A drink with Shane macGowan - Victoria Mary Clarke
by Victoria Mary Clarke
He was led onto the stage at the Fleadh, much as one would lead a blind man, and literally propped up against the microphone stand. Swaying, eyes half closed, one hand clasped the neck of a bottle, the other held the ever present cigarette in a nicotine brown grasp. Several times a minion rushed onto the stage and tenderly replaced the cigarette with a fresh one, the old one having burned away unnoticed. Did he know where he was or what he was doing, this rat faced, rat arsed parody of a man? Was he to be pitied, reviled or revered?
Shane MacGowan. Irish writer, musician and founder member of both The Pogues and The Popes.He is an enigma - a passionate, talented man, whose life is all too quickly and publicly disintegrating into an alcohol induced shambles. (In fact, the first question my husband asked when he saw me reading this book was "Is he still alive?") Well, when "A Drink with Shane MacGowan" was published, the answer was yes, although one never knows with MacGowan since it seems he pushed the self destruct button many years ago.
Originally intended as a straightforward biography written by Shane's long term girlfriend Victoria Clarke, Clarke admits in the introduction to the book that this format simply didn't work. Her intention was to ask specific questions, the answers to which would be edited to tell the story of Shane's life. In the event, the book has turned into an elongated question and answer session, with Victoria's questions and comments printed in bold throughout the book and Shane's replies, often rambling and off topic, following on - or not following on, depending how far he is into whichever bottle is nearby at the time. The end result is a very intimate and highly personal account of life - Shane's life and 'life' in the more general sense of the word.
His early childhood in rural Ireland goes a long way towards explaining the man he has become today. Drinking and smoking were actively encouraged in his extended family and, at age five, he claims to have already been drinking two pints of Guinness every night, smoking and gambling. At age six, he was reclaimed from his grandparents, aunts and uncles by his natural parents and moved to Brighton, where he discovered a recently acquired younger sister, Siobhan. Thus, the first two chapters of the book are concerned with his childhood, culminating in his admission to a closed ward hospital for drug addiction where he celebrated his 18th birthday.
The remaining 6 chapters (or "Acts" as they are called in the book) are less structurally organised and are more a series of sometimes jumbled thoughts, impressions and memories from the ultimate bad boy of the music industry. A man who doesn't bath, yet wears Armani suits, MacGowan has an opinion on everything from the IRA to Irish literature, from religion to politics and from films to music.He is extremely knowledgeable and well-read about all aspects of 'Irishness', past and present. (In fact he surprisingly appears extremely knowledgeable and well-read about most subjects!) Some - if not most - of his views are undoubtedly contoversial. This is a book which you read wondering all the while what on earth Shane is going to say next, a problem no doubt shared by Victoria in real life.
It is frank, disturbing, funny and patriotically Irish to the core. It's also strangely compelling and entertaining from start to finish. MacGowan seems part madman, part visionary. On some occasions he seems barely lucid, on others he is as sharp as the proverbial tack.Take note, though, this is not a book for the easily shocked as it contains plenty of four letter words and frequent references to substance abuse.
Scattered throughout are lyrics and poems in MacGowans own writing (block capitals with lots of scribbling out.) Some of these seem contrived, most are sheer poetry, albeit written by an obviously very angry young man. Shane's child like drawings also feature heavily and are no less of a revelation into what goes on inside his head.
There are two sections of black and white photographs. The first show Shane as a child and his various relatives down on the farm. The second set is more the man we recognise today, drunk,vacant and bleary eyed. Surprisingly, there are no photos of The Pogues or The Popes - indeed there is very little mention of either throughout the book, although there is much discussion about MacGowan's musical ideals, yet another subject on which he has very firm views.
The first two chapters apart, this book is not so much a biography, more a collection of thoughts.It seems pure MacGowan and the contributions from Victoria in the form of pithy paragraphs at the beginning and end of each Act seemed somehow intrusive and unecessary. Whether you view this book as the disjointed ramblings of a musical has-been or as the worldly insights of the "unofficial patron saint of contemporary Irish music" (San Francisco Chronicle), I can promise you a truly unusual read. It alternates between depth and profundity and shallowness and inconsequentiality. The book wasn't at all what I expected - and I think I'm glad it wasn't.
It could easily have been subtitled "How not to succeed in lfe". Whether or not you are a fan of MacGowan and his music, this is a chance to see the personality behind the public facade. A drunken bum with innate intelligence, curiosity, thoughts, feelings and so many opinions. A man who lives and loves too fast, who permanently walks on the wild side. A man who often oversteps the bounds of good taste and decency - a lover, a fighter and an "epic carouser". Read it, then shed a tear for the man who might have been...
Publisher: Pan
ISBN:0330490087
Price: £7.99
Date Reviewed: July 2002
My Rating: 3/5
