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A drink with Shane MacGowan
This biography of Shane MacGowan charts his life from early childhood in Ireland through to his fame as the star of The Pogues. The book celebrates MacGowan the musician and offers insight into his perspective on this world - and the next!
400 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2001
49 people are currently reading
1027 people want to read
About the author
Shane MacGowan
10 books10 followersShane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan was an Irish singer and songwriter. Many of his songs are influenced by Irish nationalism, Irish history, the experiences of the Irish diaspora, and London life in general. Born in Kent, England, to Irish parents, he was the lead singer and songwriter of Celtic punk band the Pogues. Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
January 12, 2008
I first saw Shane MacGowan on ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’ promoting the ‘Pogetry in Motion’ e.p. with The Pogues. I think the set included ‘The Body of an American’, ‘A Rainy Night in Soho’, ‘A Pair of Brown Eyes’ and ‘Streams of Whiskey’. I was hooked, the next day I bought the e.p. and before the end of the month I’d got both their l.p.’s ‘Red Roses for Me’ and ‘Rum Sodomy and the Lash’. That Autumn I was to attend by first concert, The Pogues played Leeds Uni, and I was a fifteen year old novice having a furtive pint of Guinness and hiding behind my enamel Pogues Shamrock badge.
After that following The Pogues was a great adventure, the single with The Dubliners, the contribution to the ‘Sid and Nancy’ soundtrack, the appearance in the film ‘Straight to Hell’ (or ‘Straight to Video’ as it became known) and then ‘Fairytale of New York’ when the underground secret society I was part of went overground and everyone became Pogues fans overnight. The gig in Leeds for the ‘Fall from Grace’ tour sold out before we could get hold of tickets and it was downhill all the way after that.
The next album failed to set the world alight with Shane taking a back seat and allowing the rest of the band to write and sing there own songs on the l.p. The upside was we got tickets for the concert that year, the down side being that it was pathetic. Although obviously drunk on the two previous occasions we had seen him he was now paralytic and incoherent. The following year ‘Hell’s Ditch’ was a similar collection of ill fitting songs and we opted not to go out to see The Pogues that Autumn.
Shorty after that Shane was sacked from The Pogues and they promoted their best of compilation by touring with the late Joe Strummer doing the honours as singer. We saw them at Manchester Apollo and it was great to see the Show, the Clash’s ‘Straight to Hell’ was my own favourite of the evening.
The Pogues continued with Spider Stacey stepping from behind his tin whistle to be front man but it really wasn’t going anywhere. Shane started recording again with The Popes and released two further albums which I thought very good but not up to the standard of The Pogues in their pomp. After that he appeared fleetingly as a comic turn in various music magazines generally falling out of taxis and I, like the remainder of his admirers, wrote him off completely by the time this book was published.
No doubt buoyed on by The Pogues reunion concerts and the editing of ‘Fairytale’ by Radio one making the news, I walked past a Book Shop last week with it in the window for £3. I thought I’d give it a punt, and I’m so glad that I did; what a marvellous book.
Written as a series of transcripts of conversations between Shane and long time partner, Victoria Clarke, it tells Shane’s story from childhood in Ireland, to adolescence in the London Punk scene through The Pogues and his dismissal. Rock biographies are generally quite boring but this is pepped up by MacGowan been inebriated throughout the conversations which give the stories a drunken bravado and shaggy dog quality very rarely successfully carried through to the written word. Two becomes four from one sentence to the next. Contradictions from one conversation to the next amuse rather than canker and Shane comes across as the amiable drunk we fell in love with the first time around. His dismissal of the last Pogue albums and he’s explanation of his audience is spot on ‘I think they put up with the crap, so they could hear the good stuff’.
It makes me wonder if the drunk in the local may be worth listening to in case his story is anything like as entertaining as this one. Anyway I must go and dig the record player out of the loft and look for my old Shamrock badge.
After that following The Pogues was a great adventure, the single with The Dubliners, the contribution to the ‘Sid and Nancy’ soundtrack, the appearance in the film ‘Straight to Hell’ (or ‘Straight to Video’ as it became known) and then ‘Fairytale of New York’ when the underground secret society I was part of went overground and everyone became Pogues fans overnight. The gig in Leeds for the ‘Fall from Grace’ tour sold out before we could get hold of tickets and it was downhill all the way after that.
The next album failed to set the world alight with Shane taking a back seat and allowing the rest of the band to write and sing there own songs on the l.p. The upside was we got tickets for the concert that year, the down side being that it was pathetic. Although obviously drunk on the two previous occasions we had seen him he was now paralytic and incoherent. The following year ‘Hell’s Ditch’ was a similar collection of ill fitting songs and we opted not to go out to see The Pogues that Autumn.
Shorty after that Shane was sacked from The Pogues and they promoted their best of compilation by touring with the late Joe Strummer doing the honours as singer. We saw them at Manchester Apollo and it was great to see the Show, the Clash’s ‘Straight to Hell’ was my own favourite of the evening.
The Pogues continued with Spider Stacey stepping from behind his tin whistle to be front man but it really wasn’t going anywhere. Shane started recording again with The Popes and released two further albums which I thought very good but not up to the standard of The Pogues in their pomp. After that he appeared fleetingly as a comic turn in various music magazines generally falling out of taxis and I, like the remainder of his admirers, wrote him off completely by the time this book was published.
No doubt buoyed on by The Pogues reunion concerts and the editing of ‘Fairytale’ by Radio one making the news, I walked past a Book Shop last week with it in the window for £3. I thought I’d give it a punt, and I’m so glad that I did; what a marvellous book.
Written as a series of transcripts of conversations between Shane and long time partner, Victoria Clarke, it tells Shane’s story from childhood in Ireland, to adolescence in the London Punk scene through The Pogues and his dismissal. Rock biographies are generally quite boring but this is pepped up by MacGowan been inebriated throughout the conversations which give the stories a drunken bravado and shaggy dog quality very rarely successfully carried through to the written word. Two becomes four from one sentence to the next. Contradictions from one conversation to the next amuse rather than canker and Shane comes across as the amiable drunk we fell in love with the first time around. His dismissal of the last Pogue albums and he’s explanation of his audience is spot on ‘I think they put up with the crap, so they could hear the good stuff’.
It makes me wonder if the drunk in the local may be worth listening to in case his story is anything like as entertaining as this one. Anyway I must go and dig the record player out of the loft and look for my old Shamrock badge.
January 30, 2016
The title is misleading, because it is impossible to have just one drink with Shane MacGowan, unless he's already had so many that after the one drink with you, he lays into you for no reason and chases you all the way back to the farm he describes at the beginning of the book, a farm which sounds suspiciously like his idea of heaven, described at the end of the book. Also, a few drinks with Shane MacGowan might lead to some tranquilizers with Shane MacGowan or several bits of blotter acid with Shane MacGowan, and it is very likely to lead to A Broken Nose with Shane MacGowan, which might have been a more accurate title. Also, everything good about the Pogues was his idea, and everything bad was everyone else's idea, just so that's clear. Sláinte.
December 4, 2012
Had me in stitches. How this guy has outlived Strummer just floors me. Very cool book.
June 3, 2024
I love The Pogues and think Shane is a poet. This book is a great example of don’t meet/read about your heros. Shane is sexist, racist and a homophobe. I had to DNF
November 25, 2024
3.5 stars. This book consists of transcriptions of interviews done by MacGowan’s wife, Victoria Mary Clarke. It truly gave a sense of who Shane MacGowan was. He was an interesting and intelligent man and was, by no means, politically correct.
October 12, 2011
There are almost two books here. The first is McGowan's early life in rural Ireland, where a milkman actually comes to the house to take away the milk (buying the excess), half-mad aunts spout fire and brimstone and uncles give whiskey to pre-schoolers.
The second begins when the Pogues begin, and it's everything you expect: punk, sex, drinking, bloody noses. It's a whole lot of fun, but I honestly missed the early parts of the book, with the bizarre (or possibly typical) Irish folks. Perhaps because I know less about that scene?
McGowan's bio is told in a series of interviews with wife Victoria Clarke, and though she claims to be the writer in the relationship, McGowan is the real storyteller.
Clarke's editorial interludes are not only annoying, they're overwrought and awful, often having to with the wind and loquaciousness. Clarke often opens a chapter by setting up the scene (in the kitchen, at dinner, etc.), then drops one of her insane adverb constructions.
Examples. Italics mine:
p.1: "A rugged Irish cottage. A fierce and loquacious wind tears, mercilessly, mirthlessly at the simple thatched roof."
p. 3: "Shanes snorts acrimoniously and takes a swig acerbically."
p. 25: "The fierce and loquacious wind whistles horrifically in the chimney..."
p. 39 "A fierce and loquacious barman mops the gleaming mahogany bar with an immaculate dishrag determinedly.
p. 55: "Victoria frowns, bemusedly."
And on and on. Just let the man tell his story! Three stars for what might be a four-star autobio. without the interference.
The second begins when the Pogues begin, and it's everything you expect: punk, sex, drinking, bloody noses. It's a whole lot of fun, but I honestly missed the early parts of the book, with the bizarre (or possibly typical) Irish folks. Perhaps because I know less about that scene?
McGowan's bio is told in a series of interviews with wife Victoria Clarke, and though she claims to be the writer in the relationship, McGowan is the real storyteller.
Clarke's editorial interludes are not only annoying, they're overwrought and awful, often having to with the wind and loquaciousness. Clarke often opens a chapter by setting up the scene (in the kitchen, at dinner, etc.), then drops one of her insane adverb constructions.
Examples. Italics mine:
p.1: "A rugged Irish cottage. A fierce and loquacious wind tears, mercilessly, mirthlessly at the simple thatched roof."
p. 3: "Shanes snorts acrimoniously and takes a swig acerbically."
p. 25: "The fierce and loquacious wind whistles horrifically in the chimney..."
p. 39 "A fierce and loquacious barman mops the gleaming mahogany bar with an immaculate dishrag determinedly.
p. 55: "Victoria frowns, bemusedly."
And on and on. Just let the man tell his story! Three stars for what might be a four-star autobio. without the interference.
July 17, 2008
I'm a fan of The Pogues and have seen the Shane Macgowan documentary (his laughter is enough to drive you mad). My friend lent me this book to "round out my education".
Shane has probably done every drug known to man and more. This book is laid out as a straight, stream of consciousness interview with his wife. And streaming it is. It was a fun read but somewhat difficult to grasp, as I think only Shane understands what he is thinking.....maybe.
He contradicts himself almost constantly, his stories are pretty entertaining and funny and probably somewhat false and one-sided but eh, we should be happy the guy is still alive.
Definitely for the Pogues fan....
Great quote:
"I believe you can't be fucked. But I believe you can believe you're fucked, and that can be bad because if you think you're fucked then you are fucked. But you're not really fucked."
Shane has probably done every drug known to man and more. This book is laid out as a straight, stream of consciousness interview with his wife. And streaming it is. It was a fun read but somewhat difficult to grasp, as I think only Shane understands what he is thinking.....maybe.
He contradicts himself almost constantly, his stories are pretty entertaining and funny and probably somewhat false and one-sided but eh, we should be happy the guy is still alive.
Definitely for the Pogues fan....
Great quote:
"I believe you can't be fucked. But I believe you can believe you're fucked, and that can be bad because if you think you're fucked then you are fucked. But you're not really fucked."
March 31, 2017
Shane MacGowan, frontman for the Pogues and the Pope, spins some well-lubricated yarns to Victoria Mary Clarke.
Stories of Ireland, Irishness, ribaldry, growing up punk, madness, making music, the music business, England, Roman Catholicism, success, growing apart, books, booze, drugs and assorted other topics
Stories of Ireland, Irishness, ribaldry, growing up punk, madness, making music, the music business, England, Roman Catholicism, success, growing apart, books, booze, drugs and assorted other topics
April 3, 2023
Oh wow okay called it when he started saying slurs. Genuinely a very interesting read with an interesting man, but more in the sense of an interview with a murder in their documentary. This book opens with a scribbled note from Shane explaining how he used to dream of cutting up women. He doesnt seem to *do* anything wrong at any point in his life, and his viewpoints are generally hugely progressive but he depicts them in the most vile and rotten ways imaginable. He criticised the years of injustice facing black people in America and how the institution is deeply corrupt at its core, then calls them the n word and, when criticised by his wife, says "ach, whatever you call them these days. How many do you think will even read this?"
Truly an interesting and strange man and i do plan to finish reading but its a bit much for me right now.
Truly an interesting and strange man and i do plan to finish reading but its a bit much for me right now.
December 18, 2023
- A GENIUS MAIMED!!! Tragic! A tragic figure!
- A tragic genius, yeah.
- Yeah!
- You haven't got that yet?
You obviously need a certain interest in the man. 360 pages of unedited dialogue between Shane and his partner, with her trying to get him to talk about his life and him going on endless foulmouthed tangents that veer from the pathetic to the almost depressingly sharp - depressingly because this is post-career, this is after a ton of drink and drugs, and he's still in there but just... getting access to it can't be easy. She stayed with him. And he tries, past all the slurs and the slagging off of people he's supposed to mend fences with, he catches himself and checks himself constantly. And the way he describes music, the punk scene, growing up, the bitterness over career choices, the half-finished songs scrawled on the back of papers...
And God is in his heaven, and Billy's down by the bay.
- A tragic genius, yeah.
- Yeah!
- You haven't got that yet?
You obviously need a certain interest in the man. 360 pages of unedited dialogue between Shane and his partner, with her trying to get him to talk about his life and him going on endless foulmouthed tangents that veer from the pathetic to the almost depressingly sharp - depressingly because this is post-career, this is after a ton of drink and drugs, and he's still in there but just... getting access to it can't be easy. She stayed with him. And he tries, past all the slurs and the slagging off of people he's supposed to mend fences with, he catches himself and checks himself constantly. And the way he describes music, the punk scene, growing up, the bitterness over career choices, the half-finished songs scrawled on the back of papers...
And God is in his heaven, and Billy's down by the bay.
August 12, 2025
3.5* probably the most unique biography I’ve ever seen or read. Pearls of wisdom against unreliable narration. Rambling sentences and messy chapters.
Hated him at times, endeared by him often.
Hated him at times, endeared by him often.
January 21, 2024
Shane MacGowan comes off as significantly better read than I expected, and significantly more ignorant—not just his use of the n-word and other slurs and his lazy defences of such, but he articulates a variety of ideas and theories that don’t stand up to any scrutiny.As a baseline he varies in this book between wildly entertaining and tedious, frequently contradicting himself—sometimes within minutes of his original statement. This book is very much like being buttonholed by a drunk who knows precisely how charming he is, but is less aware that he’s lazy and ill-informed on a variety of the subjects he’s most excited to talk about. Still—the anecdotes about growing up in rural Ireland, about being Irish in London, and about being part of the first wave of British punk, and of course about founding the Pogues are excellent. His capacity for gossip and sass is great. Overall, he struck me as a gifted artist who’d read widely but retained less of it than he thought, and had some wild experiences he remembered better, but tended toward scrambling the stories due to the compulsion for beer and whiskey he rendered poetic in his songs. As serious a lifelong Pogues fan as I am, it took me far longer to read this than it might have as I found myself getting tired of him, sometimes fairly quickly into cracking the book. There was a lot of up and down.
August 16, 2013
This book is a great & fun read! Any true Shane or Pogues fan will love it. Even those who are not fans, but are interested in Ireland, religion, punk rock, or music in general will find it insightful.
For the record I must say -- Victoria Clarke's constant use of adverbs was annoying... Expect some bad writing here. However, the introductions constitute a very small part of the book and are easily forgiven. The REALLY FUNNY parts are Shane's stories, which had me doubled over in laughter. This man is hilarious and entertaining. He is very open about his alcohol and drug abuse, and kudos to him for being so honest. There is also quite a bit of philosophy -- Shane's interest in Taoism, his Catholic roots, losing and regaining faith, etc.
My favorite quote: "... there is more to life than there appears to be with the five senses, and logic does not get you anywhere except the atom bomb."
I am glad I read this book and highly recommend it.
For the record I must say -- Victoria Clarke's constant use of adverbs was annoying... Expect some bad writing here. However, the introductions constitute a very small part of the book and are easily forgiven. The REALLY FUNNY parts are Shane's stories, which had me doubled over in laughter. This man is hilarious and entertaining. He is very open about his alcohol and drug abuse, and kudos to him for being so honest. There is also quite a bit of philosophy -- Shane's interest in Taoism, his Catholic roots, losing and regaining faith, etc.
My favorite quote: "... there is more to life than there appears to be with the five senses, and logic does not get you anywhere except the atom bomb."
I am glad I read this book and highly recommend it.
Read
November 7, 2010Shane had an an uncle who never bathed.
"The crusade was to make Irish music hip...for the Irish music to make the language hip again. And the literature hip. In other words, to build Irish self-esteem, right? And for the whole world to know what increased wealth of culture we've contributed to the world, for such a small nation. Also with "Birmingham Six," I began singing songs about the atrocities by the British."
"The crusade was to make Irish music hip...for the Irish music to make the language hip again. And the literature hip. In other words, to build Irish self-esteem, right? And for the whole world to know what increased wealth of culture we've contributed to the world, for such a small nation. Also with "Birmingham Six," I began singing songs about the atrocities by the British."
August 11, 2011
One part crackpot bar talk (I could do w/out the Catholic/Taoist/acid-dropping fusion of religiosity), one part passionate Irish nationalism, a dab of incisive, been-through-the-sausage-machine-meself music business theory, and a dram o' genius here and there. But I must confess my disappointment that he didn't reveal how those teeth got so f-ck'd up...
April 22, 2013
It's a lot easier to read an interview with Shane MacGowan than to listen to one.
August 2, 2017
The book is essentially a long interview between MacGowan and the author who is his, no doubt, long-suffering partner held in eight different places. Drink was pretty certainly involved in all of them. Her exasperation and occasional disbelief are evident throughtout the exchanges.
The format means that there is no real narrative flow, and that's before you take into account MacGowan's ability to wander off subject.
Having said that, there's much interesting tales and spouting of opinion from MacGowan. However, as entertaining as this might be, it all amounts to considerable self-mythologising on MacGowan's part, and a lot of the opinion seems utter nonsense. Taken together, his claims might even top Donovan's in his autobiography. At the very least, he clearly lives in another world to the rest of us.
MacGowan has written some fantastic songs, and made some equally terrific records. His tragedy is that these were done years ago with little sign that he's remotely capable of matching that burst of creativity.
The book does encourage me to go back and listen to these albums. It also encourages me to seek out a more soundly based book on MacGowan and The Pogues.
As things stand from this book, Shane MacGowan just seems to be an entertaining but iredeemable alcoholic prick of the highest order.
The format means that there is no real narrative flow, and that's before you take into account MacGowan's ability to wander off subject.
Having said that, there's much interesting tales and spouting of opinion from MacGowan. However, as entertaining as this might be, it all amounts to considerable self-mythologising on MacGowan's part, and a lot of the opinion seems utter nonsense. Taken together, his claims might even top Donovan's in his autobiography. At the very least, he clearly lives in another world to the rest of us.
MacGowan has written some fantastic songs, and made some equally terrific records. His tragedy is that these were done years ago with little sign that he's remotely capable of matching that burst of creativity.
The book does encourage me to go back and listen to these albums. It also encourages me to seek out a more soundly based book on MacGowan and The Pogues.
As things stand from this book, Shane MacGowan just seems to be an entertaining but iredeemable alcoholic prick of the highest order.
January 8, 2017
I once met Van Morrison in a café in Notting Hill, it must have been about 1970 something, he was wearing a string vest, I told him that his secret was safe with me, which it most definitely was, there was no secret.
There are no secrets about Shane Macgowan either. Everything is here, all nicely filleted no doubt but revelations abound. A good read? Yes if you are not too squeamish i.e. fuck not feck is in use but that might be a mistranslation from Irish into English.
The only culture Shane seems not to have been closely involved in with might be the Ecstacy one, or perhaps his years as a DJ have been quietly forgotten (or edited out ?) The other reviews of this book are pretty interesting and you might want to just read those and not bother with all the swearing, fighting. Taoism, quiet picnics on Hampstead Heath and blood alcohol off the scale.
Victoria Clarke is a saintly navigator through all this turbulence but would she please drop the adverbs at the end of each of the introductory paras? They do grate . Otherwise probably the best rock biography since Life. Next!
PS Condolences to Shane for his sad loss.
There are no secrets about Shane Macgowan either. Everything is here, all nicely filleted no doubt but revelations abound. A good read? Yes if you are not too squeamish i.e. fuck not feck is in use but that might be a mistranslation from Irish into English.
The only culture Shane seems not to have been closely involved in with might be the Ecstacy one, or perhaps his years as a DJ have been quietly forgotten (or edited out ?) The other reviews of this book are pretty interesting and you might want to just read those and not bother with all the swearing, fighting. Taoism, quiet picnics on Hampstead Heath and blood alcohol off the scale.
Victoria Clarke is a saintly navigator through all this turbulence but would she please drop the adverbs at the end of each of the introductory paras? They do grate . Otherwise probably the best rock biography since Life. Next!
PS Condolences to Shane for his sad loss.
October 15, 2022
This is exactly as advertised: a series of rambling conversations between Shane and his long time partner (now wife) Victoria Marie Clarke. It begins with his origins on a family farm in Ireland which are equal parts charming for their bygone times simplicity and alarming for the young age at which Shane was exposed to basically every vice you can name. The middle section is Shane spewing his opinions, drinking stories, lies, exaggerations, gossip and bits of reality from his somewhat brief but monumental tenure as a famous frontman. He curses, shouts, contradicts himself, spits venom, and warms your heart in equal measure. In the final interview, he even finds some sort of solace…maybe. This book is a truly unique treasure, lovingly pieced together by someone who knows Shane better than anyone, and truly adores him in all his repugnant splendor. The book perfectly captures the essence of one of the world’s greatest gutter poets, or “piss artists” as Shane himself coined. If you love the Pogues, you will adore this book.
November 4, 2019
This book, like Shane MacGowan himself, is confounding, exciting, exasperating, and eye-opening. MacGowan has a breathtaking disregard for linear storytelling and a disturbing propensity to contradict himself within the same story, if not the same sentence, and I'm sure these features will turn off quite a few casual readers. His "interviewer" and partner, Victoria Mary Clarke, does a yeoman job of trying to rein him in and keep him on the tracks, although it's usually in vain. However, there are some gems here: the first few chapters, regarding Shane's childhood in Ireland and early adulthood in London, are wildly entertaining, and interestingly, the last chapter, where he explores his ideas on religion, is surprisingly profound. The pieces regarding the Pogues are illuminating, especially for serious fans, but somewhat colored by Shane's massive and bizarre ego. All in all, it's a very enjoyable book, but maybe not accessible for everyone.
November 7, 2023
well, i'm a huge pogues fan, and as a younger person i really dug the lifestyle that shane seems to embody. he got in fights, he smoked and drank and didn't give a tumbling f* what anyone thought. He was in and out of jail, insane asylums, bands, and relationships.
now that i'm older, i see it as a sort of immaturity that i'm glad i grew out of and i'm sorry he didn't. during the interviews that make up this book, shane is in his mid 40s, defiant, wasted, and a little idiotic. he has been thrown out of the pogues and has high hopes for his latest adventure, the popes; which he believes will be more successful because it will not be a democracy.
knowing from the vantage of 2023 that his boastful ideas of a huge career with the popes were never to materialize, the image of the drunken macgowan speaking into a tape recorder about how well he holds his liquor and continues to make epic music is a sad one.
now that i'm older, i see it as a sort of immaturity that i'm glad i grew out of and i'm sorry he didn't. during the interviews that make up this book, shane is in his mid 40s, defiant, wasted, and a little idiotic. he has been thrown out of the pogues and has high hopes for his latest adventure, the popes; which he believes will be more successful because it will not be a democracy.
knowing from the vantage of 2023 that his boastful ideas of a huge career with the popes were never to materialize, the image of the drunken macgowan speaking into a tape recorder about how well he holds his liquor and continues to make epic music is a sad one.
October 10, 2024
I really rate this. Based on a series of interviews, his partner Victoria originally wrote it up in what she later described as quite flowery text but then felt it would be more authentic if she just printed the original transcripts. So here we have Shane in the old Irish family home, wind howling round the rafters, kettle on the fire, all of that.
One of the most striking stories from it is that of how his managers pushed him in the band’s early flush of success, despite his telling them he could do with an easing off of the pressure. Their refusal to do so didn’t help his drinking or his health. But here too are stories from his childhood days in Ireland, his faith, his early years as a ‘soul boy’, his revolutionary fusion of punk and folk, tall tales in the early days of making gigs at almost any cost.
It doesn’t really need saying that the man was a living legend, that he gave the folk scene a boot up the arse that decades later it sometimes doesn’t always have seemed to have noticed. But the book gives an insight into his life from his very own words. He really shone despite the tribulations. I’ll raise a glass to him.
One of the most striking stories from it is that of how his managers pushed him in the band’s early flush of success, despite his telling them he could do with an easing off of the pressure. Their refusal to do so didn’t help his drinking or his health. But here too are stories from his childhood days in Ireland, his faith, his early years as a ‘soul boy’, his revolutionary fusion of punk and folk, tall tales in the early days of making gigs at almost any cost.
It doesn’t really need saying that the man was a living legend, that he gave the folk scene a boot up the arse that decades later it sometimes doesn’t always have seemed to have noticed. But the book gives an insight into his life from his very own words. He really shone despite the tribulations. I’ll raise a glass to him.
February 15, 2024
What a read. Some very interesting opinions, a few laugh out loud moments, and all the waffle and digression that you'd expect from someone who's been at the bar since opening time.
Favourite quote (I warn you it's a long 'un) :
"But you can never get a bad reading in the I Ching. You can get a duff one, you can get one that tells you not to do anything but you can't get one that says your fucked. I believe you can't be fucked. But I believe you can believe you're fucked, and that can be bad because if you think you're fucked, then you are fucked. But you're not really fucked. People escaped from Alcatraz and Devil's Island, people have done unbelievably dangerous things. Houdini got out of a chest with chains around it that had been thrown in the bottom of a river. Anybody else would've been fucked, but Houdini didn't believe he was fucked, so he wasn't."
Favourite quote (I warn you it's a long 'un) :
"But you can never get a bad reading in the I Ching. You can get a duff one, you can get one that tells you not to do anything but you can't get one that says your fucked. I believe you can't be fucked. But I believe you can believe you're fucked, and that can be bad because if you think you're fucked, then you are fucked. But you're not really fucked. People escaped from Alcatraz and Devil's Island, people have done unbelievably dangerous things. Houdini got out of a chest with chains around it that had been thrown in the bottom of a river. Anybody else would've been fucked, but Houdini didn't believe he was fucked, so he wasn't."
November 26, 2025
There's some great information here, but a lot of junk. Unfortunately, there's no organization. It's all an interview, though a few pauses are noted (not sure why other than to break up the monotony, which doesn't work). Shane's recollections of life in the Pogues, which fellow rock stars he likes hanging out with (Cave, Waits), and details about major and minor players in the IRA (several of which are mentioned in Pogues songs) make for great reading. But Q&As about whether he had an addiction problem (duh), whether he believed in an afterlife, and which aunt or grandad had this or that trait that was passed down to Shane left me wondering why this book wasn't half its length.
January 30, 2021
If you're not a fan of The Pogues or Shane, don't bother reading this book.
Some interesting insights into his life and life in the band.
It's difficult to tell when he's speaking the truth or he's just wandering and spewing out a stream of consciousness.
The banter between Shane and Victoria is fun but sadly there isn't much of it and by far that's the most interesting part of the book.
A generous 3 stars.
Some interesting insights into his life and life in the band.
It's difficult to tell when he's speaking the truth or he's just wandering and spewing out a stream of consciousness.
The banter between Shane and Victoria is fun but sadly there isn't much of it and by far that's the most interesting part of the book.
A generous 3 stars.
February 15, 2025
I guess reading the book kind of explains certain things about the singer and at some level it was interesting to read about his early years and get to know his view of life, which mainly was confusing and hard to relate. It did work that the book was written as a conversation between them too. But to be fair it was mainly Shane ranting and not letting her intervene.
I hoped for more, not exactly sure what, but was disappointed anyway.
I hoped for more, not exactly sure what, but was disappointed anyway.
July 8, 2025
I'm a biiig Pogues fan . . . isn't everyone?
I enjoyed the middle of this book. The childhood bits were nice and important, but the middle is where we finally get to some Pogues origin stories. There just wasn't enough of it, though. And then the end is just a famous man philosophizing, and I could've done without ALL of that.
Recommended for anyone who ever waited for a pair of brown eyes.
I enjoyed the middle of this book. The childhood bits were nice and important, but the middle is where we finally get to some Pogues origin stories. There just wasn't enough of it, though. And then the end is just a famous man philosophizing, and I could've done without ALL of that.
Recommended for anyone who ever waited for a pair of brown eyes.
July 30, 2019
Not sure about this one. There's some interesting insights, but lots of stuff that made me not like MacGowan as a person. The third-person interlocking narration bits I found silly and badly written. As for all the spiritual gobbledygook at the end...I thought MacGowan had more sense. But there's no denying his honesty. And intelligence. And of course the great songs.
August 18, 2023
Really not what I was expecting. True to say you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. Shane is seen as a drunken singer, sometimes not even being able to perform on stage due to his drinking and drug taking. But underneath the surface is a very clever individual. You may not support his views, especially his views on the IRA, but some of the spiritual musings he has are mind blowing.
July 20, 2024
A Drink was fast, unusually constructed, and never boring. Some sections dragged a bit by comparison to others, but this was a terrific read. MacGowan comes across as brilliant, mercurial, and deeply narcissistic, and he is always interesting. The off-the-cuff interview style elevated this from a solid rocker memoir to a worthwhile genre experiment.
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