Shane MacGowan, the late frontman and songwriter of The Pogues is being remembered as one of the best lyricists in the English language and as a stalwart supporter of Irish music and culture.
MacGowan passed away Wednesday following a lengthy illness at the age of 65.
Kevin Evans of Evans and Doherty and the Irish Rovers, performed with Shane MacGowan in 2009 at a New York concert filmed for posterity as Liam Clancy and Friends, Live at the Bitter End.
Evans was recruited to play the banjo after members of the Pogues couldn’t be located before the concert. He jokes that the banjo served as a beacon for MacGowan who was famous for his drunken exploits.
Photo via Twitter
“So the banjo was pretty much the brightest instrument on the stage. When the light shone across it…Shane was able to navigate towards the stage pretty easily.”
Wild reputation aside, Evans says MacGowan was a world-class songwriter who stands among the best lyricists and poetry writers in the English language.
“He was very articulate in his Irishness” says Evans. “He could write a song, that, with modern lyrics and modern thoughts, that, if you weren’t paying attention to the words too much, it would have sounded like it was written 200 years ago.”
An Irish musician who now calls Newfoundland home says the music community has been “rattled” by the passing of Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan.
Rowan Sherlock says the Pogues transformed traditional Irish music with a strong punk influence, but MacGowan’s true brilliance shone through with his songwriting.
“His strength was the lyrics,” says Sherlock, “it was the feeling and the emotion behind his lyrics, and how he delivered them on stage and in the studio…is what grabbed everyone’s attention and made him so famous.”
