ScottishNews.com

20th Century Paddy – The Songs of Shane MacGowan will be played at Apostel, a new bar on the Gallowgate from the owners of Murphy’s in Glasgow’s Merchant City, on Wednesday 18 November.

The event will also feature live performances from musicians including Johnny Mac and The Faithful, led by Glasgow songwriter and producer John McLaughlin, who worked with MacGowan and has been involved with the new record.

It will take place five days after the 36-track album is released on 13 November. Glasgow musicians will be among the invited guests, Assai Records are also offering tickets to fans who pre-order the album, full details are here. 

20th Century Paddy brings together an extraordinary cast of musicians and famous admirers to reinterpret songs written by the late Pogues frontman.

Bruce Springsteen sings A Rainy Night in Soho, Hozier and Jessie Buckley take on Fairytale of New York, U2 have recorded Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah and Tom Waits performs Summer in Siam.

Other contributors include Bob Geldof, Steve Earle, Johnny Depp and Imelda May, Kate Moss, Damien Dempsey, Glen Hansard, David Gray, The Libertines, The Murder Capital, Lisa O’Neill and surviving members of The Pogues.

The record was developed by MacGowan’s wife Victoria Mary Clarke with Dublin label Rubyworks. Its title comes from an album MacGowan had himself wanted to make under the name 20th Century Paddy. At least half of the artists’ royalties will go to Dublin Simon Community, which works with people experiencing homelessness.

There is a strong Glasgow and west of Scotland presence on the project. Johnny Mac and The Faithful perform Fiesta, while Primal Scream have recorded A Pair of Brown Eyes and East Kilbride-formed The Jesus and Mary Chain contribute I’ll Be Your Handbag.

MacGowan originally wrote I’ll Be Your Handbag with The Jesus and Mary Chain in mind in the early 1990s, before recording it himself with The Popes for his 1994 album The Snake.

For McLaughlin, the project is also personal. The Glasgow songwriter, whose credits include songs for Westlife, McFly and other pop acts and whose band Johnny Mac and The Faithful has toured with Rod Stewart, became friends with MacGowan after inviting him to take part in a recording connected to Celtic’s Lisbon Lions.

MacGowan travelled to Glasgow to record with McLaughlin before appearing at Celtic Park the following day. The pair subsequently wrote together and remained friends.

MacGowan’s widow Victoria Mary Clarke later recalled that her husband “loved working and spending time with John” and regarded performing with him at Celtic Park as one of his proudest moments.

McLaughlin has since toured his For the Love of Shane MacGowan show, mixing performances of songs including A Pair of Brown Eyes, The Body of an American and A Rainy Night in Soho with stories from their friendship and time together in Glasgow.

The choice of the Gallowgate for the album celebration is fitting. Few cities outside Ireland developed a relationship with The Pogues quite like Glasgow did during the band’s rise in the 1980s.

The Pogues first played Glasgow at Queen Margaret Union in 1985. Their subsequent shows at the Barrowland Ballroom became part of the band’s mythology.

On 17 December 1987, during a three-night Barrowland run, The Pogues performed Fairytale of New York live for the first time. Kirsty MacColl walked on stage to join MacGowan, marking the first time she had performed the song with the band in concert.

Producer Steve Lillywhite recorded the performance from the mixing desk. The historic recording was eventually restored and released decades later.

It was one of a succession of Pogues nights in Glasgow that helped forge a lasting connection between the group and the city.

MacGowan, born on Christmas Day 1957, formed The Pogues in London in 1982 and became one of the most distinctive songwriters of his generation, combining Irish traditional music with punk while writing about migration, drinking, love, poverty, politics and life on the margins.

Albums including Red Roses for Me, Rum Sodomy & the Lash and If I Should Fall from Grace with God established The Pogues internationally. MacGowan died on 30 November 2023 at the age of 65.

20th Century Paddy now brings together a galaxy of top musicians from different generations who were influenced by his songs, ranging from Springsteen, Waits and U2 to some of the most prominent names in contemporary Irish music.

Ahead of the release of the new record, Bruce Springsteen said: “Every once in a while, every once in a great while an artist comes along whose voice seems to speak to history itself. Woody Guthrie, Jimmy Rogers, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Miles Davis, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Coltrane, Patti Smith, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, John Lydon, Hank Williams, Sinatra.

“Geniuses all, they were both timeless and the embodiment of their moment in time. Many, unsurprisingly, led difficult lives not easily bound by the shackles of convention. They were natural rebels unable to stifle or heed the impulses that led them to their glory and personal hardships. Great art is by nature lawless. We do not get to choose our obsessions. We do not get to dictate our blessings or our transgressions. It’s a little joke the gods play on us.

“Shane’s voice was so deeply real, profane and honest, his writing so flashing, alive and historically rich its genesis appeared as a mystery to all including, I believe, its creator. The dangerous joy, the glee and courage, the humor in the face of fate, the wild ramble of a life driven towards the artistic heavens and the daily balm of self obliteration. Shane was all naked bottomless humanity. Threatening to force us to ask ourselves if we were living deeply, authentically. He was raw, hilarious, no apologies and profound. His soul was filled with the transgressive and ecstatic properties of the saints.

“I don’t know who’ll be listening to my music in 100 years but I know they’ll be listening to Shane’s. Though I did not know Shane very well, I spent a lovely afternoon in his presence shortly before he passed. He was not well but he and his wife Victoria proved warm and gracious hosts. As I left, I thanked him for his beautiful work, his music, his songs, his life. I stood in his warmth, kissed him and told him I loved him.”