I could fill this thread with the lyrics of Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan at the moment…
One summer evening drunk to hell
I stood there nearly lifeless
An old man in the corner sang
Where the water lilies grow
And on the jukebox johnny sang
About a thing called love
And its how are you kid and whats your name
And how would you bloody know?
In blood and death neath a screaming sky
I lay down on the ground
And the arms and legs of other men
Were scattered all around
Some cursed, some prayed, some prayed then cursed
Then prayed and bled some more
And the only thing that I could see
Was a pair of brown eyes that was looking at me
But when we got back, labeled parts one to three
There was no pair of brown eyes waiting for me
And a rovin, a rovin, a rovin I’ll go
For a pair of brown eyes
I looked at him he looked at me
All I could do was hate him
While Ray and Philomena sang
Of my elusive dream
I saw the streams, the rolling hills
Where his brown eyes were waiting
And I thought about a pair of brown eyes
That waited once for me
So drunk to hell I left the place
Sometimes crawling sometimes walking
A hungry sound came across the breeze
So I gave the walls a talking
And I heard the sounds of long ago
From the old canal
And the birds were whistling in the trees
Where the wind was gently laughing
And a rovin, a rovin, a rovin I’ll go
A rovin, a rovin, a rovin I’ll go
And a rovin, a rovin, a rovin I’ll go
For a pair of brown eyes
For a pair of brown eyes
And a rovin, a rovin, a rovin I’ll go
And a rovin, a rovin, a rovin I’ll go
And a rovin, a rovin, a rovin I’ll go
For a pair of brown eyes
For a pair of brown eyes
It has been covered loads of times, but I am suprised you didn’t know the Pogues version as the original, it was on Rum Sodomy and the Lash, their most succesful (and arguably) best album I have the Christy Moore cover (He always credited Shane MacGowan at gigs) and also a version by Cat Power
I heard Cait O’Riordan interviewed years ago and she said that she was having Rainy Night in Soho played at her funeral as it was the ‘finest love song ever written’
Although she may be a bit biased as she left home at 16 and was living in various hostels in Soho, until she went into a record shop, bought a Nips single, MacGowan was working at the shop and sold it to her and asked if she wanted to be in his band, so she would have known Soho pretty well.
It’s the way he tells a story, sets a scene with incredible economy. And devastation is often twinned with an upbeat melody, or countered with hope in the lyrics. He could also deliver those songs with extraordinary power. Something to do with his phrasing and his worn out voice. Other’s songs too!
There’s a guy on my block, he lives for rock
He plays records day and night
And when he feels down, he puts some rock ‘n’ roll on
And it makes him feel all right
And when he feels the world is closing in
He turns his stereo way up high
He just spends his life, living in a rock ‘n’ roll fantasy
He just spends his life, living on the edge of reality
Your back’s against the wall
There’s no-one home to call
You’re forgetting who you are
You can’t stop crying
It’s part not giving in
And part trusting your friends
You do it all again
You don’t stop trying