I saw images of him on YouTube the other week at a funeral, Frank Murray’s, very disturbing, I said a prayer for the guy, I was almost in tears seeing the state he was in because it was really horrific, and I actually like the guy, as annoying as he used to be. I haven’t seen him since the ’80s. All I see is a guy getting older and now in a wheelchair, and it’s heartbreaking, man, it’s f***ing heartbreaking. I think people are being way too indulgent with him. Shane MacGowan Interview– One on One". Concertlivewire.com. Archived from the original on 4 April 2009 . Retrieved 19 April 2014.

Shepard, Gabriel (24 December 2017). "How Shane MacGowan came to be born in Tunbridge Wells". KentLive. Archived from the original on 14 January 2018 . Retrieved 14 January 2018. Like most good movies from my youth, this is definitely a tale of two halves. The first half tells the story of Shanes life up until he wrote Fairy Tale of New York. Growing up around London with Irish parents during the height of the troubles Shane was an outsider from the very beginning, espeically at the private Westminster School, which he attended due to his precocity with English literature. He was reading the likes of James Joyce by the time he was 10, encouraged by his Dad. Whilst encouraging him to read his Dad is accussed of lax parenting that landed Shane in rehab as a teenager after he had been expelled from school. Janet Street-Porter. "Editor-At-Large: Tasteless, rude, brilliant (not you, Shane)". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 March 2017 . Retrieved 4 April 2004. Ali Ryan (30 October 2016). "Shane MacGowan's partner reveals he is 'sober for the FIRST time in years' ". Goss.ie. Archived from the original on 27 January 2019 . Retrieved 26 January 2019.

‘A visual tapestry of his mind’

This may look like a book, but appearances can be deceptive. For once your psyche has absorbed this experience, there is no returning to innocence. You may become enlightened or you may be forever tormented. MacGowan made a return to stage on 13 June 2019 at the RDS Arena in Dublin as a guest for Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders. [22] It's amazing MacGowan is still alive. He has seen many of his friends and peers succumb to the drink and drugs lifestyle he has somehow survived, albeit in a state of greatly diminished health. When one sees him performing on videos from the Pogues heyday, drunk, almost slurring his words, rotting teeth in his mouth and cigarette in hand he doesn't look long for this world yet he is still here. I am not really qualified to rank him in a pantheon of songwriters but he was undoubtedly very gifted in this area, his classic, unorthodox Christmas "Fairly Tale of New York" being deservedly his best known and evocative work. RTÉ Archives". Stills Library. 5 July 2012. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014 . Retrieved 19 April 2014.

But if you’re gonna stand there drunk and big up Donald Trump after four years, and put it on YouTube or Facebook or whatever, then you’ve descended to a level of self-loathing. At the same time you just can’t get enough of the public staring at you.” Rogan, Johny (26 September 1998). "Rebel yell". The Irish Post. Archived from the original on 27 January 2007 . Retrieved 13 February 2007. a b "Shane MacGowan shows off his new teeth; calls it quits with the Pogues. (by Derek)". Anglotopia.net. 29 December 2015 . Retrieved 5 March 2016.A slow return to music-making with Cronin, a family band from Mullingar, has restored his interest in life. The drawings, Clarke suggests, are further evidence of his constant need to express himself artistically: “It goes together. When you let creativity come out, it is an unstoppable force.” In 2016, Clarke revealed to the press that MacGowan was sober "for the first time in years." She explained that the origins of MacGowan's drinking problem stemmed from several years of "singing in bars and clubs and other venues where people go to drink and have fun" and that "his whole career has revolved around it and, indeed, been both enhanced and simultaneously inhibited by it". She said that his drinking was not a problem for many years but "went from being just a normal part of life" to becoming very unhealthy, a circumstance made much worse due to the introduction of hard drugs such as heroin. She explained that a serious bout with pneumonia, compounded by an excruciatingly painful hip injury which required a long stay in the hospital, was ultimately responsible for his sobriety. The lengthy hospital stay required a total detox, and MacGowan's sobriety continued after he got home. [38] Harrison, Ellie (6 December 2022). "Pogues singer Shane MacGowan rushed to hospital as wife urges fans to 'send prayers' ". The Independent . Retrieved 12 December 2022. Shane opens door for drawing to go under the hammer". Independent.ie. 29 November 2012. Archived from the original on 12 December 2010 . Retrieved 19 April 2014. Before joining the Pogues in the mid-1980s, MacGowan had been a fixture on London’s punk scene; he could be seen pogoing in the front row at endless gigs and going by the alias Shane O’Hooligan. Balls recounts how the young MacGowan, after his release from a psychiatric ward around the age of 19, found his calling living and breathing punk during the Sex Pistols’ ascent. He put out a fanzine and was frequently interviewed by the establishment press, achieving national notoriety after his ear was bitten off at a Clash gig, an incident that was written up in NME. Soon, he formed his first band, the Nipple Erectors (or Nips), with girlfriend Shanne Bradley.

Born on Christmas Day 1957 in Kent, MacGowan is best known as the unruly elf who duets so bleakly on Fairytale of New York. He is now, reluctantly, a seasonal fixture, like Mariah Carey in her “sexy Santa” suit. But he is also recognised as a great songwriter, as well as the creator of powerful cover versions of traditional Irish ballads. With the Pogues he made five influential albums, that, with his drunken rabble-rousing, established him as a music industry legend. “I am not a mythical creature though,” he says. “I am very much a human being. I am a primate. I am an animal and an animal has a soul. I believe that we all have one big soul. Everybody on this planet.”

‘I knew a lot about art’

He continued: “In terms of my materials, I like pastels but I don’t really think about it. I’ll paint or draw on anything, with anything. I like more or less everyone from Fra Angelico and Giotto to the latest, like Caravaggio was the last of the Renaissance, before it went into Expressionism.

Fairytale of New York" (featuring Kirsty MacColl) – No. 2 UK; reissued in 1991 (No. 24 UK), 2005 (No. 3 UK) and 2007 (No. 4 UK) She added: “I love the way that the drawings and notes and scraps of stories provide an insight into Shane’s songs, it is like walking into his studio and seeing everything that was happening in his mind. The illustrations are like a visual tapestry of the inner workings of his creative process. I feel very privileged and very excited to be able to share them with the world in a book, especially for people who love the songs.” Shane MacGowan and Victoria Mary Clarke tie the knot in Copenhagen". Irish Examiner. 26 November 2018. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018 . Retrieved 28 November 2018.It was reported in July 2023 that MacGowan was hospitalised in the intensive care unit. [42] Following treatment for a lingering infection, he was discharged in November. [43] Honours and awards [ edit ] Johnny Depp, who collects MacGowan’s art, writes in a foreword for The Eternal Buzz…: “It’s rare for a creative genius like Shane to have one avenue of output. Such an incendiary talent is likely to have a multitude of facilities whereby his talent might infiltrate the atmosphere and change the climate as we know it.