Editorial
“The world is turn in’/I hope it don’t turn away”
On the cover: Neil Young by Bob Seidemann Shane MacGowan by David Corio/Redferns
WITH the passing of Shane MacGowan in December, we lost of one of the most significant lyricists of the modern age –avivid, poetic writer who respected cultural traditions but simultaneously made fresh currency out of them. Graeme Thomson has spoken to Pogues co-founders Spider Stacy, Jem Finer and James Fearnley for a warm and revealing tribute to MacGowan that does much to shine a fresh light on the man and his remarkable songwriting processes. “Shane wrote many beautiful and fantastic songs,” says Stacy, “but I think ‘The Broad Majestic Shannon’ towers above them all. That line – ‘Heard the men coming home from the fair at Shinrone/Their hearts in Tipperary wherever they go’ – is the perfect distillation of everything he was trying to say.”