Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen Cover Pogues Songs for Shane MacGowan Tribute Album

Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and over two dozen other artists are part of a new tribute album celebrating the late Shane MacGowan of the Pogues. 20th Century Paddy: The Songs of Shane MacGowan is out November 13 via Rubyworks. The first sampling of what to expect comes from the Boss, who covered the Pogues’ 1986 classic “A Rainy Night in Soho.” Give it a listen below.

Springsteen also shared a lengthy, personal note about how much MacGowan’s music means to him, as well as their brief time spent together before the Irish punk singer died in 2023. “His soul was filled with the transgressive and ecstatic properties of the saints,” said Springsteen. “I don’t know who’ll be listening to my music in 100 years, but I know they’ll be listening to Shane’s.” Read his full statement:

“Every once in a while, every once in a great while an artist comes along whose voice seems to speak to history itself. Woody Guthrie, Jimmy Rogers, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Miles Davis, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Coltrane, Patti Smith, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, John Lydon, Hank Williams, Sinatra. Geniuses all, they were both timeless and the embodiment of their moment in time. Many, unsurprisingly, led difficult lives not easily bound by the shackles of convention. They were natural rebels unable to stifle or heed the impulses that led them to their glory and personal hardships. Great art is by nature lawless. We do not get to choose our obsessions. We do not get to dictate our blessings or our transgressions. It’s a little joke the gods play on us. Shane’s voice was so deeply real, profane and honest, his writing so flashing, alive and historically rich its genesis appeared as a mystery to all including, I believe, its creator. The dangerous joy, the glee and courage, the humor in the face of fate, the wild ramble of a life driven towards the artistic heavens and the daily balm of self obliteration. Shane was all naked bottomless humanity. Threatening to force us to ask ourselves if we were living deeply, authentically. He was raw, hilarious, no apologies and profound. His soul was filled with the transgressive and ecstatic properties of the saints. I don’t know who’ll be listening to my music in 100 years but I know they’ll be listening to Shane’s. Though I did not know Shane very well, I spent a lovely afternoon in his presence shortly before he passed. He was not well but he and his wife Victoria proved warm and gracious hosts. As I left, I thanked him for his beautiful work, his music, his songs, his life. I stood in his warmth, kissed him and told him I loved him.”

In addition to a modern cover by the Pogues themselves and Waits’ cover, which is his first new studio recording in eight years, the tribute album also features new renditions of the band’s music by Primal Scream, Steve Earle, Dropkick Murphys, Glen Hansard, Hozier and Jessie Buckley, Johnny Depp and Imelda May, Kate Moss, Lisa O’Neill, the Libertines, the Murder Capital, LYRA, Johnny Mac and the Faithful, Camille O’Sullivan, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Cronin, Damien Dempsey, Lisa Moorish and Another Day, Madra Salach, Amble, Moya Brennan, David Gray, Garron Noone, Mundy, Picture This, Pinch of Snuff, and the High Kings.

20th Century Paddy: The Songs of Shane MacGowan takes its name from an album that MacGowan always wanted to make himself, according to his wife Victoria Mary Clarke. The full tracklist has not been shared yet, but Clarke and Rubyworks both promise that it will be announced soon — along with additional artists, too.

MacGowan died on November 30, 2023 at age 65. As the frontman of the Pogues, he was heralded for his cranky, often tongue-in-cheek delivery of songs about the misadventures of Ireland’s residents. The Pogues’ biggest single in the United States is the sour-then-sweet holiday hit “Fairy Tale of New York.” Nick Cave, Billy Bragg, Jack Antonoff, and countless others mourned MacGowan after he died by writing heartfelt tributes. The Pogues lost other members in recent years as well, including bassist Darryl Hunt and drummer Andrew “The Clobberer” Ranken.

Read the Sunday Review of the Pogues’ 1985 album Rum Sodomy & the Lash.

20th Century Paddy: The Songs of Shane MacGowan: