Shane MacGowan: What Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Depp and others said about him over the years

Julien Temple, director of Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan, Irish Independent, December 5th, 2020

Like everything about Shane, there is a big contradiction in terms of whether he has destroyed himself or whether that was necessary to enable his work to live on after him. It is, of course, a cautionary tale: don’t go to the edge like Shane did unless you really want to push it to the limit and see what the results can be. Having said that, Shane’s mind is still very much alive. You wouldn’t want to make a film about a vegetable, and he is a million miles away from that. He is an extraordinary specimen and in a league of his own.

Bruce Springsteen, The Late Late Show, October 23rd, 2020

He’s the man . . . I truly believe that in 100 years from now most of us will be forgotten but Shane’s music is going to be remembered and sung. It’s just deep in the nature of it . . . He’s a master for me and I have a deep, deep appreciation of his work and the work he did with The Pogues.

Shane MacGowan obituary: Outsider who became one of Ireland’s most feted sons

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Shane MacGowan bows out as thousands line streets on a rainy day in Nenagh

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Nick Cave, The Irish Times, January 13th, 2018

We spent a lot of time together. Many nights over the years. I think we were the only two people that could put up with each other . . . Almost in spite of our fractious demeanours, we had romantic natures. We recognised that in each other. And a love of words. I always loved his stories that would run on into the night and how the evenings would invariably end with Shane singing songs. Shane staring into your eyes and singing you a song was quite something, you know. Not easily forgotten . . . I always thought Shane was the best songwriter coming out of our generation . . . There was an ongoing struggle between brutality and beauty, both in the way that he sang and the words that he wrote, which was extremely moving and very honest. And you know, I don’t really need to say this, but people love him. He speaks directly to people, to their struggles, in a direct and unadorned way.

Glen Matlock, The Irish Times, January 13th, 2018

I remember Shane pogoing right in front of me in the Notre Dame Hall in London . . . I always saw him around because he’s quite a distinctive figure, let’s put it that way. All this was prior to The Pogues. Later on, he really surprised a lot of people with the sheer quality of his songwriting, me included . . . Shane’s music comes from the tradition of taking a left-field stance of doing what you want when you want.

Camille O’Sullivan, The Irish Times, January 13th, 2018

There is a timelessness in Shane’s music, but amidst all that you have this amazing anarchy. There is a wild abandonment and freedom to it. Shane is one of the best performers and singers out there, and it is very hard for anyone to follow him. I feel electrified whenever I see him sing.

Johnny Depp, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, August 27th, 2021

When I met him I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, if he would be welcoming or if he was going to take a swat at me. It was worth it either way. The nature of our friendship, our relationship, is that I respect him, admire him, I love him, I worship him wholly and completely. There is nothing but kindness and wisdom in his mind and heart.

Bob Geldof (on seeing The Pogues’ early gigs), pogues.com, August 2004

He was ugly enough to stand out. He was funny enough to be noticed. He was mad enough to fit in. But he always looked a bit of a c**t down the front there. Intriguing certainly. Off his face absolutely. But what the f**k was he doing? Behind the glorious words, as if they’d been handed directly to MacGowan by some cosmically-laughing, Martini-swilling Celtic Bacchus, came a huge power. At once musical, joyous, rebellious and vastly, hugely manically danceable and true.

Victoria Mary Clarke, wife, The Irish Mirror, November 25th, 2018

I was awe-struck by him. I became consumed by the thought of him [Shane]. He says that he felt the same way, that we were destined to be together. But ours were not to be easy, uncomplicated lives and ours was not to be an uncomplicated love affair. We grabbed hold of each other and hung on for a ride that took us through a world of glamour and fame, creativity and ecstasy, drink, drugs and crazy, wild sex and on to madness, self-destruction and despair, violence, death, betrayal, rage, separation and sadness – and on and on towards revelation, renewal, compassion and hope for the future.

Nick Kent, music writer, The Irish Times, February 2nd, 2021

I don’t know if Shane has ever given himself the opportunity to be straight for six months to a year because you can’t just be straight for two weeks . . . At a certain point, Shane had that choice. I don’t want to judge the guy and I don’t want to badmouth him . . . I saw images of him on YouTube the other week at a funeral [former manager] Frank Murray’s, very disturbing. I said a prayer for the guy, I was almost in tears seeing the state he was in because it was really horrific . . . All I see is a guy getting older and now in a wheelchair, and it’s heartbreaking . . . I think people are being way too indulgent with him.

Gerry Adams, former leader of Sinn Féin, at the launch of MacGowan’s art book, The Eternal Buzz and the Crock of Gold, November 8th, 2022

Ireland as a culture is lucky that we have Shane MacGowan to bring us his wonderful art, his music, him and The Pogues, and his wonderful songs. Works of a genius.

Richard Corrigan, chef/owner of Park Cafe, Dublin, at the launch of MacGowan’s art book, The Eternal Buzz and the Crock of Gold, November 8th, 2022

Shane, you are our hero, you are the London-Irish we always wanted. You set the flag in the stone for everyone to follow. Thank you. Your songs will be sung forever.

Waldemar Januszczak, art critic, in the introduction to The Eternal Buzz and the Crock of Gold

When pop stars like Bob Dylan, Ronnie Wood and Lou Reed become artists, they lose touch with the wildness within. They forget they are rebels, and get all respectable on us. They want to be taken seriously. At least most of them do. So. . . is this also true of Shane MacGowan? Don’t be an eejit! Of course not! Art cannot tame Shane for the same sorts of reasons that no one has ever tamed a Tasmanian devil. It can’t be done.

Don Letts, DJ and filmmaker, The Irish Times, March 23rd, 2021

In his world any kind of repetition or conformity is quite simply not for him, and I love him for that. He’s the ultimate f**k-you and one of the last punks and few real rock’n’rollers out there.