Episode 104 - If I Should Fall From Gapes With God (Part One)

The Pogues are one of Britain's greatest bands (we're not being disrespectful to the occupied people of Ireland here by the way, the Pogues were formed in London by largely English musicians) and their hard-drinking frontman Shane MacGowan is one of the most talented and iconoclastic writers of his generation, bringing more of the approach of great literature to popular music than anyone since Lou Reed. In the first of a two-part chronicle of the band, taking plenty of time to assess the social, historical and political context surrounding the superb lyrics and music, we trace the Celtic punks' history and varying interests from Bops, Babes, Booze & Bovver to Rum, Sodomy & The Lash. This episode concludes with a discussion of its namesake, the band's commercial apotheosis If I Should Fall From Grace With God - although we don't get into Fairytale of New York too heavily - and the next one will pick up where it left off, covering the band's eventual disillusion and MacGowan's solo career. CONTENT NOTE: Because we spend a large amount of time in this reading Shane's lyrics, a lot of quite offensive slurs come up for basically any group in society you care to name. We don't condone this aspect of his lyricism, but it's an important part of his personality as a writer that can't be ignored.