It took me the longest time to appreciate the Pogues and Macgowan in particular, I'd grown up loving the Chieftan's, to this day Bonapartes Retreat is one my top ten albums, my first reaction to the Pogues was it was being disrespectful to the beauty of traditional airs and reels it came from, that it was almost a parody of its source, it took me the longest time to realize that MacGowan was being utterly honest, that he was a brilliant song writer and also a hellraising drunken buffoon, that it wasnt an act it was who he was, my inclination is that it was sad and it took him to early but he seemed to love his life so who am I to judge or feel sadness
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