If I Should Fall From Grace...
Good morning to all,
hope your day is going well.
Hmm.... with a title like this, what could be the topic? A personal tribulation? Pat Robertson's most recent and goofy, nutball comments? Nah, this one is going to be about a band called the Pogues, and their frontman Shane MacGowan! I woke this morning, turned on the television, and had the luck to find a documentary on the Sundance Channel called "If I Should Fall From Grace". Great stuff!! Here it is January, and it has me longing for St. Patrick's Day already, the Pogues in their uniquely Irish via London way dragged my attention to the interview and performance clips. Some songs just energetically entertaining, some downright beautiful when delivered with the tortured and perhaps beer-soaked vocals of ol' Shane. I challenge anyone to listen to songs like "Rainy Night in Soho", or "Summer in Siam", and not find the beauty in them immediately.
As you watch the documentary, you're taken aback a bit by Shane MacGowan's slurred speech, as well as his dwindling number of teeth, and potential for health problems, but one interview segment with him later, you're on his side, hoping he does well, impressed and smiling at his apparent wit and intelligence, a toothless grin and funny laugh later and you're a fan, a song later and most will probably be wondering why they haven't heard of The Pogues sooner. They're a talented lot, and the heart of a poet resides in their frontman.
If you have a chance to see the documentary or to listen to some of their music, I highly recommend it. Take my challenge and seek out those two songs I mentioned, I'll bet you'll like what you hear. If you do, let me know what you thought, good or bad.... I can take it. *LOL
To Shane MacGowan, I wish a long life filled with good music and people who care about him. To band members of The Pogues, I'd wish they would know they've earned and maintained the respect of one more person across the Atlantic.
Have a good day everybody, and thanks for taking the time to read this stuff!
posted by NYC @ 1/08/2006 07:58:00 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
hey ny
the pogues ive been af fan some 20 yrs i saw them live in a dublin club thinking we were going to see a kaley band lol
when sean came out howd you get a punk rocker fronting kaley it worked, his voice comes from 3 bottles of jack daniels & vodka a day his teeth were not kissed out
a couple of my favs are "dirty old town" & "Fairy tale of new york" with Kirsty Macoll
you want to try and get the double cd The Pouges the ultimate collection, its got most of there best music on it. if you cant get it let me know i will send it
all the best dan
Hi Dan,
Sure musta been great having a chance to see them play live, especially live in Ireland! Now, if you tell me it was in a corner pub, with good fresh Guinness being served (and poured correctly of course), I'll keel over with envy. *LOL
I believe location lends alot to any performance, I've seen lots of good bands in the dirtiest, ugliest old clubs, but it was that which lended itself to the overall feel of the performance. Anyone can go see a band play at some sort of EnormoDome stadium complex or the sort, but it's the small club shows that sure make the performance feel more personal.
Those two songs you mentioned are good ones. As a matter of fact, if that "Fairy Tale of New York" is the one I'm thinking of, it's one of the songs I wanted to mention in my blog entry, but I couldn't remember the female vocalist's name nor the title to look it up. I'll have to do some checking now for lyrics so I can see if it's that one elusive song I've been thinkin' of, it was one of the last songs on the documentary and it was sure great... truly "lump in the throat" kinda stuff when you hear the mix between the sweet voice of the female vocalist, and the straight out of the bar voice of ol' Shane.
I wrote down the name of that double CD you mentioned, next time I'm out at the CD shop I'll be certain to take a look for it. I'm on my way to Google it, so I can see which songs it has.
You're probably right about the 3 bottles of Jack Daniels & Vodka when it comes to Shane MacGowan, I was tryin to let him off easy with the "beer-soaked" vocals comment. *LOL
Thanks for sending the comment, I sure enjoy talking about music, any kind really, but good music especially. (as you can probably tell by my ramblin' on in my reply. *LOL
Have a good day out there,
take good care, my friend,
GC
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