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
The Sun And The Moon
The Pogues Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And their ghosts can wait for the hereafter
But if you are so proud as to say that's not allowed
We will get sick and choke ourselves with laughter
Will have their sisters hanging from the rafters
And every dirty shade will rise rotting from its grave
Tomorrow will be just like the day after
Oh, and this bitter desert wind will come ripping through your skin
And everything that's calm will turn to madness
And all of your false tears will come whirling down the years
And what was kind and warm will turn to sadness
And the sun and the moon will come begging at your door
The stars will turn to rust and drop from the skies
And everybody soon will be asking you for more
And everybody will be telling lies
And the girlfriends that you knew to whom you promised to be true
Will have their sisters hanging from the rafters
And every dirty shade will rise rotting from its grave
Tomorrow will be just like the day after, yeah
By now the girlfriends that you knew to whom you promised to be true
Will have their sisters hanging from the rafters
And every dirty shade will rise rotting from its grave
Tomorrow will be just like the day after
Tomorrow will be just like the day after
Tomorrow will be just like the day after
Tomorrow, just like the day after
The Pogues' song "The Sun and the Moon" is an enigmatic and cryptic piece that seemingly tackles a variety of issues, from love and loyalty to the inevitability of death and the decay of life. At its core, however, the song seems to be a warning against pride and falsehood, and a call to embrace the transience of life and the uncertainty of the future.
The opening lines of the song introduce a sense of chaos and unpredictability, as the natural world is personified as snakes that crawl and cheetahs that bawl. The suggestion is that even in the face of this wildness, there is a kind of order, with ghosts waiting for the afterlife. However, the song warns against pride and the belief that certain kinds of behavior are off-limits. If one is too proud to recognize the chaos and impermanence of life, they will be met with laughter and an inability to breathe, choking on the sheer absurdity of their own hubris. The image of girlfriends with sisters hanging from the rafters is a particularly unsettling one, suggesting that even those close to us can be lost in the chaos.
As the song progresses, the chaos and decay become more pronounced, with dirty shades rising from their graves and a bitter, ripping desert wind. Ultimately, the song suggests that everything that is known and trusted will turn to madness and sadness, and that even the celestial bodies will beg at the door for mercy. The final repetition of the line "tomorrow will be just like the day after" drives home the idea that life is a cycle of repetition and decay, with no escape from the inevitable.
Overall, "The Sun and the Moon" is a haunting and powerful song that encourages reflection on the nature of life and the role of pride and falsehood in our lives. Rather than trying to impose order or control, the song suggests embracing the chaos and uncertainty of existence, even as everything around us falls apart.
Line by Line Meaning
The snakes they can crawl and the cheetahs they can bawl
There are creatures that can move and make noise in their own way
And their ghosts can wait for the hereafter
Even when they die, their spirits will linger until the afterlife
But if you are so proud as to say that's not allowed
If you are arrogant enough to deny this truth
We will get sick and choke ourselves with laughter
You will be so ridiculous that we will laugh until we become sick
And the girlfriends that you knew to whom you promised to be true
The women you once loved and pledged loyalty to
Will have their sisters hanging from the rafters
Their family members will come to harm or die
And every dirty shade will rise rotting from its grave
All the evil and darkness that has been buried will come back to haunt us
Tomorrow will be just like the day after
The endless repetition of our mistakes and failure to learn from them
Oh, and this bitter desert wind will come ripping through your skin
A metaphorical wind of pain and suffering will tear through your life
And everything that's calm will turn to madness
The peace and tranquility we thought we had will be destroyed by chaos
And all of your false tears will come whirling down the years
The lies and deception we use to hide our true emotions will eventually catch up to us
And what was kind and warm will turn to sadness
The goodness and love we once felt will be replaced by sorrow and despair
And the sun and the moon will come begging at your door
Even the powerful and majestic forces in the universe will be reduced to begging for mercy
The stars will turn to rust and drop from the skies
Even the brightest and most beautiful things in life will crumble and disappear
And everybody soon will be asking you for more
No matter how much you give, people will always demand more from you
And everybody will be telling lies
Deceit and falsehood will be the norm in society
Tomorrow will be just like the day after, yeah
A bleak outlook for the future
By now the girlfriends that you knew to whom you promised to be true
At this point in time, those women you once loved and swore loyalty to
Will have their sisters hanging from the rafters
Their loved ones will have been harmed or killed
Tomorrow will be just like the day after
The repetition of our mistakes and suffering will continue
Tomorrow will be just like the day after
Our future looks bleak and unchanging
Tomorrow, just like the day after
The endless cycle of our pain and struggle
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind