When I got into the Pogues in college, it started as a push to try and reconnect with my Irish heritage. My grandparents had leprechauns and other signifiers of Ireland all over their apartment, but I’d never really appreciated the traditional music and needed a pop/punk gateway into it. Peace and Love was my entry point.
What turned me into a super-fan, though, was hearing If I Should Fall From Grace With God. In particular: “The Turkish Song of the Damned,” a raucous ghost story about a cowardly sailor being visited one night by the vengeful shipmate he’d abandoned. Shane MacGowan’s lyrics talk about ghosts and the recently deceased almost as much as they talk about booze.
One night when I went through the unfortunate college rite of passage of drinking far, far too much, my roommates thought it would help by playing one of my favorite albums for me. Unfortunately, they chose Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash, the first track of which, “The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn,” is about a man who drank himself to death.
It’s the thought that counts, I guess. I still remember that foul evening when I heard the banshees howl.
An under-appreciated track, though, is “Sit Down by the Fire,” also from If I Should Fall From Grace With God. It’s brilliantly placed right after “Lullaby of London,” a pretty song with sweet lyrics with a hint of the sinister:
May the wind that blows from haunted graves
Never bring you misery
May the angels bright watch you tonight
And keep you while you sleep
And it’s a perfect counterpoint for “Sit Down by the Fire,” which is a kind of lullaby that lists all of the horrible damned creatures that have crawled out of hell to torment any child unfortunate enough to live in the British Islands.
Remember this place, it’s damp and it’s cold
The best place on Earth, but it’s dark and it’s old
Lie next to the wall and cover your head
Good night and God bless, now fuck off to bed
Leave a Reply