The Pogues were founded in King's Cross, a district in north London, in 1982 as Pogue Mahone - "pogue mahone" being the Anglicisation of the Irish póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse". The band specialised in Irish folk music, often playing with the energy of the punk rock scene from which several of the members had their roots.
Their politically-tinged music was reminiscent of The Clash, with whom they played (Joe Strummer produced one of their albums and even joined the group briefly), and used traditional Irish instruments such as the tin whistle, banjo, cittern, mandolin, accordion, and more. In the later incarnations of the band, after the departure of Shane MacGowan, electronic instruments such as the electric guitar would become more prominent. The first of The Pogues' albums, Red Roses for Me, borrows much from the punk tradition of MacGowan's previous band The Nipple Erectors (later dubbed The Nips).
Band history
Shane MacGowan (vocals), James Fearnley (accordion) and Spider Stacy (tin whistle) were the original members of the Pogues, in the days when they busked on the streets of London. Before the rest of the group formed, MacGowan and Stacy were rumoured to have played impromptu performances on street corners and city buses which attracted local interest to their talent. They later added Jeremy 'Jem' Finer (guitar, banjo), Cait O'Riordan (bass) and Andrew Ranken (drums). The band rapidly developed a reputation, started releasing independent work, and ended up opening for The Clash on tour in 1984. Shortening their name to "The Pogues" due to lack of radio play for the curse in their name, they released their first album Red Roses for Me that October.
Phil Chevron (guitar) joined the group soon after, then with the aid of punk and new wave forefather Elvis Costello they recorded the follow up, Rum Sodomy & the Lash, in 1985 (The album title is a famous comment attributed, probably falsely, to Winston Churchill and others in describing the traditions of the British Royal Navy). The album cover featured The Raft of the Medusa, though the faces on the characters in Géricault's painting have been replaced with those of the band members. While the first album had featured a higher percentage of traditional songs, Shane MacGowan came into his own as a songwriter with this disc, offering up poetic story-telling, such as "The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn" and "The Old Main Drag," as well as definitive interpretations of Ewan MacColl's "Dirty Old Town" and Eric Bogle's "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda," the latter of which has become more popular than the original recording.
The band failed to take advantage of the momentum created by the strong artistic and commercial success of their second album. They first refused to record another album (offering up the 4 track EP Poguetry in Motion instead); O'Riordan married Costello and left the band, to be replaced by bassist Darryl Hunt; and they added a multi-instrumentalist in Terry Woods, formerly of Steeleye Span. Looming over the band at this period (as throughout their entire career) was the increasingly erratic behaviour of their vocalist, principal songwriter and creative visionary, Shane MacGowan.
Success & breakup
The band remained stable enough to record If I Should Fall from Grace with God in 1988 (with its Christmas hit duet with Kirsty MacColl "Fairytale of New York") and 1989's Peace and Love. The band was at the peak of its commercial success, with both albums making the top 5 in the UK (nos. 3 and 5 respectively), but MacGowan was spiralling out of control. Following their next album, Hell's Ditch, MacGowan and the band parted company in 1991.
With his departure, the band was thrown into a state of flux. Without their singer, vocal duties were for a time handled by Joe Strummer, before Stacy finally took over permanently. Two politely received albums followed, the first of which, Waiting for Herb, contained the band's third and final top twenty single, "Tuesday Morning" which became their best selling single internationally. In 1996, the Pogues disbanded with just three members remaining.
Post breakup
Shane MacGowan founded Shane MacGowan and The Popes in 1994. They recorded two studio albums in the period up to their split in 2002. MacGowan's autobiography, A Drink With Shane MacGowan, co-written with his journalist girlfriend Victoria Mary Clarke, appeared in 2001. During this time the three other long-term members of the Pogues (Spider Stacy, Andrew Ranken and Darryl Hunt) played together briefly as the Vendettas.
Reunion
The band, including MacGowan, re-formed for a Christmas tour in 2001 and performed 9 shows in the UK in December [2004]. In 2002 Q magazine named The Pogues as one of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die". Also in December 2004, VH1 Conducted a poll to find the best Christmas song ever, with "Fairytale of New York" coming number one with 2,650 of the 10,000 votes cast - over 25%. In early 2005, VH1 conducted another poll to find the 100 greatest number ones that never Were, With The Pogues coming in at number 27.
In July 2005, the band - again including MacGowan - played at the annual Guilfest festival in Guildford before flying out to Japan where they played three dates. Japan is the last place they all played together before MacGowan was originally sacked in 1991, and they have a strong following there. They played a date in Spain in early September. The reunited Pogues played dates in the UK with support from the Dropkick Murphys in late 2005, and re-released their 1987 Christmas classic "Fairytale Of New York" on 19th December, which went straight in at #3 in the UK Singles charts on Christmas Day 2005, showing the song's enduring popularity. On December 22nd 2005 the BBC broadcast a live performance (recorded the previous week) on the Jonathan Ross Christmas show with Katie Melua. "Fairytale of New York" was voted the greatest Christmas Record of all time for the second year running in a poll by UK Music Channel VH1, with "Fairytale of New York" taking in a whopping 39% of the overall vote.
The band was awarded the life-time achievement award at the annual Meteor Ireland Music Awards in February 2006.
In March 2011, the Pogues played a six-city/ten-show sell-out US tour titled "A Parting Glass with The Pogues". In August 2012, The Pogues undertook a 30th Anniversary European Tour.
Discography
Albums
Red Roses for Me - 1984, #89 UK
Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash - 1985, #13 UK
Poguetry in Motion (EP) - 1986, #29
If I Should Fall from Grace with God - 1988, #3 UK, #88 US
Peace and Love - 1989, #5 UK
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah (EP) - 1990, #43 UK
Hell's Ditch - 1990, #11 UK
Waiting for Herb - 1993, #20 UK
Pogue Mahone - 1996
The Best of The Pogues - 1991, #11 UK
The Rest of the Best - 1992
The Very Best of The Pogues - 2001, #18
The Ultimate Collection including Live at the Brixton Academy - 2001, #15 UK
Dirty Old Town: The Platinum Collection
Lorca
The Pogues Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A single red rose clutched in a dying hand
The women wept to see their hero die
And the big black birds gathered in the sky
Mother of all our joys
Mother of all our sorrows
Intercede with him tonight
The years went by and then the killers came
And took the men and marched them up the hill of pain
And Lorca, the faggot poet they left till last
Blew his brains out with a pistol up his arse
Mother of all our joys
Mother of all our sorrows
Intercede with him tonight
For all of our tomorrows
The killers came to mutilate the dead
But ran away in terror to search the town instead
But Lorca's corpse, as he had prophesied, just walked away
And the only sound was the women in the chapel praying
Mother of all our joys
Mother of all our sorrows
Intercede with him tonight
For all of our tomorrows
The Pogues' song Lorca's Novena tells the story of two tragic incidents that happened during the Spanish Civil War. The first verse describes the death of Ignacio Sánchez Mejías, a famous bullfighter, who was killed by a bull in the bullring. The women mourn at his deathbed, while birds gather in the sky. The second verse talks about the execution of the poet Federico García Lorca. The killers took all the men in the village and marched them up the "hill of pain." Lorca was the last one to be killed, and he shot himself in the anus with a pistol. His corpse was mutilated, but according to legend, it walked away from the site of the execution.
The chorus is a prayer to Mary, who is the mother of both joy and sorrows. The lyrics ask her to intercede with the dead, both Ignacio and Lorca, for a better future. The song mourns the loss of two heroes, who represent different aspects of Spanish culture. Ignacio symbolizes the tradition of bullfighting, while Lorca represents the world of arts and letters. The song suggests that the Spanish Civil War was not just about politics, but also about culture, and that the brutality of the conflict destroyed both traditional and modern aspects of Spanish identity.
Line by Line Meaning
Ignacio lay dying in the sand
Ignacio was dying on the ground at the beach
A single red rose clutched in a dying hand
In his hand was a single red rose that was held tightly
The women wept to see their hero die
The women cried as they saw their hero pass away
And the big black birds gathered in the sky
Meanwhile, large black birds started to gather up high
Mother of all our joys
Mother Mary, who is the source of all our happiness
Mother of all our sorrows
Mother Mary, who is the source of all our pains
Intercede with him tonight
Request on our behalf for his intervention tonight
For all of our tomorrows
For every day to come
The years went by and then the killers came
Years had passed before the killers arrived
And took the men and marched them up the hill of pain
They grabbed the men and forced them up the torturous hill
And Lorca, the faggot poet they left till last
Lorca, the gay poet, was saved for last by the killers
Blew his brains out with a pistol up his arse
He used a pistol to blow his brains out via his butt
The killers came to mutilate the dead
The butchers arrived to mutilate the lifeless corpses
But ran away in terror to search the town instead
Ultimately, they fled in fear, searching elsewhere in the town
But Lorca's corpse, as he had prophesied, just walked away
However, Lorca's body just got up and walked away like he had predicted
And the only sound was the women in the chapel praying
The sole audio was that of the female devotees praying in the chapel
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: SHANE MACGOWAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@andrwaz1
That punk's either in love with that guys daughter or he has a new found respect for life!
@makvande576
BECAUSE I'M EITHER IN LOVE WITH DEBBIE OR I HAVE A NEWFOUND RESPECT FOR LIFE
@tinynuggins1029
Popcorn!
@michellel.6001
10 years!!! 10 years!!!! Teeeeennnn yeeeeaaaarrrrsss!!!!
@th3highwayman
Either he's in love with that guy's daughter, or he has a new found respect for life.
@MizRoo
Jesus Christ, perfect 😆
@deedeldeedle
Or maybe an irish junkie writing a latin dirge like none other
@CraicDealer
I love Shane and the Pogues, this is probably my favourite Pogues song, tbh. Such an underrated album. Got me into Lorcas writing too. To think people still call Shane a homophobe cos he used the word "faggot". Genuinely one of the greatest songwriters of all time, sadly a lot of people won't appreciate him until he's gone
@AndyB1286
I think Shane meant the word "faggot" in a dual sense here. Partly he was using the language of the late 1980s, but he was also criticising the Nationalists who used words like that in the 1930s, when they were going after Lorca and their other enemies.
@gerardduffy3495
A very liberal man. Some hear a word and freak without realizing what context it's being used. A poet