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The Church of the Holy Spook When I first heard this one I thought Shane had seen the light and been born again. Upon closer listening, though, it's clear that if he has, he's at least not the kind of born-again loon we have polluting the body politic here in the United States. The "Church of the Holy Spook," although I'm sure church fathers would not phrase it that way and I don't really recall hearing it put that way during my years of Catholic indoctrination, nonetheless probably refers to the Roman Catholic church. According to Catholic dogma, God manifests himself in a divine trinity -- the father, the son (Jesus) and the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit, or, as Shane would have it, the Holy Spook. "The Tao is like a river..." "Taoism" is a religion rooted in ancient Chinese philosophy (and thus pretty far from Roman Catholicism) and the writings of Lao Tzu (who lived and wrote somewhere between the 4th and 6th centuries B.C.E.) In Chinese thought, "Tao" means "the way." In Taoist philosophy, however, it means much more than some moral truth or principle. Instead, it becomes an all encompassing term for the ineffable natural, eternal, spontaneous "being" that comprises the universe. According to the Chuang Tzu, Taoists "built their doctrines on the principle of eternal non-being and held the idea of the Great One as fundamental. To them weakness and humility were the expression, and openness and emptiness that did not destroy anything were the reality." For instance, in the Tao te-Ching we learn that "The best [man] is like water. Water is good; it benefits all things and does not compete with them. It dwells in (lowly) places that all disdain." Most of the last chapter in A Drink with Shane MacGowan addresses Shane's take on the Tao. It's a pretty good read, difficult to summarize and too long to reproduce here, but worth tracking down just to hear Victoria try to get a handle on Shane's philosophy.

The Song with No Name The title isn't quite accurate on this one. Shane "borrowed" the melody from the traditional tune "The Homes of Donegal." The Bucks (a short-lived post-Pogues project of Terry Woods and Ron Kavana) performed a version of it on their cd "Dancin' to the Ceili Band" (it's the lead tune in a medley on the track entitled "Old Time Waltzes"). If I'm not mistaken, Shane used the same melody as the intro to "Body of an American."

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Aisling Shane originally wrote this one for the Pogues. It was omitted from the "Hell's Ditch" release, and a version by Christy Moore (on his "Smoke & Strong Whiskey" release) was the first recording of it. "Aisling" has come to mean a "vision" or, more specifically, a "vision poem" in Gaelic. However, it was also a character of sorts in many 18th century Irish poems about liberation from the British (see, for instance, James Mangan's "Dark Rosaleen;" for more on Mangan, see "The Snake with Eyes of Garnet." The specific character referred in an Aisling is known as a "speirbhean" or literally translated, a "Sky-woman." The poetic form itself is referred to as "Aisling", that came to be primarily political in nature. It was sort of a female ghost-angel who would appear in a dream or vision and reveal the road to Irish nationhood. Thanks to John, and indirectly, Tom, for the assist. "Bless the wind that shakes the barley Curse the spade and curse the plough..." "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" is a traditional Irish "rebel song" about the '98 rising.

Roddy McCorley This rebel song, drawn from a poem by Anna Johnston (but published under the pseudonym Ethna Carbery [1866-1911]) refers to the rising of 1798. Both song and poem are based on the story of a young man who fought and was captured at the battle of Antrim. He was subsequently hanged at Toomebridge. Click here to open a window with the full version of her poem.

Victoria In A Drink with Shane MacGowan (2001, Grove Press, ISBN 0-821-3790-3, , p. 243), Shane relates that he wrote this song for his long term love interest and co-author, Victoria Clarke. "Down the dirty old street The Angel of the East is calling..." When coupled with the line in the chorus (the one about opium euphoria, see below) this is likely a reference to heroin or some other narcotic agent Shane has been rumored to dabble with and is produced in Myannamar, Thailand and other parts of the Far East. "Victoria, left me in opium euphoria With a fat monk singing Gloria My girl with green eyes..." I've got two possible reads for this one. On the one hand, it could refer to a religious figure singing the "Gloria," a part of the Catholic mass. On the other, I always took the "fat monk" line to refer to Van Morrison; who, while he is "The Man," is also a bit on the paunchy side these days, and "Gloria" was one of his big hits. I think the later read might be accurate in that Victoria is rumored to have had an affair with Mr. Morrison. Here's an extract from an interview with Victoria: In any case, she sympathises with addiction because she suffers it herself - she has a mild addiction to food and a major addiction to fame, and has had therapy for both. But now she plans to cure her fame addiction by hiring herself a publicist - she thinks probably Matthew Freud - to make her famous so she can get it out of her system. 'Because it's one of those things, like with heroin - you've got to try it before you can decide that you're going to give it up.' But doesn't this fame obsession make her relationship with Shane a bit suspect? Doesn't he worry that she might leave him for someone more famous? 'I've already done that. [Apparently she had an affair with Van Morrison.] We've been through it, we've had the affairs, we've had the breakups, we've had the nervous breakdowns. But with me it didn't last - the connection was never strong enough with anyone else - so it must be that I actually genuinely like him more than anyone else. And also we did meet before he was famous.' Thanks to Ed for passing along the info. Click here for the full story.

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The Rising of the Moon This rebel song, written by John Keegan Casey (1846-1870), refers to the rising of 1798. Casey, from County Westmeath in Ireland, was active in the 19th century "Fenian" version of Irish Republicanism and was imprisoned for his efforts. "hush mo bhuachaill, hush and listen and his cheeks were all aglow..." "mo bhuachaill" is gaelic for "my boy." "With your pike across your shoulder, By the rising of the moon." The pike was a pretty formidable weapon of the period (of course it was no match for the English cannons). Basically it was a metal spearhead attached to a long wooden shaft. "Murmurs ran along the valley Like the banshee's lonely croon..." A "banshee" from the Gaelic "bean si" means "old woman." In Irish mythology, the banshee is a spirit, thought to take the form of an old woman, who would foretell death by mournfully singing or wailing outside a person's house. In this context, it's difficult to determine whose death was being foretold, the Irish revolutionaries or their English oppressors. There's an additional verse to this song that Shane did not record: "Well they fought for poor old Ireland, and full bitter was their fate -- Oh! what glorious pride and sorrow fills the name of Ninety-Eight -- Yet, thank God, e'en still are beating hearts in manhoods burning noon Who would follow in their footsteps at the rising of the moon!"

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The Snake with Eyes of Garnet "James Mangan brought me comfort With laudanum and poitín..."

Like Shane's references to Brendan Behan on the first Pogues release, this reference to the great Irish poet and writer James Clarence Mangan (1803-1849) on his first post-Pogues release is pretty apt. Mangan, born in Dublin, was plagued by alcoholism and poverty throughout his life. He published some poems and articles under various pseudonyms, and, through the efforts of friends, managed to land a job in the library at Trinity College for a bit. The alcoholism eventually took its toll and he died of malnutrition (brought on by cholera) utterly destitute. The pic to the right is a bust of Mangan situated in Stephen's Green, Dublin, near the Harcourt Street part of the park. Mangan today is usually included in the same Irish literary pantheon as Swift, Yeats, O'Casey, and Shaw. Laudanum is an early opiate that was widely used medicinally throughout the 19th century until its addictive powers were fully appreciated. "Poitín" refers to Irish moonshine whiskey.

"He flew me back to Dublin In 1819 To a public execution Being held on Stephen's Green..." Stephen's Green lies in the heart of Dublin. I've been trying to determine if there were any major executions that fit the bill here, but no luck so far. The last of the executions connected to the rising of '98 and its aftermath were those of Robert Emmet (20 September 1803) and Thomas Russel (20 October 1803). Any ideas, please email me. Thanks! Of course it may have just been a "routine" execution in that capital punishment was quite common in the U.K.(the failure of the '98 rising and the subsequent Act of Union [1801] ensured that Ireland was indeed in the U.K.). There were some 200 capital offenses in place at this time, running the gamut from the usual suspects (i.e., murder and treason) to sodomy, impersonation of an army veteran, and sheep stealing. Heck the theft of anything worth more than 5 shllings (about 60 pence) could land you on the gallows. "This snake cannot be captured This snake cannot be tied This snake cannot be tortured, or hung or crucified..." Although given the popular perception of Lucifer as a snake succesfully tempting Eve in the Garden of Eden (and thereby condemning the human species to a life of toil and torment; I mean talk about a vengeful god!), it might seem odd to use a snake as a symbol for righteous freedom, but it is not unheard of. The roots for this read of the snake are actually from another section of Genesis (Gen 49:14-18; God was never the most consistent of authors): "Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute. Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward."

An early pamphlet written by the Reverend Thomas Bradbury ("The Ass: or, the Serpent, A Comparison Between the Tribes of Issachar and Dan, in Their Regard for Civil Liberty") and circulating in the American colonies (it was originally published in 1712, but reprinted in 1774, just two years before the Revolution) used the passage above as a jumping off point for an extended riff on the need to resist tyranny.This view became the basis for adopting the snake as a symbol of freedom during the American revolution (the graphic below is a bit murky on the details, but the snake is divided into 13 sections representing the 13 colonies, a further reminder that all were necessary for the successful defense of freedom against English tyranny).

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Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway (Gerry Rafferty) This song first appeared on the 1969 release "The New Humblebums" by The Humblebums. The original line-up of the band -- Billy Connolly and Tam Harvey -- released one album ("The First Collection of Merry Melodies") before Gerry Rafferty replaced Harvey (hence the name change). The duo of Connolly and Rafferty released two albums before splitting up. Needless to say, Rafferty's lyrics do not include the profanity of Shane's version (I always found it difficult to imagine the man who brought the world "Baker Street" shourting in the way Shane does at the end of the song). By the way, after the band split, Connolly went back to the folk circuit and from there migrated into comedy. Here in the states he's probably best known for his role as the unconventional teacher of the gifted students brought in to replace Howard Hesseman during the last year of the ABC sitcom "Head of the Class" (which ran from 1986-1991).

Donegal Express The Pogues performed this one in concert towards the end of their run with Shane. Donegal is located in the northwest corner of Ireland. "Virginia is a gin town Belturbot is a sin town And all the boys from skintown Are in London on the lump..." Both Virginia and Belturbot are located in County Cavan (both are on the N3). "Got pissed in Letterkenny With darling, sportin' Jenny..." The last line here reproduces an identical one in the traditional Irish tune "Whiskey in the Jar" that the Pogues recorded with much success with the Dubliners. Letterkenny is located in County Donegal and is the major commercial and services center of the northern part of the county. "As sure as I'm Father Emmett I've a King Dong down me Semmett" A few folks have written that "Father Emmett" is Shane's nickname for Terry Woods. The name/character recurs in both "Ceilidh Cowboy" and "B & I" Ferry" on Shane's "Crock of Gold" release. "A shit, a shave a shower A half a pint of Powers..." Although Jameson's and Bushmills might be better known outside of Ireland, on the island itself John Powers whiskey is probably more popular (at least that's what I was told in the pubs I visited).

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