Line #45 Music/ThePogues


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_pogues_photo.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''One summer evening, drunk to hell...'']]
3
4	->''"On the first day of March it is raining\
5	It is raining worse than anything that I have ever seen\
6	Stay on the other side of the road 'cause you can never tell\
7	We've a thirst like a gang of devils, we're the boys from the county {{Hell}}"''
8
9	The Pogues were a Celtic PunkRock band from London, formed as Pogue Mahone in 1982. The band landed a number of hits in the [[TheEighties 1980s]] and early [[TheNineties '90s]] before losing lead singer/songwriter Shane [=MacGowan=] to [[TheAlcoholic personal issues]] in 1991, and after two more albums [[TheBandMinusTheFace without him]] called it quits in 1996. They reformed (with [=McGowan=]) in 2001 and went on several tours together, with their final performance to date coming in 2014.
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11	They're noted for their awesome songwriting and mix of traditional folk music with punkish energy, and, sadly, for the horrible death of guest vocalist Kirsty [=MacColl=] and the very public self-destruction (and [[BritishTeeth poor dental hygiene]]) of Shane [=MacGowan=].
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13	Their biggest hit, "Fairytale of New York", has been voted Ireland's and Britain's favourite Christmas song or thereabouts on several occasions, and reliably returns to the charts every December. It was certified a million seller in 2012, 25 years after its original release.
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15	[[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/30/shane-macgowan-pogues-singer-dies Shane MacGowan passed away on November 30th, 2023.]] ''Good night, and God guard you forever.''
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17	----
18	!!Studio discography:
19	* ''Red Roses for Me'' (1984)
20	* ''Rum, Sodomy & the Lash'' (1985)
21	* ''If I Should Fall from Grace with God'' (1988)
22	* ''Peace and Love'' (1989)
23	* ''Hell's Ditch'' (1990)
24	* ''Waiting for Herb'' (1993)
25	* ''Pogue Mahone'' (1996)
26
27	----
28	!!The music of this band provides examples of:
29	* AgeProgressionSong: "Poor Paddy", though nothing much changes for the protagonist except that he becomes more and more exhausted.
30	* AntiChristmasSong:
31	** "Fairytale of New York" is one of the most famous examples--so common on the radio during the holiday season that most people don't even pick up on the massive LyricalDissonance.
32	--->''You scumbag, you maggot\
33	You cheap, lousy faggot\
34	Happy Christmas your arse\
35	I pray God it's our last''
36	** At the same time, it's probably much ''less'' of an Anti Christmas Song than it's generally painted, on the basis that the quote above is pretty much the only bit most people actually know, but importantly, ''it's not the end of the song''. The end of the song implies a reconciliation, and ends on one of the most realistically sweet and romantic notes of ''any'' Christmas song.
37	--->''I kept them with me, babe\
38	I put them with my own\
39	Can't make it out alone\
40	I built my dreams around you.''
41	* BadassBoast:
42	** "Boys from the County Hell", as in the page quote.
43	* BilingualBonus:
44	** "Kitty" refers to the title character as "mo mhuirnín" and "a stór", both Irish terms of endearment.
45	** "Fiesta" features a verse in garbled Spanish about former bandmate Cait O'Riordan and former producer Music/ElvisCostello.
46	* BlindIdiotTranslation: One led to the creation of the song "Turkish Song of Damned". The band had acquired a German magazine with an article about Music/{{The Damned\|Band}} while on an international tour, and noticed that it referred to one of that group's [[BSide B-sides]], "Turkey Song", as "Turkish Song of the Damned".[[note]]the original song title was referring to the bird, not the country[[/note]] They thought that was too cool a title not to use, so they came up with music and lyrics to fit it.
47	* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: "A Pair of Brown Eyes"
48	-->''Some prayed, some cursed\
49	Some prayed, ''then'' cursed\
50	Then prayed, then bled some more''
51	* ClusterFBomb:
52	** "Bottle of Smoke"
53	** Happens twice in "The Sick Bed of of Cuchulainn"
54	* TheCoverChangesTheGender: {{Averted\| trope}} in the case of the traditional lilt "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day", in which bassist Cait O'Riordan takes the lead vocal.
55	* CoverVersion: Usually at least one per album.
56	* DraftDodging: "The Recruiting Sergeant"
57	-->''There's fighting in Dublin to be done\
58	Let your sergeants and your commanders go\
59	Let Englishmen fight English wars\
60	It's nearly time they started-oh...''
61	* DualMeaningChorus: "Sally [=MacLennane=]" uses the same chorus to describe a farewell party for a friend emigrating and, later, that same friend's wake.
62	* EpicRocking: "Body of an American" and "Turkish Song of the Damned"
63	* ForeignCussWord: Considering they started in London, the band name started as one - Pogue Mahone is anglicised Irish for ''póg mo thóin'', "Kiss my arse." Amusingly, the ''póg'' part means "kiss", so the band name is actually "The Kisses".
64	* GratuitousSpanish: "Fiesta"
65	* ImmigrantPatriotism: A good bit of it in "Body of an American" (an ambiguously-ironic celebration of the pride Irish immigrants to the U.S. had for their new country).
66	* TheMasochismTango: "Fairytale of New York"
67	* ManlyTears: "Thousands Are Sailing"
68	-->''Then we raised a glass to JFK and a dozen more besides\
69	When I got back to my empty room I suppose I must have cried''
70	* NonAppearingTitle: "Fairytale of New York"
71	* OdeToIntoxication: Pretty much every other song.
72	* ProtestSong: "Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six" about UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, and the imprisonment of the Birmingham Six, who were later found to have been, indeed, innocent.
73	* RedLightDistrict: "The Old Main Drag" is an unusually brutal depiction.
74	-->''And now I am lying here, I've had too much booze\
75	I've been [[SpitefulSpit spat on]] and [[ExcrementStatement shat on]] and [[RapeAsDrama raped]] and [[HumiliationConga abused]]\
76	[[DespairSpeech I know that I am dying]] and I wish I could beg\
77	For some money to take me from [[CreepyMonotone the old main drag]] -''
78	* SentencedToDownUnder: "Kitty"
79	* ShoutOut:
80	** In "Fiesta", to "[[Music/ElvisCostello Costello el Rey del America]]" and his (then-)wife, former Pogues bassist and occasional female singer "suntuosa Cait O'Riordan". (The lyrics of the song describe the festivities surrounding their wedding.)
81	** The instrumental "Cats of Kilkenny" sounds suspiciously like an acoustic and Hibernicised cover of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' theme.
82	** "Fairytale of New York" is named after the novel by J.P. Donleavy. The song has nothing to do with the book, but Music/ElvisCostello convinced them that it needed a better title than "Christmas Eve in the Drunk Tank", and the song ''is'' set in New York.
83	** The cover of ''Rum Sodomy & the Lash'' is ''Art/TheRaftOfTheMedusa'' with the band's faces imposed over the men in the painting.
84	* SophisticatedAsHell: "Sit Down by the Fire"
85	-->''Good night and God bless\
86	Now fuck off to bed''
87	* SoiledCityOnAHill: "London You're a Lady"
88	-->''Your architects were madmen\
89	Your builders sane but drunk\
90	Among your faded jewels\
91	Shine acid house and punk''
92	* SoloDuet: "Gentleman Soldier" has Shane putting on three distinct voices as narrator, a soldier, and [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments the soldier's girlfriend]].
93	* SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein: Almost any song could be this for those not accustomed to Irish accents, but even if the accents don't confuse you, [=MacGowan=] in particular is known for slurring his vocals. And when he gets up some speed, such as on "Fiesta"... good luck!
94	* TropeCodifier: Or possibly even the TropeMaker for Celtic punk, and, within a larger context, folk punk.
95	* UncommonTime: "Rocky Road to Dublin" is a slip jig in 9/8. Not uncommon for Irish traditional music, but pretty uncommon in the mainstream.
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97	----
98	!!The members of this band provide examples of:
99	* TheAlcoholic: Shane, up until a debilitating hip injury in 2015 forced him to give up drinking in order to recover.
100	* TheBandMinusTheFace: The Pogues kicked Shane out in the early 90s and kept going for several years without their best-known member.
101	* FemaleRockersPlayBass: Cait O'Riordan, the only woman in the band and the original bass player.
102	* NobodyLovesTheBassist: Averted, at least initially. Cait O'Riordan was the only female member of the band and a memorable stage presence, so she was popular with many fans, some of whom even say the band was never the same after she left. It doesn't hurt that she sang as well. When she ditched the band, she was replaced by Darryl Hunt, who'd been a roadie for the band. He wasn't particularly popular, but in a band that also had a cittern player and an accordion player, he wasn't the only band member to fade into the background a little bit.
103	* RevolvingDoorBand: Various members shuffled in and out of the lineup through the years, with Jem Finer and Andrew Rankin pretty much the only constants.
104	* SpecialGuest: For a while after Shane left the band, the lead singer was [[Music/TheClash Joe Strummer]].
105	** Kirsty [=McColl=] guested on "Fairytale of New York" and did some live gigs with the band.
106	* StageNames: the whole band were meant to have them originally and they're credited with them on the first Pogues album (Jem Finer is Country Jem, Cait O'Riordan is Rocky O'Riordan) but they were quickly abandoned. The only members of the band left who had stage names were Spider Stacy and Phil Chevron, who'd adopted his long before he joined the Pogues.
107	* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Spider Stacy usually sang at least one song on each album (or in concert when Shane was too drunk to perform) and took over lead vocalist duties after Shane left. Caitlin O'Riordan also sang lead on "A Man You Don't Meet Every Day".
108	* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Shane [=MacGowan=]'s backing band during his solo career was called The Popes.
109	* TokenMinority: The guitarist, Philip Chevron, was very much openly gay, and once described himself as "[a] homosexual in a heterosexual band". He even had a crush on James Fearnley, the accordionist.
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Context Music / ThePogues