Al compas del mundo - programa #106 - Homage to Sean MacGowan, leader of The Pogues, Ireland – rest in peace

As one wag noted: “It’s a miracle he lasted this long.” Sean MacGowan, chief maniac and driving spirit of The Pogues is no more. At age 65 his body and brain had had enough. Years of alcohol abuse and then a heroin habit exacted their retribution despite having cleaned up in later years. Though not before he wrote and sang any number of deepfelt paeans dedicated to the themes he believed in: unbridled hedonism; liberty for an Irish republic; the winsome smirk of an unbridledly hedonistic lassy; and the glorious history of ol’ Ireland, even when it wasn’t so glorious. I’ve not read whether he uttered any profound last words or raised a fist in heroic gesture. I’m confident, though, that he reached out for The Church’s blessing on his death bed. Unlike John Paul Sartre who converted to Catholicism in the parting moments of his life (hedging his bets…does that count?), Sean was a life-long believer, surprisingly enough. MacGowan gave us the good counsel that when choosing between a philosopher and a musician, always opt for the one that had the most fun. Sean MacGowan lived a life.

This is taken from a report in The Catholic Herald.

“…the funeral of Shane MacGowan, recently departed singer, songwriter and much beloved Irish balladeer, felt so familiar. Because it was so much like a wake. More wake than funeral. There was singing and dancing, great merriment, and eulogies till the cows come home. Parish Priest of Nenagh in the Diocese of Killaloe, Fr Pat Gilbert, talked of the ‘poet, lyricist, singer, trailblazer’ repeatedly in his homily, and how the recently deceased ‘connected the cultural, the sociological, the spiritual, the physical and the metaphysical into a coherent translation of what was happening all around us’. This may have been somewhat hyperbolic, but it is also part of the tradition in Ireland to exaggerate the positives and forget the flaws as we send the departed to their final resting place.” - J.H.

Runlist for Homage to Sean MacGowan, leader of The Pogues, Ireland – Rest in Peace -
First broadcast 12-14-23.

01 If I Should Fall from Grace with God

02 Boys from the County Hell

03 Poor Paddy

04 Young Ned of the Hill

05 The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn

06 Sea Shanty

07 Fairytale of New York

08 White City

09 Dark Streets of London

10 Streets of Sorrow - Birmingham Six

11 Transmetropolitan

12 Greenland Whale Fisheries

13 Misty Morning, Albert Bridge

14 Waxie's Dargle

15 Thousands Are Sailing

16 Streams of Whiskey

17 Sally MacLennane

18 The Parting Glass

A funeral element that touched me especially was Spider Spacy’s singing of Parting Glass, the last bit in this list. You wont find a song more heartfelt. The Pogues were a messenger for me. Opened up vistas. We made a wake of the funeral, mostly because we were already at another Irishman's funeral here. The air is filled with the songs. The past is being removed by the new. But the past is never dead [as Faulkner said] – “It’s not even past.”- J.V. 

Closing with words of aspirational: Recalling the great Irish poet Shane MacGowan's words:

 

Been in a palace, I've been in a jail

I just don't want to be reborn a snail

I just want to spend eternity

Right where I am, on the Sunnyside of the Street.

 ~&^%~