God Bless Shane

Subject: God Bless Shane
From: Suzy Sock Puppet
Date: 25 May 13 - 03:56 AM

God Bless Shane 

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: gnu
Date: 25 May 13 - 04:35 AM

1986!

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: Suzy Sock Puppet
Date: 25 May 13 - 05:10 AM

I met my love by the gas works wall
Dreamed a dream by the old canal 
I kissed my girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town 
Dirty old town 

Couds a drifting across the moon 
Cats a prowling on their beat
Spring's a girl in the street at night 
Dirty old town 
Dirty old town 

Heard a siren from the docks 
Saw a train set the night on fire 
Smelled the spring on the smokey wind 
Dirty old town 
Dirty old town

I'm going to make a good sharp axe 
Shining steel tempered in the fire 
Will chop you down like an old dead tree 
Dirty old town 
Dirty old town (Ewan McColl) 

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 25 May 13 - 05:50 AM

I met my love by the gasworks CROFT.

Dave H

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: MartinRyan
Date: 25 May 13 - 05:53 AM

I met my love by the gasworks CROFT.

I'm tempted to say - "Folk off!" but am too well brung up!

;>)>

Regards

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: GUEST,Musket sans Ian
Date: 25 May 13 - 05:59 AM

In 1949 as a song for the musical Landscape with chimneys, for Theatre Workshop, he wrote Croft.

Interestingly when asked many years later he said he wasn't precious. That in itself was a first. ..

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: Suzy Sock Puppet
Date: 25 May 13 - 08:31 AM

For the love of Christ! How would I know about one little word? It changed before I ever knew it.

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: GUEST
Date: 25 May 13 - 01:30 PM

Dear Sean McGowan,

Or is it Shane MacGowan? Now put that whiskey down and listen to me. If you want to meet your love by the gasworks wall, you go right the fuck ahead. I'm with ya darlin'.

                                           Your Truly,

                                                 Susan

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: GUEST, Póg mo thóin
Date: 25 May 13 - 08:58 PM

CROFT is it?

A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer.

Really? That doesn't even make sense.

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: GUEST
Date: 26 May 13 - 12:33 PM

The song was written about Salford. A croft in that area is a piece of waste ground,does that make sense now?

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: GUEST,Póg mo thóin
Date: 26 May 13 - 03:46 PM

Well, since you can't easily get that particular meaning then it is obsolete for today. The point is, you shouldn't have to be an antiquarian to enjoy a folk song.

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: MartinRyan
Date: 26 May 13 - 04:14 PM

Words change, songs change... It's a strength - not a weakness.

Regards

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: GUEST
Date: 27 May 13 - 02:37 AM

Wall? Croft?
McGowan? MacGowan?
McColl? MacColl?

Maybe Ewan should have stayed with Miller...or was that Millar?

Nice one, Shayne.

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 May 13 - 06:14 AM

They played him and Peggy singing it on the 9.45 Book Of The Week slot on Radio 4 this morning. It's gasworks croft the first time in the first verse and gasworks wall the second time. I know it doesn't matter much but a good lyricist would hardly have put "wall" in twice in that same verse. I reckon.

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 May 13 - 06:17 AM

By him I meant MacColl.

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 May 13 - 08:18 PM

Sod it. I just listened to the half past midnight repeat and I have to correct meself. He sings "gasworks croft" first then "factory wall" after that. This gasworks was without walls!

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: GUEST
Date: 28 May 13 - 09:01 AM

When I saw the title of this thread with just a link to a song, I assumed Shane must have died. Don't scare us like that!

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: Suzy Sock Puppet
Date: 28 May 13 - 01:41 PM

The trouble is, I have thus far enjoyed the Pogues in a very illiterate sort of way. I never cared to look up any lyrics. Maybe I got the wrong set of lyrics. Or, maybe I am a dumb bell. Could be.

I had this beloved priest friend. Turns out I knew a lot more than him of matters relevant to his station. So I was informing him constantly. Then one day he finally said to me, Susan, I don't mind you telling me these things but you should know I have given up caring about the fact that I don't know everything :-) So here I am in a place where everybody knows tons more than me. I am not used to that at all. But I got defensive when I should have taken Father Ivan's attitude.

I miss Father. He was transferred to another parish. One of my best music buddies. He brought Ukrainian folk music into my life. And I'm truly illiterate there because I can only understand speak some Ukrainian, can't read or write it.

Sorry about that. The mood struck to to get Shane some love. OMG, those teeth! Do you know he once complained about a retouched photo where they fixed his teeth? This is how I look, he said. Yup. Sure is.

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 May 13 - 03:51 PM

Pair of Brown Eyes. Rainy Night in Soho. Streams of Whiskey. Sally MacLennane. Fiesta. Fairytale. Summer in Siam. Aisling. Sublime.

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: Suzy Sock Puppet
Date: 28 May 13 - 08:00 PM

The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn"

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 May 13 - 08:07 PM

Yep! Those ones were just off the top of my head.

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 28 May 13 - 08:12 PM

All that and Thousands Are Sailing (Chevron),Lullaby of London, Body of an American, If I Should Fall from Grace With God...

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 May 13 - 08:52 PM

I thought Philip Chevron wrote Thousands Are Sailing. Much as I like Shane's singing of it, I love the version on "Bringing It All Back Home" on which Philip does the singing. It's quite different in a marvellous way. Sadly, Philip has been diagnosed recently with terminal cancer.

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 28 May 13 - 09:28 PM

Yeah, apparently he's been fighting it for awhile (sigh). I've never heard him sing it, I'll have to check that out.

Subject: RE: God Bless Shane
From: J-boy
Date: 28 May 13 - 11:29 PM

Went to see that wonderful drunk bastard in concert some years ago. He never showed up. Turns out he had a prior engagement with a bottle of gin at a bar across the street from the concert hall.