LAST UPDATE | 30 Nov 2023
TRIBUTES HAVE POURED in for influential musician Shane MacGowan, who passed away today at age 65.
He is best-known for being frontman of celtic-punk band The Pogues, who had hits such as Dirty Old Town and Fairytale of New York.
Spider Stacy, a member of The Pogues, paid tribute to his old bandmate tonight, calling his passing an “enormous” loss.
Stacy told Ray Kennedy on RTÉ One’s Nine O’Clock News programme that having known Shane for “over 45 years”, he was still coming to terms with the news.
He said his songwriting showed intelligence and “empathy for people”, while capturing the “bleak” and “joyous” of London life simultaneously.
“It’s a funny thing, the way that the band started,” he recalled, “we were around a friend’s house one day and Shane started playing Poor Paddy on the Railway on acoustic guitar, banging it out in a really mad, fast, punk rock version…it was like this light bulb went off over our heads.”
‘O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done..’ pic.twitter.com/YnkreXRmYB
— Spider Stacy (@spiderstacy) November 30, 2023
In a statement today, President Michael D. Higgins described MacGowan as “one of music’s greatest lyricists”.
“So many of his songs would be perfectly crafted poems, if that would not have deprived us of the opportunity to hear him sing them,” he said.
“The genius of Shane’s contribution includes the fact that his songs capture within them, as Shane would put it, the measure of our dreams – of so many worlds, and particularly those of love, of the emigrant experience and of facing the challenges of that experience with authenticity and courage, and of living and seeing the sides of life that so many turn away from.
“His words have connected Irish people all over the globe to their culture and history, encompassing so many human emotions in the most poetic of ways.”
President Higgins also paid tribute to MacGowan’s mother folk singer Therese, who died in 2017, but “inspired in Shane the love of Irish music and traditions”.
MacGowan’s birthday, Christmas Day, Higgins said, suggests it was “some form of destiny which led Shane to writing Fairytale of New York”.
The President presented MacGowan with a lifetime achievement award in 2018 to mark MacGowan’s 60th birthday.
The CEO of the National Concert Hall Robert Read today said the award was “richly deserved”.
“His love of Irish literature, history and poetry was boundless and he channelled this into his unique talent for crafting timeless songs which capture the richness and complexity of the human experience. We will not see his like again.”
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar took to X to express his condolences.
“Sorry to hear that Shane McGowan has passed,” he wrote. “He was an amazing musician and artist. His songs beautifully captured the Irish experience, especially the experience of being Irish abroad.”
He lived briefly in Tipperary as a young child before the family moved back to England when he was six.
In his career, he was heavily influenced by bands like The Clash and others in the emerging British punk scene of the 1970s, as well as by his Irish heritage.
Sorry to hear that Shane McGowan has passed. He was an amazing musician and artist. His songs beautifully captured the Irish experience, especially the experience of being Irish abroad: Shane MacGowan, Fairytale of New York singer, dies aged 65https://t.co/eNmP7AySfW
— Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) November 30, 2023
Tanáiste Micheál Martin paid tribute to MacGowan in the Dáil today.
“I want to express my deepest sympathies to the wife and family of Shane MacGowan,” he said.
“An iconic musician who I think blended many different musical disciplines and genres … Ar dheis de go raibh a anam.”
Fans around the world have shared their favourite songs and memories from the frontman on social media.
Minister for the Arts Catherine Martin said he was one of the country’s greatest songwriters and performers.
“From the Pogues first gigs in Ireland at venues like the National Stadium, McGonagles and the Olympic Ballroom, his charismatic performances energised and enthralled Irish audiences.
“His ability in particular to capture the Irish emigrant experience in Britain, echoing the literary work of writers such as John Healy whose book The Grass Arena dealt with similar themes, was especially remarkable.”
The Pogues issued a statement on X, formerly Twitter, confirming their former singer died at 3am this morning with his wife and family by his side.
“Prayers and the last rites were read which gave comfort to his family,” the statement added.
“He is survived by his wife Victoria, his sister Siobhan and his father, Maurice, family and a large circle of friends.”
MacGowan and Victoria celebrated their wedding anniversary at the weekend.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald described McGowan as a “dedicated Republican and proud Irishman”.
“Ireland has lost one of its most beloved icons and the world one of its greatest songwriters,” she said.
Ireland has lost one of its greatest and most beloved musical icons.
— Mary Lou McDonald (@MaryLouMcDonald) November 30, 2023
Shane MacGowan was a poet, dreamer and social justice champion. He was a republican and a proud Irish man.
Nobody told the Irish story like Shane. He sang to us of dreams and captured stories of emigration... pic.twitter.com/CAhaLJrdwu
“Shane was a poet, a dreamer and a champion of social justice,” McDonald continued.
“Nobody told the Irish story like Shane – stories of emigration, heartache, dislocation, redemption, love and joy.”
Gerry Adams also commented on the death of his “good friend” who he saw when he was released from hospital last Wednesday.
“I have been a fan of Shane for decades. He came to west Belfast on several occasions to play at Féile an Phobail.
“Ireland has lost a great patriot, a poet and friend of the downtrodden and marginalised.”
Holly Cairns, leader of the Social Democrats, also extended her party’s sympathies and noted MacGowan’s “legacy of iconic music”.
Lord Mayor of Dublin Daithí de Róiste has opened an online Book of Condolence for the citizens of Dublin to extend their sympathies to the family.
The Mansion House will also be open for people to pay their respects from 2pm to 5pm today, and Friday and Saturday between 11am and 5pm.
Additional reporting by Eoghan Dalton
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