Current:Home > BackCrowds line Dublin streets for funeral procession of The Pogues singer Shane MacGowan-LoTradeCoin
Crowds line Dublin streets for funeral procession of The Pogues singer Shane MacGowan
View Date:2025-01-15 02:19:45
LONDON (AP) — Thousands of people lined the streets of Dublin on Friday to say goodbye to The Pogues front man Shane MacGowan as his funeral procession wound through the Irish capital.
MacGowan died Nov. 30 at the age of 65 after a lifetime of drinking, carousing and writing songs that fused Irish tradition with the spirit of punk.
Crowds applauded as a horse-drawn glass-sided carriage bore MacGowan’s coffin, draped in an Irish tricolor, through the streets, and some people sang the folk song “Dirty Old Town,” recorded by The Pogues in the 1980s. A marching band struck up “Fairytale of New York,” The Pogues’ most famous song.
Many mourners said they had vivid memories of the band’s rowdy performances.
“I remember the first time I saw The Pogues in the Hammersmith Odeon in 1985,” said Aidan Grimes, 60. “It is imprinted in my mind forever, just the madness and mayhem, the raucous nature of his singing and the music they were playing.
“Through the years he evolved into a great poet and he will be sadly missed.”
Born in England to Irish parents, MacGowan emerged from London’s punk scene to found The Pogues, who melded Irish folk and rock ’n’ roll into a unique, intoxicating blend. MacGowan became as famous for his sozzled, slurred performances as for his powerful songwriting, which captured the pain and joy of hardscrabble lives and the Irish emigrant experience.
Several of his songs have become classics, including “Streams of Whisky,” “A Pair of Brown Eyes,” “If I Should Fall from Grace with God” and the bittersweet Christmas ballad “Fairytale of New York.”
MacGowan’s funeral mass is due to be held later in Nenagh, County Tipperary, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Dublin.
veryGood! (824)
Related
- Love Is Blind’s Chelsea Blackwell Reacts to Megan Fox’s Baby News
- Pennsylvania’s election will be headlined by races for statewide courts, including a high court seat
- Tensions spike in Rio de Janeiro ahead of Copa Libertadores soccer final and after Copacabana brawl
- As billions roll in to fight the US opioid epidemic, one county shows how recovery can work
- Stock market today: Asian stocks dip as Wall Street momentum slows with cooling Trump trade
- A small plane headed from Croatia to Salzburg crashes in Austria, killing 4 people
- The FDA proposes banning a food additive that's been used for a century
- Belarus sentences independent newspaper editor to 4 years in prison
- School workers accused of giving special needs student with digestive issue hot Takis, other abuse
- NFL Week 9 picks: Will Dolphins or Chiefs triumph in battle of AFC's best?
Ranking
- What Happened to Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone Character? John Dutton’s Fate Revealed
- A planted bomb targeting police kills 5 and wounds 20 at a bus stop in northwest Pakistan
- Beloved Russian singer who criticized Ukraine war returns home. The church calls for her apology
- Federal appeals court upholds Illinois semiautomatic weapons ban
- Lost luggage? This new Apple feature will let you tell the airline exactly where it is.
- Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty in FTX crypto fraud case
- Ben Simmons - yes, that Ben Simmons - is back. What that means for Nets
- Winds from Storm Ciarán whip up a wildfire in eastern Spain as 850 people are evacuated
Recommendation
-
Multi-State Offshore Wind Pact Weakened After Connecticut Sits Out First Selection
-
Stock market today: Asian shares follow Wall St higher on hopes for an end to Fed rate hikes
-
After raid on fundraiser’s home, NYC mayor says he has no knowledge of ‘foreign money’ in campaign
-
Why Hilarie Burton's Kids Call Her a Nobody Compared to Famous Dad Jeffrey Dean Morgan
-
Outgoing North Carolina governor grants 2 pardons, 6 commutations
-
NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race promises wide-open battle among rising stars
-
Malcolm X arrives — finally — at New York's Metropolitan Opera
-
Lessons from brain science — and history's peacemakers — for resolving conflicts