Pod Insights DISGRACELAND Shane MacGowan: Outsiders, Underdogs, and Christmas Eve in the Drunk Tank About this episode Shane MacGowan lived his life as an outsider. He was an Irishman living in England, a troublemaking jug-eared punk with rotten teeth and a voracious appetite for drugs and alcohol. And with his band, The Pogues, he created a powerful synthesis of the traditional music of his homeland and a modern punk attitude. It was this gift for melding the sacred with the profane that led to the creation of one of the finest and most unique Christmas songs ever: "Fairytale of New York."
What are your favorite Christmas songs? Let Jake know at 617-906-6638, [email protected] mailto:[email protected] , or on socials @disgracelandpod.
This episode was originally published on December 10, 2024.
To listen to Disgraceland ad free and get access to weekly bonus content and more, become a Disgraceland All Access member at disgracelandpod.com/membership https://disgracelandpod.com/membership.
Sign up for our newsletter and get the inside dirt on events, merch and other awesomeness - GET THE NEWSLETTER https://mailchi.mp/doubleelvis/disgraceland-email-newsletter
Follow Jake and DISGRACELAND:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/disgracelandpod/
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@disgracelandpod
X https://twitter.com/disgracelandpod (formerly Twitter)
Facebook Fan Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/491024204626127/
TikTok https://tiktok.com/disgracelandpod
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:01 Speaker 00 This is exactly right.
0:13 Speaker 01 Cash Flow Crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.
0:43 Speaker 02 Network freedom and flexibility, that's what you want in a health care plan. With a Humana Medicare Advantage PPO plan, you can see any doctor in the country who accepts Medicare, including specialists. No referrals, no kidding. Learn more at gethumana.com. See any doctor who accepts Medicare and is willing to build Humana. Humana PPOs may not be available in all areas. Benefits and costs share may vary. Humana is a Medicare Advantage PPO organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal.
1:14 Jake Brennan? Disgrace Land is a production of Double Elvis.
1:31 Jake Brennan? This is the story of an underdog, and it's the story of a drug-dealing juvenile, an acid-eating Irish drunk, and a rivalry with Elvis. It's the story of Shane MacGowan, but it's also the story of one of maybe the greatest Christmas songs ever written: great music.
1:53 Jake Brennan? Unlike that music I played for you at the top of the show, that wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from my Mellotron called "No Teeth, All Soul, MK1." I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights to "Moni Moni" by Billy Idol. And why would I play you that specific slice of fist-clenching, fist-pumping, finger-pointing cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was the number-one song in America on November 23rd, 1987. And that was the day the Pogues released their single "Fairy Tale of New York," an unorthodox Christmas song, co-written by a man born on Christmas Day,
2:35 Jake Brennan? and a song that served as a turning point, both good and bad, for Shane MacGowan. On this episode, an underdog's tale, acid-eating drunk madness, a rivalry with Elvis, and Shane MacGowan. I'm Jake Brennan, in this East Disgraceland.
3:25 Jake Brennan? Do you hear what I hear? Sleigh bells ringing, yuletide carolers singing? It's that time again, the Christmas season, which means it's Christmas song season. Songs that are everywhere, songs that have been everywhere for weeks already. And listen, I love Christmas songs as much as the next guy, but for some of you psychopaths, you've been decking the halls since the annual thawing of Mariah Carey began way back before Halloween.
3:57 Jake Brennan? Now, if you think we are obsessed with Christmas music here in the United States, across the pond, they have an entire singles chart dedicated to it. It's called "The Christmas Number One," a chart that measures the most popular single in the UK during the week of Christmas. In the past, "The Christmas Number One" has gone to Slade's "Merry Xmas, Everybody", and "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by the charity supergroup Band-Aid. I should mention that the song doesn't have to be Christmas-themed, but often they are. In 1957, "The Christmas Number One" was "Mary's Boy-A-Child" by Harry Belafonte.
4:38 Jake Brennan? It was crowned so on December 25th of that year, the very same day that Shane MacGowan was born in Kent, England, just as Queen Elizabeth II was making her first televised Christmas broadcast to her royal subjects. Not among them were Shane's Irish parents, who had emigrated to England not to serve Her Majesty, but to seek out opportunities lacking back home. Back home, for Shane's mother specifically, was an idyllic slice of Irish countryside, County Tipperary, called "The Commons," where they sang traditional Irish songs about the good life and the good word, about drinking and about rebellion, God and the devil, the
5:22 Jake Brennan? sacred and the profane, all mixed into one. For young Shane MacGowan, "The Commons" was the most sacred thing on this planet. Going back there on holiday and running around the fields, the big elm tree, the old barn, it was the greatest thing ever. Leaving England, returning to the place of his ancestors, connecting with his heritage, to Shane, a kid born on Christmas, going to "The Commons" was better than Christmas.
5:55 Jake Brennan? Back in England, first in Kent, and later when his family moved to London, young Shane MacGowan was a mischievous little boy. At Westminster School, as in Westminster Abbey, the place where no less than six of England's prime ministers were educated, Shane was part of a complex web of drug dealers, procuring heroin, cocaine, acid, and mescaline for other schoolkids. The goods were sourced from London's West End, specifically from known associates of Charlie Cray, older brother to Ronnie and Reggie Cray, aka the Cray Twins, infamous gangsters, racketeers, degenerate gamblers,
6:39 Jake Brennan? who'd recently been convicted of murder along with their big brother Charlie. Though Charlie, Ronnie, and Reggie were behind bars, their legacy was being carried on by even the tiniest cogs in the criminal wheel, like Shane MacGowan, who couldn't help but live his law-breaking life in the shadow of the brothers Cray. Shane lived that life as an outsider, as an underdog. He was self-conscious of his big ears and of his fucked-up teeth. He was a proud Irishman in England at a time when being so, and voicing your support for the IRA during the so-called troubles happening back in the homeland, which Shane did do, was extremely dangerous. He got his face pounded more than once for how he looked, for what he said,
7:24 Jake Brennan? and for what he believed in. He found solace, first in grass, and then in LSD, and later in the music of other outsiders and underdogs, like the MC5, the Stooges, and Johnny Thunders. That raw, authentic rock and roll was Shane's soundtrack to not one, but at least two expulsions from different schools. And then, to an expulsion from reality itself. A non-stop binge of pills and acid suddenly manifesting disturbing hallucinations, walking nightmares, faces and figures on the wall of his bedroom, there to feast on every one of his insecurities. Shane feasted too, on more drugs.
8:09 Jake Brennan? He refused to sleep. At the tender age of seventeen, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital.
8:17 Jake Brennan? When he got out, he was clean for the moment.
8:22 Jake Brennan? One of the first things he did was go to a concert so he could bask in the healing properties of the music that he loved. It was 1975, and the band performing that night was the 101ers, fronted by the great Joe Strummer, who would soon go on to form The Clash. Shane was blown away, but not by Joe's band, by the opener, a band of outsider misfits calling themselves The Sex Pistols. The Pistols' confrontational sound, how they took the piss and gave zero fucks, it all spoke so clearly to young Shane MacGowan. Punk rock didn't care about his ears, punk rock didn't care about his teeth, punk rock
9:06 Jake Brennan? didn't care about his nationality or his political beliefs either. It was the commons back in Ireland, but being a punk was as close as Shane MacGowan could get to that Christmas feeling. Punk rock inspired Shane to form the band they initially called The New Republicans, and they soon changed their name to Pog Mahone, which is Gaelic for "kiss my arse", and then finally to simply The Pogues. The band was rooted in traditional Irish music, but just as The Pistols had done to rock and roll, gave it a swift kick in the ass, led by Shane's poetic gutter speak, The Pogues played songs of rebellion and redemption, drinking songs and ballads alike, and the
9:50 Jake Brennan? sacred and the profane so close to Shane's heart, but they did it all with the energy and attitude of punk. And while they were well received by critics and peers when their debut album Red Roses For Me was released on Stiff Records in 1984, they remained outsiders and underdogs. And this was a time, remember, when the musical landscape was dominated by big guitars, big synthesizers, and even bigger hair. Into this landscape, The Pogues dared to play banjos, accordions, and tin whistles, but Shane MacGowan could handle being the underdog, just like he'd handled getting his ass kicked, or rubbing elbows with associates of the Cray Brothers, or getting expelled
10:32 Jake Brennan? from school, suffering hallucinations, hospitalized only to be reborn by the sound and fury of Johnny Rotten.
10:42 Jake Brennan? Shane knew firsthand that life was not like one of those sentimental Christmas songs that took over the airways every year during the month of his birth. He knew that life was more like the best of Christmas songs. The ones that at their core are sad laments. Songs full of heartache and regret, of longing for something that was gone forever, or maybe was never there in the first place. These songs elicited the same feeling Shane got when he was lonesome for the comments back in Ireland. I'm talking about songs like "I'll Be Home For Christmas," you know, "If Only In My Dreams," or "Darlene Loves Christmas," and this is the important part of the title, "Baby, Please Come Home."
11:25 Jake Brennan? Shane was reminded that life was like the best of those gloomy Christmas songs every time he was reminded of his status as the underdog. And he was reminded of this again in 1984, just as the Pogues were taking off, when a fellow musician previously thought to be the Pogues' champion turned into an unwitting rival, and through that rivalry, inspired Shane MacGowan to write the biggest song of his life.
12:16 Speaker 04 OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 help make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.
12:50 Speaker 05 Wander and started hoarding. Mom's Alzheimer's was already so hard. But then we found out she had agitation that may happen with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. And that was a different kind of difficult. So we asked her doctor for more help.
13:04 Speaker 06 Seeing symptoms like these in a loved one? It could be time to ask their doctor about Rexulti, Rexiprazole 2mg. The first FDA-approved treatment for this condition. Rexulti is proven to reduce agitation symptoms. Rexulti should not be used as an as-needed treatment. Elderly people with dementia-related psychosis have increased risk of death or stroke. Report fever, stiff muscles, and confusion, which can be life-threatening, or uncontrolled muscle movements which may be permanent. High blood sugar can lead to coma or death. Weight gain, increased cholesterol, unusual urges, dizziness on standing, falls, seizures, trouble swallowing, or sleepiness may occur. Learn more about these and other side effects at rexulti.com. Tap ad for PI.
13:39 Speaker 05 I'm glad I asked for help.
13:41 Speaker 06 Ask your loved one's doctor about Rexulti.
13:49 Jake Brennan? October 12, 1984, Brighton, England. It was after midnight when English Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her husband Dennis returned to the Napoleon Suite at the Brighton Grand Hotel. Though she had spent all day at the Conservative Party Congress, Thatcher had no intention of going to bed. She planned to work well into the wee hours of the morning, while bleary-eyed members of her staff tried their best to keep up. Thatcher had served as Prime Minister since 1979. She was a divisive leader, to put it mildly. Especially critical of her policies were the Irish, who, for years, had been caught up in their own violent struggle for identity and independence.
14:31 Jake Brennan? Many, like Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin, the political arm of the Irish Republican Army, found Thatcher to be an abusive tyrant who regularly sanctioned discrimination, political censorship, even murder. Many artists in the UK's thriving new wave and ska scenes were dissenting as well, with songs like The Special's "Ghost Town" and the beat's "Stand Down Margaret" taking direct aim. Tonight, however, it wasn't a song aimed at Margaret Thatcher. Tonight, something far more deadly than a catchy melody was waiting to attack. It was nearly 3 a.m. Thatcher had just emerged from the hotel suite's bathroom when suddenly there was an enormous explosion from above.
15:16 Jake Brennan? Thatcher felt her knees go weak as the entire building seemed to sway. The explosion gave way to a loud ominous rumble. It was coming from many floors above her room, but it seemed to be getting closer. And it was moving fast. Plaster from the ceiling shook loose and fell to the floor. Thatcher's team was scrambling now. Thatcher too. Her husband Dennis rudely awakened and stumbling around in a daze. The noise was getting louder, growing closer, right above them now. The wall shaking, people screaming. And then, one of the hotel's old Victorian rooftop chimneys came through the ceiling above them at an angle, slicing directly into the bathroom where only moments before Margaret Thatcher had been standing.
16:02 Jake Brennan? Twenty-four days earlier, a member of the IRA had planted a 100-pound bomb under a bathtub on the sixth floor of the hotel. A spot strategically chosen as it was close to an old chimney stack. The timer was set to go off during Thatcher's stay. And the explosion would compromise the chimney and cause it to fall, collapsing through all five floors below until it reached the Napoleon Suite with maximum momentum and killed Margaret Thatcher as she slept inside. The ploy would have worked perfectly if only the chimney hadn't veered off to an angle or if Thatcher had still been inside that bathroom. As it happened, Thatcher survived with hardly a scratch.
16:44 Jake Brennan? Not so lucky, with more than 30 people inside the hotel who were injured and five more who lost their lives, including a 55-year-old woman who was decapitated.
16:55 Jake Brennan? A manhunt for the IRA bomb maker began immediately. But first, the cops made a stop in London at the offices of Stiff Records, The Pogues' record label, to arrest Shane MacGowan. Because only nine days before the hotel bombing and the attempt on Thatcher's life, Shane and The Pogues had performed a show in that very same city, Brighton, a fact that the police were not willing to chalk up to a coincidence. And I'll tell you why. Shane MacGowan sang rebel songs, songs that sympathized with Ireland's republican forces, or so the thinking went on the part of the British authorities. Those stiff-upper-lip types who equated the Pogues punk-addled brand of traditional Irish music with criminal activity.
17:37 Jake Brennan? It had to look no further than the first track on the Pogues' debut album, a song called "Transmetropolitan," a song in which during the very first verse Shane sings about getting drunk in the rosy parks of England and then going to "where the spirits take us, to heaven or to hell," and kick up bloody murder in the town we love so well. And if that wasn't enough, and again, this is some prim and proper random English police officer talking here, just look at the "vile" lyrics in this same song: piss, shite, poofs, whores, queers, bastards. This is the world of Shane MacGowan, a drunken, politically motivated rabble-rouser with rotting teeth and an attitude to match.
18:20 Jake Brennan? He should be silenced by any means necessary, or so went the thinking. Shane meanwhile, couldn't care less about what the cops in London wanted to do to him. He'd dealt with worse. He'd already been censored by the BBC for repeatedly saying "fuck" live on air. And he'd had the piss beaten out of him so badly by some thugs in the basement of a London club that he suffered a concussion and was unable to perform the following evening. If the cops wanted him, they could come and find him. Because right now Shane MacGowan and the Pogues were on tour, and Shane had more urgent problems than the cops. One problem, in particular, was riding on the tour bus with him. A horn-room-glasses-wearing motherfucker who thought he was better than Shane.
19:04 Jake Brennan? That guy, Elvis Costello, didn't actually think he was better than Shane MacGowan, but Shane thought Elvis thought he was better than Shane MacGowan. Because everyone around them, including Shane's own band, put Elvis on a pedestal, reminding Shane once again of his underdog status. Elvis Costello was the star assigned to a major label, not Shane. Elvis Costello was the angry young man bridging the gap between the punks and the new wave, not Shane. The only reason The Pogues were playing bigger venues, playing sessions for the influential BBC disc chocky John Peel, playing Channel 4, hiring a real manager and so on, was because Elvis Costello handpicked them to open his tour with his band, The Attractions, in support
19:49 Jake Brennan? of their latest album, Goodbye Cruel World. But Shane knew that Elvis had an ulterior motive. Sure, Elvis liked The Pogues, but Elvis liked The Pogues bass player Cotter Reardon, with her spiky hair and Sid Vicious sneer, even better. Never mind that Elvis was 30 and Cotter was just 19. It just rubbed Shane the wrong way. Watching the bespectacled star, The Pogues' meal ticket as it were, get all handsy with his friend and bandmate. So Shane reacted in his own mischievous way. He and the guys in the band painted IRA slogans on Elvis' coats and tour buses, and they drank all Elvis' booze, and they even poured sand into the keyboards belonging to The Attractions'
20:34 Jake Brennan? Steve Naive. Still, Elvis refused to kick them off the tour. That's how bad he had it for Cotter. He had it so bad that he signed on to produce The Pogues' next record, their excellent sophomore album with the equally excellent title Rum, Sodomy and the Lash. But despite that great record and the increased exposure it brought to the band, Shane couldn't shake the feeling that he was being looked down upon by big shot Elvis Costello. The tension between the two artists continued to build, until Shane lost it while recording the song "A Rainy Night in Soho" for the Pogetry and Motion EP, which Elvis also produced. Elvis wanted to use an oboe in the instrumental break, perhaps inspired by The Beatles' Penny
21:19 Jake Brennan? Lane, but Shane insisted it should be a cornet. And Shane wouldn't back down. He was the artist, this was his song. The only job Elvis had, in Shane's mind, was to put that artistry and that song on tape. And if he couldn't handle that, then big shot Elvis Costello could just fuck right the hell off. So, that's what Elvis did. And he took Shane MacGowan's spiky-haired Sid Vicious sneering bass player with him.
21:48 Jake Brennan? But not before he got inside Shane's head by questioning his ability to pen a song so timeless that it would live on long after both of them were gone. Sure, Shane fancied himself an artist, and he was certainly that. He worked his side of the street quite well. But it was a small, dimly lit street in a dirty old town where not everyone was willing to walk. What about the world stage? What about writing the most universal kind of song? A Christmas song? Even better, a Christmas duet? Elvis Costello bet Shane MacGowan that he couldn't do it. What Elvis wasn't betting on was how all Shane had to do was think about the commons
22:29 Jake Brennan? back in Ireland, his own private Christmas, which lived rent-free in his heart. And suddenly, he was filled with an intense longing, the kind of longing found in the very best of Christmas songs. Shane MacGowan then took all of that longing and put it into the greatest Christmas song ever written.
22:56 Speaker 07 We'll be right back after this.
23:04 Speaker 01 Cash Flow Crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds up to $200,000 right when you need it. Cover, seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.
23:38 Speaker 05 She'd throw things, wander, and started hoarding. Mom's Alzheimer's was already so hard, but then we found out she had agitation that may happen with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. And that was a different kind of difficult. So we asked her doctor for more help.
23:53 Speaker 06 Seeing symptoms like these in a loved one, it could be time to ask their doctor about Rexulti, Rexiprazole 2mg, the first FDA-approved treatment for this condition. Rexulti is proven to reduce agitation symptoms. Rexulti should not be used as an as-needed treatment. Elderly people with dementia-related psychosis have increased risk of death or stroke. Report fever, stiff muscles, and confusion, which can be life-threatening, or uncontrolled muscle movements, which may be permanent. High blood sugar can lead to coma or death. Weight gain, increased cholesterol, unusual urges, dizziness on standing, falls, seizures, trouble swallowing, or sleepiness may occur. Learn more about these and other side effects at rexulti.com. Tap at for PI.
24:28 Speaker 05 I'm glad I asked for help.
24:30 Speaker 06 Ask your loved one's doctor about Rexulti.
24:37 Jake Brennan? I should clarify here that Elvis Costello does not remember making a bet with Shane McGowan about whether or not he could write a proper Christmas song. Shane, on the other hand, swore as if it were yesterday that it happened, and he did so for the rest of his life. It really doesn't matter either way. Whether the challenge was indeed thrown down, or whether Shane simply made it up as a way to amplify his talent over Elvis's for the history books, in the end, the writing and recording of the Pogues' song "Fairy Tale of New York" serves to underscore Shane's long-held status as an underdog. In 1987, Christmas music was having a moment. The compilation album, "A Very Special Christmas," produced by music industry mogul Jimmy Iovine,
25:21 Jake Brennan? was released in October of that year to great acclaim. It featured modern covers of classic Christmas songs and Christmas carols by some of the biggest names in music at the time. Whitney Houston singing "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and John Cougar Mellencamp singing "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" and whatnot. And this is also the album where we were blessed with Run DMC's incredible "Christmas in Hollis." But without one exception, and maybe also U2's version of Darlene Love's "Christmas, Baby, Please Come Home," the entire compilation is pretty much what you'd expect in terms of sentimentality and substance. And by the time Christmas had come and gone that year, "A Very Special Christmas" was certified quadruple platinum.
26:03 Jake Brennan? Now imagine this: just a month after that compilation was released, around Thanksgiving of 1987, the Pogues dropped a new single from their forthcoming album, their third. "Fairy Tale of New York" was their Christmas song. And in every way, it was the exact antithesis of the songs on Jimmy Iovine's compilation.
26:25 Jake Brennan? The song begins as a piano ballad, with Shane MacGowan's battered voice slurring one of the greatest opening lines of all time: "It was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunk tank." From the jump, this is a Christmas song with a wholly unique perspective: that of a drunk, a gambler, a guy who's down on his luck more often than not, trying to convince the love of his life that the days will get better, despite the fact that they are behind bars together on Christmas Eve. And when the band comes galloping in with their hypercharged Irish folk music, so does the drunk's lover, sung by the Englishwoman Kirsty McCall, Shane's duet partner. She's tired of hanging on to her man's broken promises, and isn't afraid to tell him so.
27:09 Jake Brennan? First, he's handsome, and she's pretty. And then, all of a sudden, he's a bum and a punk, and she's an old slut on junk. The song, co-written by Shane and the Pogues banjo player Jem Finer, is funny, and it's sad. Ultimately, it's cautiously optimistic without losing its sense of melancholy, just like the best Christmas songs. It's also one of the most controversial, evidenced by one particular lyric: "A slur that rhymes with 'maggot,' uttered by Kirsty McCall's character." A word so offensive that the BBC eventually started bleeping it out every time it was played on air. Shane's defense of the use of the word was,
27:50 Jake Brennan? "Not all characters in songs and stories are angels, or even decent and respectable." These are real, fleshed-out characters here. Characters you'd be more likely to find in a novel than in a Christmas song. And I think it's what makes "Fairy Tale of New York" so great. Listening to it really does feel like the dialogue between Shane and Christie was ripped directly from a drunk tank in a New York City police station. In the face of much more popular artists offering up safe, sanitized covers of classic Christmas cheese, Shane, Jem, Christie, and the Pogues delivered a masterclass in how to create something new and exciting and provocative. The song was a top 10 hit in the UK upon its original release.
28:34 Jake Brennan? In Ireland, it went to number one and stayed there for five weeks. And when it came to the 1987 Christmas number one chart, the odds were on Fairy Tale of New York to win that by a landslide. This would be no minor achievement for Shane MacGowan. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The song was featured on The Pogues' third album, If I Should Fall From Grace With God, produced not by Elvis, who had successfully stolen Carter Riordan permanently from the band, but by Steve Lillywhite, known for his work with Peter Gabriel and U2. It was The Pogues' biggest record to date. But that record, the creative act of making it, and of making Fairy Tale of New York under the pressure of proving its worth to a rival singer-songwriter, whether it was imagined or not,
29:19 Jake Brennan? had an immediate and adverse effect on Shane MacGowan.
29:25 Jake Brennan? It was the middle of the evening when Victoria Mary Clark's phone began to ring. The Irish journalist wasn't expecting the voice on the other end. It was her boyfriend's landlady, calling about her boyfriend, Shane MacGowan. Something was wrong with him. Something so wrong that his landlady felt compelled to ring up his girlfriend in the dead of night. Shane's love of, and sometimes over-love of, alcohol is well documented. He was rarely seen onstage or off without a pint, a bottle, or a glass of wine in his hand. But it wasn't the drink that his landlady was concerned about. No, lately, he'd been taking loads of LSD. One day, she found him in his room, tripping his balls off, clutching a samurai sword,
30:10 Jake Brennan? and staring at a chair that he'd just slashed to pieces. Another time, he chased her to the stairway and threw his favorite guitar at her. Victoria quickly put on some clothes and made a beeline for Shane's flat. And when she arrived, she found him in his kitchen, his eyes bouncing around in his head. He told her he'd dropped fifteen, maybe twenty, tabs of acid. He'd lost count. He was holding a copy of The Beach Boys Greatest Hits, Volume 3, but he wasn't listening to it. He was trying to eat it. Blood was running down his face, just oozing from his mouth. And there was blood and bite marks all over the LP jacket. Shane was rambling. World War III was imminent, he knew it. Which is why he was holding an emergency meeting in his kitchen with the heads of the
30:55 Jake Brennan? world's superpowers. And he, Shane MacGowan, as leader of the Irish Republic, was demonstrating the cultural inferiority of America by eating a Beach Boys record. From there, things got even worse, if you can imagine. Shane kept taking loads of LSD and ecstasy. He started using heroin, too. He was hit by a car, more than once. He jumped from a moving taxi. He started fires. He was committed to a psychiatric hospital. He was released, relapsed, randomly attacked a guy, and was sent back to the psych ward. Again, he was released, again, he relapsed, again, he was knocking back 10, 20 acid tabs at a time. He missed shows, including dates opening for Bob Dylan.
31:39 Jake Brennan? And when he did make it to the stage, he forgot the lyrics. He was drunk and high 24/7. Finally, in 1991, during a tour of Japan, the band convened a meeting in a hotel room. It was there that The Pogues informed Shane MacGowan that they were firing him from The Pogues. To which Shane replied, "What took you so long?" This was a four-year period of freefall that can be traced all the way back to the start, December of 1987, the week of Christmas, and to the crowning of that year's Christmas number-one song in the UK. Because that year's Christmas number-one was not The Pogues' fairy tale of New York
32:23 Jake Brennan? as had been predicted. Instead, it was The Pet Shop Boys, who were the ones to reach number-one with "Always On My Mind." The Pogues only made it to number-two. Just like not all characters and songs and stories are angels or even decent and respectable, not all artists and songwriters get the chart-topping recognition they deserve. Some of them are destined to be underdogs for life.
33:04 Jake Brennan? Hey guys, real quick, there was this crazy story that we unearthed in the research for this Shane MacGowan episode that involves The Pogues, Tom Waits, and Elvis Costello drunkenly recreating the killing of gangster John Dillinger in a Chicago alleyway back in the 1980s. That sounds like fun. I mean, this is so on-brand for us because it's got the legendary true crime figure, John Dillinger. It's got icons of music history, The Pogues, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello. And it also features one of the wildest impromptu pickup band performances that nobody ever saw. But here's the thing, we just didn't have enough time or space in our full episode to talk about this fully. But we do have time in this week's brand new mini-episode of DisgraceLand, which is part of the exclusive content for All Access members. If you're not a member
33:49 Jake Brennan? of All Access and you want to hear why in the hell Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and The Pogues made a pub crawl that ended with a visit to a notorious alley, just go to disgracelandpod.com to sign up and listen to that today. All right, now let's get back to our story here, all about Shane MacGowan.
34:06 Jake Brennan? Autumn 2001. Jem Finer, The Pogues' banjo player and co-songwriter, knocked hard on the wooden door of a small and assuming cottage. To his back, the common splayed out in all of its natural breathtaking wonder. County Tipperary was far from Dublin. Compared to a place like London, it was a whole other world. Here, life was slow and quiet. At least on the outside. On the inside, behind the front door of that cottage, Jem could hear singing, yelling, and bottles emptying and glasses clinking. He knocked again. Still, nothing. He pulled a cellphone from his jacket and
34:49 Jake Brennan? dialed a number. It rang. And then someone picked up. It was Shane. "Many, many sheets to the wind." "For folks sake," Jem yelled into the phone, "come open the fucking door." Seconds later, the wooden door swung open, and there was Shane MacGowan, the guy whom Jem and the others had fired from The Pogues some ten years prior. The same guy who had started a new band, Shane MacGowan and the Pogues. But it continued to be plagued by junk, cocaine, amphetamines, and by a bottomless bottle. He looked haggard, perhaps worse than ever. He'd watched not one, but two friends overdose in his flat back in the city. He'd been arrested after fellow Irish singer Sinead O'Connor squealed on his drug use
35:34 Jake Brennan? to the cops. And he was pissed at Sinead when she did that, although he later came around and he actually thanked her. Sinead's squealing led Shane to kick heroin. He kept his other vices, though he'd lost Victoria, his longtime girlfriend, at least for the time being. Sometimes it seemed like all Shane had was this place, The Commons. Jem, on the other hand, had something else to offer. He was there to ask Shane if he wanted to reunite with The Pogues for a handful of Christmas shows that year. Shane was all in. They booked dates for one week only, that December. Glasgow, Birmingham, Dublin, Manchester, and three nights at the Brixton Academy in
36:18 Jake Brennan? London. Demand was high, as were spirits, and for any fan of The Pogues, it was the best Christmas present they could ask for. More Christmases came and went, one in which Shane received twenty-eight implants on a titanium frame to fix his bad teeth, an occasion so momentous that a documentary was made about it. And there was also the Christmas in which Shane reconciled with Victoria, not to mention the one where the two finally tied the knot after an eleven-year engagement. Christmas of 2022 was nearly spent in the hospital, where Shane was laid up with viral encephalitis and inflammation of the brain. Doctors cleared him right before the holiday, but six months later, he was back, hospitalized
37:03 Jake Brennan? this time with pneumonia. He was there from June to November, but just one day after his release, he went into septic shock. And six days later, on November 30th, 2023, Shane MacGowan was dead. He was sixty-five years old.
37:23 Jake Brennan? Immediately after Shane's death, "Fairy Tale of New York" went straight to number one in Ireland. The band then reissued the single on seven-inch vinyl in hopes that a combination of sales and mourning for Shane would finally cement the song as that year's Christmas number one. Once again, however, the pokes were denied. The Christmas number one in the UK on December 25, 2023 was not "Fairy Tale of New York", as many would have expected. Instead, that honor went to Wham! 'Last Christmas', which earned its first Christmas number one 39 years after its original release. Some thought that it was Shane MacGowan's final wish to get a Christmas number one.
38:06 Jake Brennan? In reality, he only cared if the song went to number one in Ireland. County Tipperary, the commons, the people, the culture, that's where his heart remained, even in death. Besides, everyone knew what his final wish was. It was right there in his will. Shane MacGowan left behind $10,000 for an open bar tab at his favorite pub in Tipperary, where locals who packed the place after a funeral procession in the streets of Dublin saw crowds erupt into a spontaneous rendition of "Fairy Tale of New York". It's a song that remains a standard of the holiday season, even if it never hit the top of the holiday chart. As its producer, Steve Lillywhite, said, "I love the fact that it's never been number
38:51 Jake Brennan? one. It's for the underdog. In fact, it's for everyone. For those who find salvation, for those who fall from grace." I'm Jake Brennan, and this is DisgraceLand.
39:21 Jake Brennan? All right, guys. Merry Christmas and thanks for listening to this episode of DisgraceLand. This week's question of the week is an obvious one. What's your number one Christmas song? Let me know which Christmas song is your favorite and why. 617-906-6638. Leave me a voicemail. Send me a text or hit me up on the socials @disgracelandpod.com. All right, here comes some credits.
39:44 Jake Brennan? DisgraceLand was created by yours truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be found on the show notes page at disgracelandpod.com. If you're listening as a DisgraceLand All Access member, thank you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it. And if not, you can become a member right now by going to disgracelandpod.com/membership. Members can listen to every episode of DisgraceLand ad-free. Rate and review the show and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook @disgracelandpod and on YouTube at youtube.com/atdisgracelandpod. Rockerola.
40:25 Jake Brennan? He's a bad, bad man.
40:28 Speaker 01 Cash Flow Crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover, seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.
40:58 Speaker 02 Network freedom and flexibility. That's what you want in a healthcare plan. With a Humana Medicare Advantage PPO plan, you can see any doctor in the country who accepts Medicare, including specialists. No referrals, no kidding. Learn more at gethumana.com. See any doctor who accepts Medicare and is willing to bill Humana. Humana PPOs may not be available in all areas. Benefits and costs share may vary. Humana is a Medicare Advantage PPO organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal.
41:28 Speaker 04 I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess Podcast, the true crime comedy podcast, all about robbery, fraud, and those who practice it. Each week I bring on an amazing guest. Ooh, I scammed them. What? I could talk to you for an hour. You're a generational yapper like me. That's why I had to make yapping a job. And now you can catch full episodes of my show on YouTube. Start listening to Scam Goddess on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Previous Bonus Episode - Preserving Rock n' Roll, Solo Beatles, and Remembering John Lennon Next Bonus Episode - Chilling Words Diddy Allegedly Said Before Jay Z and He Did What? Plus Shane MacGowan and More Page updated November 6, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated