Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Shane Macgowan funeral on live

209 replies

EachandEveryone · 08/12/2023 15:45

Im just warching its really beautiful. Sky news.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
Original poster
EachandEveryone · 08/12/2023 22:33

Yes he did I loved the choir just casually dressed. It had a lovely vibe to it. Aiden Gillen was trying to keep it together. I loved all the readings

OP posts:
MissyB1 · 08/12/2023 22:41

LadyEloise1 · 08/12/2023 17:43

Glen Hansard was the guy singing - he won an Oscar for "Falling Slowly" iirc.
Think Cathy Davey is the female singer. She has a real "sean nós" type of voice ( old Irish tradtion of singing without accompaniment ) which I normally dislike but is great here.
Powerful stuff.

RIP Shane - ní bheidh do leithéid ann arís,
( your likes won't be seen again )

The woman singing was my cousin Lisa O Neill Irish folk singer.

LadyEloise1 · 08/12/2023 23:54

Forgive me @MissyB1
I apologised on the thread at 19.50 for my mistake Blush
She was great.

Finlesswonder · 09/12/2023 00:43

So cynical!
He was a Londoner and was dismissed as a plastic paddy in Ireland when he was alive

He was a very talented man

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 09/12/2023 00:48

FeltCarrot · 08/12/2023 19:18

Dirty Old Town, my favourite Pogues song, was written by Ewan McColl, father of Kirsty and was actually about Salford!

Played at my father in law's funeral 😊

JaneJeffer · 09/12/2023 01:10

Finlesswonder · 09/12/2023 00:43

So cynical!
He was a Londoner and was dismissed as a plastic paddy in Ireland when he was alive

He was a very talented man

He was loved in Ireland and not dismissed at all. What are you on about?

hellesbells · 09/12/2023 01:18

Finlesswonder · 09/12/2023 00:43

So cynical!
He was a Londoner and was dismissed as a plastic paddy in Ireland when he was alive

He was a very talented man

No he wasn't, he was hugely popular in Ireland

ArsenicInTheAppleTart · 09/12/2023 02:19

Finlesswonder · 09/12/2023 00:43

So cynical!
He was a Londoner and was dismissed as a plastic paddy in Ireland when he was alive

He was a very talented man

?

No he wasn't.

embolass · 09/12/2023 06:06

Newmum110 totally agree, the Priest just got it. A perfect mix of a proper Catholic funeral mass and celebrating the life of a talented complex star. That Fairytale of New York rendition was amazing 😭

BeadedBubbles · 09/12/2023 06:57

Finlesswonder · 09/12/2023 00:43

So cynical!
He was a Londoner and was dismissed as a plastic paddy in Ireland when he was alive

He was a very talented man

Is that why he received a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to Irish life, music and culture from the President of Ireland?

BOOTS52PollyPrissyPants · 09/12/2023 07:16

I laughed and I cried watching this and thought the musicians and singers amazing and the dancing when Imelda May got Victoria and others out of their seats. Shane would have loved all that and the mayhem in the church.

Johnny did not have an Irish accent, he was just speaking slowly and has a deep voice but so lovely to see him there and I thought he looked great but always loved Johnny. I used to listen to The Pogues so much on my walkman back in the day and makes me so nostalgic hearing the songs. My neighbours must think I am barmy as could not stop singing the past few days Rainy Night In Soho as always one of my favourite as the lyrics amazing and so sad in parts.

Nick Cave's voice was hauntingly beautiful and his sister did spoke beautifully about their time in London before they moved back to Tipp and back again to London.
Victoria said she was up after 5am trying to write something and it was lovely but she did go off on a mad tangent and myself and son were looking at each other in disbelief and laughing when she told the story about Shane and his little dish of holy communion which he had every day in the hospital and how he had means to get the holy communion and how the priest said you cannot do that, was like a sketch from father Ted. She told it like it was and all the stories about Shane and his lsd stories were great but think she did go on a bit and then just seemed to catch herself and think she was just lost in the storytelling and lack of sleep and in shock. Thought it was brilliant and so real and nothing pretentious at all and they all gave Shane a great send off and he will always be remembered as such a great writer, who was just himself and one of the rebels who is up there with Sinead and Christy. R.I.P. Shane McGowan so proud to be Irish.

BOOTS52PollyPrissyPants · 09/12/2023 07:23

Finlesswonder both his parents were Irish, bloodline Irish, born in uk yes but moved back to Ireland when a child, then they moved back to London but he was the proudest Irishman I knew and no one thought of him as an plastic paddy and did you just come on here to insult or try to stir up crap.
He achieved a lifetime achievement award for contribution to Irish music, culture etc from Michael D. Higgins which was his proudest moment as he never cared about the fame side of things. A great character and touched the hearts of the normal person, same as Sinead and Christy who were all sensitive souls but who spoke out for injustice.

BOOTS52PollyPrissyPants · 09/12/2023 07:27

Fairytale of New York was written by Shane and Jem Finer after a bet by Elvis Costello that they could not write a Christmas song and it took them 2 years to finish it.

MorphandMindy · 09/12/2023 07:29

We had that same wicker coffin for my mam; Irish willow. They're handmade in Ireland and look really beautiful with the green stripe and rope handles. Very light and easy to carry; only four of us were needed instead of six.

It can really give great comfort to the family to have such a beautiful send off that you know you did them proud. I hope Shane's loved ones will feel that way too.

BOOTS52PollyPrissyPants · 09/12/2023 07:30

sorry made an error, they lived in Kent before they moved back to Ireland when he was a child, upon their return they settled in London.

Thedrownedprophet · 09/12/2023 08:46

I watched a fabulous documentary last night. Made by the Irish language channel TG4, but in English. It's on YouTube

If I should fall from Grace - the Shane Macgowan story.

Made in 2001. It clearly explains his formative years and the back and forth to England. His mum and dad and sister are there, plus a very young Victoria and Nick Cave. Watch the end credits for the outtakes and his story about being called in from playing every evening to say the Rosary. Magic!

Thedrownedprophet · 09/12/2023 08:51

Also he was adored here in Ireland. We're very proud of him.

I lived in London in the 80s 90s, and he spoke to the emigrant experience that moved my soul.

They were very much a London Irish band, that was always clear to me. Only second generation Irish could properly deliver music like The old Main drag, pair of Brown eyes, Sally Mclenane and Body of an American IMO.

readymealeater · 09/12/2023 08:53

RIP.

I love The Fairytale of New York every Christmas, even though it has been considered controversial of late. IMO it's a great song that sets it apart from the usual Christmas schmaltz.

Shane's birthday was 25 December, so he has two links to Christmas in my mind.

Condolences to everyone who loved him.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 09/12/2023 09:04

What broke me was seeing all The Pogues in line up. But no Shane😢Looked wrong.

Janiie · 09/12/2023 09:39

Thedrownedprophet · 09/12/2023 08:51

Also he was adored here in Ireland. We're very proud of him.

I lived in London in the 80s 90s, and he spoke to the emigrant experience that moved my soul.

They were very much a London Irish band, that was always clear to me. Only second generation Irish could properly deliver music like The old Main drag, pair of Brown eyes, Sally Mclenane and Body of an American IMO.

Yes he definitely styled himself as Irish and Ireland clearly embraced him for that but seeing his sister deliver her eulogy in a very clear English accent then the Pogues singer speak in English yet sing in an irish accent just made the whole thing very puzzling.

FONY is an iconic song he deserved all the praise for that, however watching clips on YouTube last night of his other often terrible performances including a car crash of one with the Dubliners does make you think the adulation was possibly a little bit ott.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 09/12/2023 09:43

Janiie · 09/12/2023 09:39

Yes he definitely styled himself as Irish and Ireland clearly embraced him for that but seeing his sister deliver her eulogy in a very clear English accent then the Pogues singer speak in English yet sing in an irish accent just made the whole thing very puzzling.

FONY is an iconic song he deserved all the praise for that, however watching clips on YouTube last night of his other often terrible performances including a car crash of one with the Dubliners does make you think the adulation was possibly a little bit ott.

Show quote history

The terrible performances were what made him. 💔He came from the punk scene. They didn’t care about being a consummate performer. That was the whole point.

Janiie · 09/12/2023 09:52

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 09/12/2023 09:43

The terrible performances were what made him. 💔He came from the punk scene. They didn’t care about being a consummate performer. That was the whole point.

Show quote history

I'm not on about consummate performer. I liked punk stuff years ago but Google his performance with the Dubliners or Nick Cave he can hardly stand or sing .

FONY made him famous, rightly so, it was a good song but he never semed to follow it up. Unless I've seen the wrong YouTube clips and there are some blistering performances with great vocals out there?

JaneJeffer · 09/12/2023 10:08

You just don't get him @Janiie

Janiie · 09/12/2023 10:15

JaneJeffer · 09/12/2023 10:08

You just don't get him @Janiie

I don't get the adulation no. One good song yes, one cover of Dirty old town and lots of drug addled slurry performances, yet because he was born in England but took on a Irish rogue persona he's been held up as some kind of folklore hero.

I liked Johnny Rotten/lydon in his punk era but when he dies I doubt we'll have 3 hrs of his funeral on Sky.

ChristmasTreeMagic · 09/12/2023 10:17

@Janiie why do you think renowned musicians & performers were so happy to collaborate & perform with him? His list of admirers from the highest echelons of music is seriously impressive

Shane understood & channeled the very particular experience of being Irish & being on the outside, mouring loss of country & culture & identity & he had such soul & humility doing so.

His voice & his lyrics & his compositions spoke so directly to millions of Irish & Irish descended & many others besides. We loved him for his ability to be human, to be flawed, to tap into our national psyche in his own unique yet somehow universal way.

He proudly revelled in his London Irish-ness. It would be a rare family here that didn't have someone or many someone's who had to leave ireland. They held a wakes for them before departure as everyone knew the likelihood of them ever coming home again was very very low

Shane made bring Irish cool at a time when it was not considered cool even in ireland at times.

He followed in the footsteps of James Joyce, Brendan Behan etc

I think having the President of Ireland attend your funeral & stellar musicians such as Nick Cave sing the song you wrote at your funeral would indicate that he was most certainly know & respected & revered for far more than (the wonderful) Fairy Tale of New York!

To be honest I was dismayed by how incredibly little attention his death got on MN - about 30 comments when there are threads about nonsense that run to hundreds of comments.