgow between 1968 and 1969 were committed by one man. The bodies were found after the women had been at the Barrowland ballroom, in the Gallowgate area. The case is still considered to be active by police.
The continuing search for the killer, named because he was said to quote from the Bible, was highlighted at Christmas when it was revealed a number of suspects from the original inquiry had been approached to give DNA samples.
Cashman said: "The song is still at the early development stage, and if it is good enough it will probably be on his next album and maybe part of the (live) set in the next couple of months.
"I came across the story by accident and researched it a bit and that's when I got Shane involved.
"I've worked with him for 19 years and it's the first song we've worked on together.
"Shane was interested be-cause of the killer's name, because the killer used to pick up his victims from the Barrowlands, and the fact that it all remains unsolved."
It will complete a loose trilogy of Glasgow-inspired songs. In April last year, MacGowan recorded Road To Paradise for Jimmy Johnstone, the ex-Celtic player who is suffering from motor neurone disease, and filmed the video for the single around pubs in the east end of the city.
The follow-up single, Tomorrow Belongs To Me, was also inspired by Glasgow.
John McLaughlin, another songwriter and collaborator with MacGowan, recently said: "I was amazed at Shane's knowledge of Glasgow. He even knew about the old gangs like the Tongs."
Cashman added that the singer knew about the killer. "I don't know how Shane will tell the story of Bible John, but I can say one thing – I think by his appearance and manner people think Shane is dim, but you look at many of his lyrics and he is obviously not."
</blockquote>
--------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2005 Newsquest (Herald & Times) Limited.
All Rights Reserved

[Zuzana]

Article of the same topic in the Times Online:

The Sunday Times - Ireland
January 16, 2005


Hackles were raised in Glasgow last week by the revelation that Shane MacGowan is writing a song about Bible John, Scotland’s most infamous serial killer.

An early version of the piece was to have been performed this weekend during a gig by MacGowan and the Popes at Barrowlands, the dancehall where Bible John — so-called because of his habit of quoting scripture — preyed on his female victims during the late 1960s. The search for the murderer, who is believed to have killed at least three women, continues. Only before Christmas, a number of suspects from the original inquiry were asked for DNA samples by Glasgow police.

As the case remains active, relatives of the victims have complained about MacGowan’s untimely promotion of a song which could be seen as glamorising the killer. However, some MacGowan fans are likely to be no less alarmed by the news that he’s co-writing the song with Joey Cashman, the former Pogues tour manager. Last year, a group of MacGowan’s friends and admirers, headed by his father Maurice, circulated a petition demanding that Cashman be dismissed from his role as McGowan’s “personal assistant” because of what they perceived as his undue influence.

But then MacGowan is not lacking in controversial mentors. He recently admitted a devotion to Christina Gallagher, the self-styled Marian visionary who claims that the Asian tsunami wouldn’t have happened if people in the affected countries had heeded her call to build their own “houses of prayer”, modelled on her Achill HQ.

There’s someone worth writing a song about.

© 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd.

[duncan disorderly]

- Nyah Fearties (from their site)
Lugton Loonie Show mp3

Scottish rock has never seen a band like the Fearties before or since.
From the mid eighties to the mid nineties they ploughed their own furrow through a feedback swamped, folk-punk minefield!!

Lugton Loonie Show
Another rarity! Believe it or not Radio Scotland let the Fearties loose on the radio in the late eighties with their own one-off "Lugton Loonie Show" There were interviews and live music including this version of "Bible John " from 'The Good, Bad and Alkies' single! Bible John was, of course Scotland's best known serial killer who's never been caught!
Barrassie is part of the Ayrshire coast whose beaches are where all the shite from the sewers ends up... "Oh Saltcoats you're the most, and I love your Jobbie coast!!!" This came out as a 7" single though this radio version is much