Irish musician, writer, poet, singer-songwriter, artist Shane MacGowanleader of The Pogues, died this Thursday at the age of 65, after a life of excess guided by the spirit of punk and his love for culture, from which he embraced figures as diverse as Johnny Rotten, James Joyce and Federico García Lorca. Neither his ramshackle teeth, nor his babbling in recent years, nor his fragile physical and mental health, nor his chaotic alcohol-fueled performances will be able to overshadow MacGowan’s enormous contribution to music in his farewell.

The NME magazine included him in 2006 on the list of 50 “rock heroes” and Joe Strummerof The Clash and one of his godfathers in his beginnings in the London “underground” of the late 70s, came to define him as one of the best writers of the last century, at the level of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan or Tom Waits. Despite his mobility problems, MacGowan was still seen in recent times on the streets and bars of Dublin, usually in the company of Victoria Mary Clarke, his inseparable companion, caregiver, representative for decades and wife since 2018, with whom he lived. in the Irish capital.

Lorca’s lover

It was not unusual to see him with a pint of Guinness at the bar of the Clarence Hotel pub, from the band U2, where his friends Bono and The Edge had a room reserved for him, and where he was always willing to chat with anyone about music, literature or history. And if that anyone was Spanish, he would not take long to mention Almería, Barcelona, ​​the Civil War, Franco, fascism or, of course, his admired lorca, trying to organize memories in a mind much more agile than the mouth. The Granada poet inspired him to compose the song ‘Lorca’s Novena’from the album ‘Hell’s Ditch’ of The Pogues, whose texts he discovered while recording the delirious film ‘Straight to Hell’ (1987) in Spain.

His personal life

Born in the English county of Kent of emigrant parents, MacGowan soon drank in traditional Celtic music from his mother Therese, a folk singer, while from his father Maurice he inherited the typical Dublin wit and grace. He also spent long vacation periods during his childhood in the Irish county of Tipperary with maternal relatives, where he delved even more into the native folk in order to form The Pogues, before passing through punk, rock, etc… An avid reader as a child, with references such as James Joyce and Dostoyevsky, never stood out at school, where he already showed the punk rebellion that accompanied him throughout his life and a talent for letters.

At only 13 years old he won a Daily Mirror tabloid literary award and a scholarship to Westminster Academy, from which he was expelled for smoking. The explosion of punk caught him with 18 years in Londonthe ideal place to expand a taste for music that ranged from the Beatles, the Stones, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Buffalo Springfield, Cream or Jimi Hendrix.

Your professional career

Finally, he channeled all his talent into training The Pogues in 1982, creating a new and unique sound by mixing the folk and punkfirst very popular with the young Irish diaspora in London, until later achieving international recognition with their first album “Red Roses for Me” (1984).

This work was followed by six other studio albums, ‘Rum Sodomy & the Lash’ (1985), ‘If I Should Fall from Grace with God’ (1988), ‘Peace and Love’ (1989), ‘Hell’s Ditch’ ( 1990), ‘Waiting for Herb’ (1993) and ‘Pogue Mahone’ (1996), although the group really came to life in live concerts, unpredictable and chaotic at times due to MacGowan’s volatile character. His health, however, began to seriously deteriorate around 2010 and from then on he was forced to abandon the stage, becoming confined to a wheelchair in recent years.

In 2018, Ireland paid him a well-deserved tribute on his 60th birthday, with a legendary concert at the National Concert Hall in Dublin in which, among others, Bono (U2), Sinéad O’Connor, Nick Cave and Glen Hansard participated. At that event, the Irish president, Michael D. Higgins, presented him with an award for his professional career, in which he stood out not only as a singer, but also as a musician, composer and poet. MacGowan would have turned 66 next Christmas Day, during a festive period in which he will play his legendary song again this year with more meaning. ‘Fairy Tale of New York’played alongside the late Kristy McCall.