Shane MacGowan Quotes

“People are talking about immigration, emigration and the rest of the fucking thing. It's all fucking crap. We're all human beings, we're all mammals, we're all rocks, plants, rivers. Fucking borders are just such a pain in the fucking arse.”

— Shane MacGowan

“For its stupid to laugh and its useless to bawl
About a rusty tin can and an old hurley ball
”

— Shane MacGowan

“Now you'll sing a song of liberty for blacks and Paks and Jocks
And they'll take you from this dump you're in and stick you in a box
Then they'll take you to Cloughprior and shove you in the ground
But you'll stick your head back out and shout We'll have another round!”

— Shane MacGowan

“So I walked as day was dawning
Where small birds sang and leaves were falling
Where we once watched the row boats landing
On the broad majestic Shannon”

— Shane MacGowan

“But he never threw a fight when the fight was right
So they sent him to the war”

— Shane MacGowan

When the cold winds come and find you
Blowing down from the top of the high rise
I'll come and take you back down to Soho
Away from all those madmen's eyes

— Shane MacGowan

“This town has done us dirty
This town has bled us dry
We've been here for a long time
And we'll be here 'til we die
So we'll finish off the leavings
Of blood and glue and beer
And burn this bloody city down
In the summer of the year”

— Shane MacGowan

If I should fall from grace with God
Where no doctor can relieve me
If I'm buried 'neath the sod
But the angels won't receive me
Let me go, boys
Let me go, boys
Let me go down in the mud
Where rivers all run dry

— Shane MacGowan

“Ah sweet city of my dreams
Of speed and skill and schemes
Like Atlantis you just disappeared from view
And the hare upon the wire
Has been burnt upon your pyre
Like the black dog that once raced
Out from trap two”

— Shane MacGowan

Wish that they could walk forever
On the earth alone and fettered
Until they pray for consolation
Until they beg for sweet damnation
Then I'll come and bring them water
Bring them hope, bring them laughter
Raise their hopes both sad and sunken
Slash them up as they lie there drunken
Push them down into the foul mud
Until they choke up on their own blood
Drag them out before their last breath
To take away the mercy of death
Mother's eyes are sparking diamonds
Still the moon shows no light
This rose is withered
May God deliver
The rake at the gates of hell tonight

— Shane MacGowan

“Dehydration
Humiliation
Degradation
Mind castration
And the sky is black
And the one next to you
Keeps thinking that they're having a heart attack.
Desolation
On medication
Nurse nurse nurse
Can't sleep easy
Nurse nurse nurse
Are you fucking with me
ECT fucking did a thing on me
ECT did a job on me
ECT did a job on me
ECT did a job on me.
Pinned Down
Pinned Down.”

— Shane MacGowan

“I can type with me toes
Suck stout through me nose
And where it's gonna end
God only knows”

— Shane MacGowan

“A hungry sound came across the breeze
So I gave the walls a talking.”

— Shane MacGowan

“One, two, three, four, turn your poles
Give me a cup of sweet poitin
Madness from the mountains crawling
When I first saw you, my own Aisling”

— Shane MacGowan

I sat on the floor and watched TV
Thanking Christ for the BBC
A stupid fucking place to be
Down Rain Street

— Shane MacGowan

“Oh the torn up ticket stubs
From a hundred thousand mugs
Now washed away with dead dreams in the rain
And the carparks going up
And they're pulling down the pubs
And its just another bloody rainy day”

— Shane MacGowan

“And as I sit and talk to you I see your face go white
This shadow hanging over me
Is no trick of the light
The spectre on my back will soon be free
The dead have come to claim a debt from thee”

— Shane MacGowan

“I've been spat on and shat on
And raped and abused.”

— Shane MacGowan

“Here a tower shining bright
Once stood gleaming in the night
Where now
There's just the rubble in the hole
from White City”

— Shane MacGowan

“I drink because I'm thirsty.”

— Shane MacGowan

“When I'm writing a song, it gives me more actual pleasure to hear someone else sing it than do it meself.”

— Shane MacGowan

“I've been here all the time; I could be putting out as many albums as Costello, y'know what I mean?”

— Shane MacGowan

My dad has no control over who works with me. Me, me and me alone has to take responsibility for anything.

— Shane MacGowan

“What I do is I'm a bandleader, frontman, entertainer.”

— Shane MacGowan

“Petitions are ridiculous.”

— Shane MacGowan

“I've been loving you a long time
Down all the years, down all the days
And I've cried for all your troubles
Smiled at your funny little ways”

— Shane MacGowan

“I'm just following the Irish tradition of songwriting, the Irish way of life, the human way of life. Cram as much pleasure into life, and rail against the pain you have to suffer as a result. Or scream and rant with the pain, and wait for it to be taken away with beautiful pleasure ...”

— Shane MacGowan

“Everyone drinks ... Well, unless they don't.”

— Shane MacGowan

“I've been a babe magnet for quite a while now.”

— Shane MacGowan

“There is drinking in lots of the songs because there is drinking in life. Drinking stimulates the imagination.”

— Shane MacGowan

“You can't hate people unless you love them.”

— Shane MacGowan

“With The Pogues, at least the first three albums I'll stand by completely, yeah? Because I was in artistic control then, yeah? And the last couple of albums I'll stand by anything that's got my name on it, yeah? But I'll stand by anything that is on The Popes' albums, you know? I wouldn't put stuff out that I didn't like. I don't put out bad music. And I can tell the difference. I know that.”

— Shane MacGowan

“Cram as much pleasure as you can into life, and rail against the pain that you have to suffer as a result.”

— Shane MacGowan