From lost love to loveable rogues, we look at the top ten most beautiful Shane MacGowan lyrics.
The Irish are famous for storytelling, with a literary tradition dating back centuries. Music is undoubtedly central to this, with many of this great country’s greatest poets having the talent to put their words to music.
One of the greatest was the late Shane MacGowan. Best known as the frontman of the Pogues, MacGowan earned a reputation for depicting loveable and heroic down-and-outs.
Packed with wonderful imagery, we look at some of the most beautiful Shane MacGowan lyrics.
10. Sally MacLennane – “Took the road for heaven in the morning”
We start our look at the most beautiful Pogues/Shane MacGowan lyrics with a metaphor for death – cheery!
But anyone familiar with ‘Sally MacLennane’ knows that this raucous Pogues song is anything but a dirge.
Jimmy is a man who leaves his small town in Ireland as his friends “walk him to the station in the rain” and “kiss him as they put him on the train”.
He returns to find that many of his friends have died, a fact that MacGowan delivers in a metaphor: “He asked me all the details / Of the train that they went on”.
Jimmy himself then “Took the road for heaven in the morning”.
The metaphor takes the sting out of death, and the song’s lively music makes ‘Sally MacLennane’ a celebration of life rather than a lament to loss.
9. The Broad Majestic Shannon – “I sat for a while at the cross at Finnoe…”
In ‘The Broad Majestic Shannon,’ Shane MacGowan writes,
“I sat for a while by the gap in the wall / Found a rusty tin can and an old Hurley ball / Heard the cards being dealt and the rosary called / And a fiddle playing Sean Dún na Gall.”
MacGowan juxtaposes this innocent portrayal of rural Irish life with his cynical outlook in the following verse:
“And then next time I see you, we’ll down at the Greeks / There’ll be whiskey on Sunday and tears on our cheeks / For it’s stupid to laugh and it’s useless to bawl / ‘Bout a rusty tin can and an old hurley ball”.
In beautifully simple lyrics, MacGowan derides saccharine reminiscences with world-weary vitriol.
8. The Ghost of a Smile – “I’ll be with you, honey child…”
In ‘The Ghost of a Smile’, MacGowan tells a “honey child” to “walk, walk that mile” but reassures them that “I’ll be with you”.
The price for MacGowan’s companionship? Not even happiness, just the possibility of happiness – “the ghost of a smile”.
7. Haunted – “I want to be haunted by the ghost of your precious love”
Included on the soundtrack to Alex Cox’s 1986 film about Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, Sid and Nancy, the most famous version of ‘Haunted’ was performed with Sinéad O’Connor.
Given Sid and Nancy’s ill-fated romance, the repeated line, “I want to be haunted by the ghost of your precious love”, is a sorrowfully beautiful way to say I love you when you know neither party is long destined to be among the living.
6. You’re the One – “The one I long to see…”
‘You’re the One’ is a 1995 duet with Máire Brennan, taken from the film Circle of Friends. Like ‘Haunted’, ‘You’re the One’ conflates love with death, with the lines, “The one I long to see / To drown myself in you”.
On a much less bleak note, however, the chorus culminates in “Surround myself safe in your arms / Forever”.
5. A Pair of Brown Eyes – “I thought about a pair of brown eyes that waited once for me…”
On this Pogues track, MacGowan juxtaposes a dull conversation with a fellow pub drunkard with a wistful reminiscence of a past love.
The man in question talks about a brown-eyed lover he missed at war. This, in turn, forces the song’s narrator to think of “a pair of brown eyes / That waited once for me”.
Though sentimental, the song is decidedly not saccharine, with lines such as “I looked at him, he looked at me / All I could do was hate him” and “So drunk to hell, I left the place / Sometimes walking, sometimes crawling”.
A scene that unfolds in bars worldwide, excellently captured in a five-minute song.
4. London Girl – “This could be our final dance…”
This song about unrequited love contains some of the most beautiful Shane MacGowan lyrics. The speaker repeatedly warns his lover, “This could be our final dance / This could be our very last chance”.
However, it soon becomes apparent that this is his lover’s choice rather than his, as he asks, “If you cut me, don’t you think I’ll feel? / Is this body clay, is this heart made of steel?”.
3. The Body of an American – “This morning in the harbour when I said goodbye to you…”
The song to round up a detective’s funeral in The Wire, it’s impossible not to sing along to this rousing anthem.
The song starts as a funeral dirge that, after the first verse, gives way to a scene of typical Pogues debauchery. In the middle of it all, the song’s speaker says goodbye to a lover, swearing “that I’d come back to you one day”.
The following lines are equally poetic in their meaning and delivery: “And as the sunset came / To meet the evening on the hill / I told you I’d always love you / I always did, I always will”.
2. A Rainy Night in Soho – “You’re the measure of my dreams…”
The lyrics of ‘A Rainy Night in Soho’ make full use of a double entendre in the same way as ‘Sally MacLennane’ – is MacGowan singing about a person or a drink?
The most telling line is the refrain, “And you’re the measure of my dreams, the measure of my dreams”.
Regardless of who or what this song addresses, it includes some of the most beautiful Shane MacGowan lyrics ever committed to a song.
1. Mother Mo Chroi – “The love of old Ireland and Mother Mo Chroi”
This song, recorded by Shane MacGowan and The Popes, tells the story of an Irish immigrant who “got on board a boat / That was bound for Liverpool” as a young man before making his way to London.
In the beautiful fashion typical of MacGowan’s lyrics, he also always keeps “Deep in my heart a furious devotion / The love of old Ireland / And Mother Mo Chroi” – mother, my heart.
Read more: The 10 most FAMOUS Irish SONGS
