Nick Cave has shared a new obituary in tribute to the late singer Shane MacGowan.
Cave who previously hailed MacGowan as “the greatest songwriter of his generation”, attended the singer’s funeral earlier this month, performed a rendition of Pogues track ‘A Rainy Night In Soho’ at his funeral a few weeks ago.
In what was his second tribute to MacGowan, Cave shared his obituary via The Observer’s Obituaries of 2023 series, which explored the origins of the pair’s friendship.
“crawled across the floor”
While acknowledging MacGowan’s alcohol issues, Nick Cave paid homage to the singer’s remarkable creativity for song writing.
Recalling one time when the Pogues singer was not writing, Cave said that he “crawled across the floor and started rooting in the pile of rubbish until he found a scrap of paper”.
On this paper, MacGowan wrote the words to ‘St John of Gods’, which featured on his 1997 album ‘The Crock of Gold’, an album he co wrote with the Popes.
“To me, his songs were such precious things, deep works of art, really, but he didn’t treat them like that,” Cave added.
“While I laboured away at my desk, day after day, to produce what I could, Shane’s words were delivered to him on a beer tray with a whiskey chaser”.
“never regretful”
Cave’s obituary also saw him elude to MacGowan’s substance abuse.
Torn between a sense of admiration over his persistence for being “permanently f***** up” and genuine concern for his health, Nick Cave wrote this.
“I never heard him complain about having a hangover or feeling bad,” Cave stated.
“He just got on with it. He was never regretful. And I respected that about him, but sometimes it was difficult. There were times when he was so reduced he was barely functioning and, as a friend, that was heartbreaking to see”.
“poetic soul”
Nick Cave also paid homage to MacGowan as a vocalist, describing his voice as a “perfect vehicle for his chaotic, poetic soul”.
Mentioning a moment when the Pogues were doing a sound check at a French festival, Cave also added this.
“He just walked up to the mic and sang A Pair of Brown Eyes with his hands shoved in his pockets, this gorgeous, racked voice coming out of him like he was a cypher for the angels. It was a rare privilege to witness something like that”.
“a fan, pure and simple”
Concluding his tribute to MacGowan, Nick Cave said that he was “a fan, pure and simple”.
Cave who collaborated with MacGowan for a live cover of ‘What A Wonderful World’ in 1992, also said that the pair’s friendship grew from strength to strength over time.
“Shane was not like other people. Regardless of what condition he was in, he had a goodness about him and a depth of feeling about the poetic nature of our human condition that was immeasurable. There was a truth to him, a clarity of soul that was of the purest kind. You can’t hide something like that”.
Check out that collaboration below.
