{"id":77073,"date":"2026-11-13T16:02:36","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T16:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/13\/tom-waits-dropkick-murphys-pay-tribute\/"},"modified":"2026-11-13T16:02:36","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T16:02:36","slug":"tom-waits-dropkick-murphys-pay-tribute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/13\/tom-waits-dropkick-murphys-pay-tribute\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Waits, Dropkick Murphys Pay Tribute"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tShane MacGowan<\/a>\u2018s funeral was both a farewell to a cherished icon and a spectacular tribute concert<\/a>. Nick Cave performed the Pogues<\/a>\u2018 \u201cA Rainy Night in Soho,\u201d Glen Hansard and Lisa O\u2019Neill duetted on \u201cFairytale of New York,\u201d and the surviving members of the Pogues<\/a> raised \u201cThe Parting Glass,\u201d an Irish folk song they recorded in 1985. The service, held shortly after MacGowan\u2019s death<\/a> in December 2023, toasted the talent of a songwriter whose legacy was making Irish folk music improbably hip. Among those attending were Irish President Michael D. Higgins, Bono, Primal Scream\u2019s Bobby Gillespie, controversial Irish politician Gerry Adams, Johnny Depp, and Game of Thrones<\/em> actor Aidan Gillen.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor MacGowan\u2019s widow, Victoria Mary Clarke, the sendoff was transcendent. \u201cIt was like he was just on the roof of the church looking down, beaming this energy into everybody,\u201d she says on a Zoom from her home, where she\u2019s surrounded by her own colorful paintings. \u201cI felt it and I got up and danced, and I felt him celebrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWatching her husband\u2019s friends interpret his music at the funeral moved her profoundly. \u201cIt felt like that was something I\u2019d like to have a record of,\u201d she says. She also loved hearing other renditions of his music at a 2024 tribute concert<\/a> held in New York. So she started making calls to see how many artists would contribute cover songs to a MacGowan tribute record. She ended up with enough music for three LPs.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe album, 20th Century Paddy \u2013 The Songs of Shane MacGowan<\/em><\/a>, comes out today and idemonstrates the late singer-songwriter\u2019s range. After emerging from the dark streets of London during punk\u2019s first boom (when he fronted the Nips), MacGowan drew inspiration from Irish reels and music hall ballads and infused them with punk spirit as a member of the Pogues and, later, as frontman for his own band, the Popes. The repertoire for both bands was a mix of traditional folk songs and MacGowan\u2019s originals, which reflected his equal loves of Irish literature and tin whistles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tBlessed with a crock of gold to choose from, Clarke pared the track list down to three LPs\u2019 worth of music, with songs from every point of MacGowan\u2019s career performed by a roster of artists who appreciate MacGowan\u2019s musical perspective. The Jesus and Mary Chain<\/a>\u2018s Jim Reid recalls the surprise of first hearing MacGowan\u2019s blend of influences: \u201cTo me, it sounded like punk music,\u201d he says. \u201cOnce you\u2019d heard it, you\u2019d think, \u2018Why hadn\u2019t that happened sooner?’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe contributors include musicians MacGowan admired, like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits<\/a>, and U2; bands he considered peers, including the Mary Chain and Primal Scream; and younger artists, including the Libertines and Hozier, for whom he was a role model. His old band, the Pogues, recorded a Nips cover for the comp. Clarke also received contributions from Kingfishr and Amble, Irish groups now making their first impact, and from artists with no clear connection to MacGowan, including Japan\u2019s Pinch of Snuff.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think he would enjoy the fuss,\u201d Clarke says. \u201cHe was very much a paradox as a person because he loved the idea of equality \u2014 he was a socialist \u2014 but he also really enjoyed being famous and being singled out as a genius.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPerhaps the compilation\u2019s clearest example of MacGowan\u2019s genius is \u201cThe Body of an American,\u201d which he wrote for the Pogues\u2019 1985 breakthrough album, Rum Sodomy & the Lash<\/em>. The lyrics begin as an elegy for \u201cBig Jim Dwyer,\u201d a dead American who wanted to be buried in Ireland, \u201cwhere his father\u2019s laid.\u201d A minute in, however, it turns into a boozy Irish wake as the real Irishmen who were supposed to bury him drank his whisky and sarcastically toasted a saying of his, \u201cI\u2019m a freeborn man of the USA.\u201d It\u2019s a mini novel in a pop song that runs just under five minutes.<\/p>\n

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