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The Pogues — White City
Album: Peace And Love
Avg rating:
6.8

Your rating:
Total ratings: 958








Released: 1990
Length: 2:25
Plays (last 30 days): 0
Here a tower shinning bright
Once stood gleaming in the night
Where now there's just the rubble
In the hole here the paddies and the frogs
Came to gamble on the dogs
Came to gamble on the dogs not long ago

Oh the torn up ticket stubs
From a hundred thousand mugs
Now washed away with dead dreams in the rain
And the car-parks going up
And they're pulling down the pubs
And its just another bloody rainy day

Oh sweet city of my dreams
Of speed and skill and schemes
Like Atlantis you just disappeared from view
And the hare upon the wire
Has been burnt upon your pyre
Like the black dog that once raced
Out from trap two
Comments (117)add comment
 alouvoss wrote:


Hmm... so I'm listening on 3rd July... and White City just followed Nightswimming.
Copy-paste playlist?


i'm listening on 7/28 - same thing.
 aspicer wrote:

Ouch! This is REALLY tough after REM’s  “Nightswimming" Glad this does not happen very often on RP!



Hmm... so I'm listening on 3rd July... and White City just followed Nightswimming.
Copy-paste playlist?
You've all noticed the boxer's hands in the album cover, right?
Ouch! This is REALLY tough after REM’s  “Nightswimming" Glad this does not happen very often on RP!
An immediate PSD, or a trip over to the World and Eclectic Mix.
Ouch that was a VERY rough transition from REM Nightswimming. Very "un-Bill"! ;)
 jambo wrote:
If I Should Fall From Grace With God

By Steve Earle 

I met the Pogues in London, in EMI Abbey Road studios in 1986 while they were recording demos for what would become "If I Should Fall from Grace with God". They were trying to get out of their publishing deal at the time and had booked themselves into the third floor "penthouse" studio under the pseudo-pseudonym "The Terry Woods Quartet". . . . .

It was late, well after midnight and the journey out to St. John's Wood through an impossibly proverbial London fog took on the air of a secret mission in a B&W spy movie, all very hush-hush and deliciously clandestine. I presented myself to the uniformed security guard and I actually caught myself whispering as I announced "Steve Earle to see the Terry Woods Quarter in the penthouse." The elderly uniformed guard looked at me like I was a fucking idiot. "Oh, the Pogues? Top of the stairs turn right. You can't miss it. Half of fuckin' London's up there."

For the next couple of years we bumped into each other now and again in the middle of the night on one side of the pond or the other. Well, okay, sometimes it was a little harder than a bump. By the time we recorded "Johnny Come Lately" together (for my "Copperhead Road" Album), "If I Should Fall from Grace with God" was out and the boys were playing six nights during the week of St. Patricks Day at the old Town and Country club in Kentish Town. It was a magical week. Kirsty MacColl was there to sing "Fairytale of New York" with Shane every night and the encores included "Message to Rudy" featuring the Specials horn section and "I Fought the Law" with Joe Strummer himself fronting the band. I went out and sang "Johnny" with the band on each of the first three shows and then, on the morning of the fourth day, having worked out most of the kinks in front of 6000 people we recorded the track at Livingstone studios. We stayed up all night that night (like every other night) and the next morning Spider poured me into a cab for Heathrow and I only just made my flight home to the States. That night was the big St. Paddy's finale at the Town and Country. Somehow, in the confusion, no one bothered to inform Terry Woods, who had insisted on introducing me every night, that I was no longer in the country.

"Please Welcome" he rasped, "a good friend of ours from the great State of Texas -- STEVE EARLE!

And fuckin' nothin' happened because I was already halfway across the Atlantic nursing a hangover that registered about a 7.4 on the Richter scale. It took me about a week to recover and I'm sure some of the damage that I sustained that week was structural and permanent. But it was worth it. For four minutes on four consecutive nights in the Spring of 1987 I had been a Pogue.

Steve Earle
Fairview, Tn. May 2004"

I knew I took to Steve Earle for more than a love of his music. If I Should Fall From Grace With God is a CD i picked up at random and was immediately taken with. Good lord now i will go drink another ale and toast to Kazoo, our love of music and the interesting places music took us to. Alcohol was simply a fun companion...



The Pogues. Not their greatest tune, but quite likeable. Always in my heart. Great band. 
very different tunes, both well done
SSSSoooooo much better than Nightswimming
Cover art?? PEACE and LOVE 'tattooed' on the boxer's knuckles, except PEACE is a five lettered word, gotta love that extra finger!
Remember seeing them at the Piggery at Byron Bay back in the 80s some time. Not sure who was more out of it, Shane or myself but it was fun
 Redpoint wrote:
The Jam followed by The Pogues. Heaven. 
I remember seeing The Pogues in Newport (South Wales) back in the 80s. It was just after hearing that the band had finally kicked Shane out. Arrived at the show to find his replacement was one Mr Joe Strummer. A stunning show of Pogues and Clash numbers followed that I can still see in my mind today. 
Heaven.  
 
That might have been 1990-91 when Hell's Ditch came out. Think Strummer produced that album. I saw them in NY during that tour. You probably saw them before me as they would have done shows in England, Ireland, Europe before coming here.
Woo hoo! Sunday just got better!!
everything rhymes with uuuhhhgs.
If I Should Fall From Grace With God

By Steve Earle

 

I met the Pogues in London, in EMI Abbey Road studios in 1986 while they were recording demos for what would become "If I Should Fall from Grace with God". They were trying to get out of their publishing deal at the time and had booked themselves into the third floor "penthouse" studio under the pseudo-pseudonym "The Terry Woods Quartet". . . . .

It was late, well after midnight and the journey out to St. John's Wood through an impossibly proverbial London fog took on the air of a secret mission in a B&W spy movie, all very hush-hush and deliciously clandestine. I presented myself to the uniformed security guard and I actually caught myself whispering as I announced "Steve Earle to see the Terry Woods Quarter in the penthouse." The elderly uniformed guard looked at me like I was a fucking idiot. "Oh, the Pogues? Top of the stairs turn right. You can't miss it. Half of fuckin' London's up there."

For the next couple of years we bumped into each other now and again in the middle of the night on one side of the pond or the other. Well, okay, sometimes it was a little harder than a bump. By the time we recorded "Johnny Come Lately" together (for my "Copperhead Road" Album), "If I Should Fall from Grace with God" was out and the boys were playing six nights during the week of St. Patricks Day at the old Town and Country club in Kentish Town. It was a magical week. Kirsty MacColl was there to sing "Fairytale of New York" with Shane every night and the encores included "Message to Rudy" featuring the Specials horn section and "I Fought the Law" with Joe Strummer himself fronting the band. I went out and sang "Johnny" with the band on each of the first three shows and then, on the morning of the fourth day, having worked out most of the kinks in front of 6000 people we recorded the track at Livingstone studios. We stayed up all night that night (like every other night) and the next morning Spider poured me into a cab for Heathrow and I only just made my flight home to the States. That night was the big St. Paddy's finale at the Town and Country. Somehow, in the confusion, no one bothered to inform Terry Woods, who had insisted on introducing me every night, that I was no longer in the country.

"Please Welcome" he rasped, "a good friend of ours from the great State of Texas -- STEVE EARLE!

And fuckin' nothin' happened because I was already halfway across the Atlantic nursing a hangover that registered about a 7.4 on the Richter scale. It took me about a week to recover and I'm sure some of the damage that I sustained that week was structural and permanent. But it was worth it. For four minutes on four consecutive nights in the Spring of 1987 I had been a Pogue.

Steve Earle
Fairview, Tn. May 2004"

 Redpoint wrote:
The Jam followed by The Pogues. Heaven. 
I remember seeing The Pogues in Newport (South Wales) back in the 80s. It was just after hearing that the band had finally kicked Shane out. Arrived at the show to find his replacement was one Mr Joe Strummer. A stunning show of Pogues and Clash numbers followed that I can still see in my mind today. 
Heaven.  

 
wow.. jealous as all hell on that one. 
 Broken_Ear wrote:
Pogues after Jam. Heard this combo from 2002 ongoing, some lazy programming. {#Wink}

 
gosh, you're on the ball. 
Image result for shane macgowan
Pogues after Jam. Heard this combo from 2002 ongoing, some lazy programming. {#Wink}
Sweet :)
The Jam followed by The Pogues. Heaven. 
I remember seeing The Pogues in Newport (South Wales) back in the 80s. It was just after hearing that the band had finally kicked Shane out. Arrived at the show to find his replacement was one Mr Joe Strummer. A stunning show of Pogues and Clash numbers followed that I can still see in my mind today. 
Heaven.  
Shane, a thing of beauty
One of the best shows I ever saw, back in the day (for me and them) in Chicago. Still, their shows even then were hit-and-miss.  On the same tour, a few nights before, they were too drunk to perform (Shane, mostly).  That was the word on the tour I saw.  You either got Shane falling on the stage, or off it, or  you got some pretty electrifying stuff.  Luckily for me, they timed their drinking well enough so that the show ended with Shane handing his drink into the audience and the band exiting after a full and entertaining show.      
 phlattop wrote:

Him and Keith Richards should face off in "Survivor".

 
Who wins in a battle between the undead—and how?
 Bargamon wrote:
Too early for a pint?
 
Not for an Irishman. 
Too early for a pint?
McGowan has only been good with Kirsty, shame that we have to put with a crap legacy from hereon in?!!
 kcar wrote:

Lord, even his dentures are clapped out. 

How is this man still alive? Does he have new livers swapped in like fresh batteries? 

 
Him and Keith Richards should face off in "Survivor".
Rocked the hell out of this album in college in the early 90's
God bless him

More Pogues please.


Aaah yes!  the Pogues rock!  {#Bananapiano}{#Drummer}
Bit of a Brit-friendly feel to RP this afternoon...

801 - Tomorrow never knows
Joe Cocker
The Jam

and now Shane and his bunch of rabble rousers... not their best song, but certainly up there... 
 Phlegmaticman wrote:
People complain that modern music is all based on looks.

People make fun of the way musicians look.

Are these the same people? 
 

I don't know, do they also play music?
People complain that modern music is all based on looks.

People make fun of the way musicians look.

Are these the same people? 
 jhorton wrote:

Apparently Shane has spent the last month in Spain getting new teeth. Photo taken yesterday.


 
Lord, even his dentures are clapped out. 

How is this man still alive? Does he have new liverswapped in like fresh batteries? 

Shane and the Pogues!
I love these guys, even if they're walking adverts for oral hygiene. Sláinte, Shane, you sodden prick! {#Cheers}
 jhorton wrote:

Apparently Shane has spent the last month in Spain getting new teeth. Photo taken yesterday.


 

Better than the originals!



Ah, the Pogues. It's been too long!
Pòg mo thòin {#Moon} {#Smile}

I saw this bunch at a Nottingham festival last year, and Shane McGowan was absolutely pissed as a fart, such that he had to be led off the stage at one point to be replaced by someone who could sing. The band themselves were troupers who carried on despite Shane's babbling. Sadly I couldn't last the whole of the gig as I'd come down with feckin' swine flu so had to leave early :(
See comment posted Aug 06, 2008 - 10:50.
 jhorton wrote:

Apparently Shane has spent the last month in Spain getting new teeth. Photo taken yesterday.

That is so wrong. . . somebody punch the fu**ers out again please. 

Thank you

Bleyfusz wrote:

      Way underplayed on RP: The Pogues.
 
iscoot4peace wrote:


I completely agree with you!
 

....on such a great station, I forgot to add.


 Bleyfusz wrote:
Way underplayed on RP: The Pogues.
 

+1
Awesome..  now how 'bout some locals who do Celtic music.. The Black Irish band
 Bleyfusz wrote:
Way underplayed on RP: The Pogues.
 

I completely agree with you!
Way underplayed on RP: The Pogues.
 jhorton wrote:

Apparently Shane has spent the last month in Spain getting new teeth. Photo taken yesterday.


 
Eek


Apparently Shane has spent the last month in Spain getting new teeth. Photo taken yesterday.




 WonderLizard wrote:
Shane MacGowan—worst teeth in rock'n'roll.
 
Wrong dude-Shane's got shiny new store bought teeth.
I have this cd and I wish Bill had the cover image for all to see.

Shane REALLY needs to spend about five hours in a dentist chair.

God bless Shane, and God bless the Pogues! Erin Go deo! {#War}
Not my favorite Pogues song by a longshot, but this works.   
Shane MacGowan—worst teeth in rock'n'roll.
Wow!  First the Jam and now the Pogues... I am diggin' it Bill!
Not normally a Pogues fan, but this one isn't horrid.
Ericac wrote:
If you like the Pogues, check out our favorite Newfoundland band, Great Big Sea. Life is much happier listening to their ditties. It's something about the drinking, horses and living on the "rock".
LOVE GBS. I live in a place where we still sing sea chanties in the local bar. Those boys are right up my alley. ...and mighty easy on the eyes, to boot.
If you like the Pogues, check out our favorite Newfoundland band, Great Big Sea. Life is much happier listening to their ditties. It's something about the drinking, horses and living on the "rock".
when you listen to the pogues life is all sorted out and you're best friends with jesus and you ride whales. after white city, U2 sounds like
I can never hear enough Pogues on RP.
Please please please: MORE POGUE MAHONES !!!!!
the jam, the pogues; i feel like i'm back at the record store i used to manage. how nice to hear them again.
A toe tappin' tune! Saw these guys last year at the Fillmore, and the only time I could understand what Shane was saying was when he was singing.
Hehe... About 20 years ago they played in a small club in my town....and the singer fell off the stage at the end of the concert...due to one bottle of whisky he had consumed along the show. I was highly impressed...
Holy cow.... chair dancing set... The dangerous thing is, the chair has wheels, and coworkers are beginning to worry about my physical well being... happy Thursday everyone!
MinMan wrote:
How about Van Morrison or Rory Gallagher for a start? In a different league?
I agree, Shane's writing is a cut above those guys.
MinMan wrote:
Ugh! These Pogues don't represent the best of Irish culture. .
Maybe not, but they have a specific take on London Irish culture: this is music of the diaspora.
hanssachs wrote:
Hmmmm ... is that the same White City Pete Townshend wrote about (aboot)?
White City was a greyhound and speedway stadium in the West London suburb of Shepherd's Bush. The stadium was originally built for the 1908 Olympic Games, and it hosted athletics for decades until Crystal Palace opened. By the 1970s and 1980s, it was pretty shabby and run-down: this is the period that the Pogues are singing about, using the stadium as the focus for a eulogy on a London that was being replaced by Thatcher's vision for the capital. Here a tower shinning bright Once stood gleaming in the night Where now theres just the rubble In the hole here the paddies and the frogs Came to gamble on the dogs Came to gamble on the dogs not long ago Oh the torn up ticket stubs From a hundred thousand mugs Now washed away with dead dreams in the rain And the car-parks going up And theyre pulling down the pubs And its just another bloody rainy day Oh sweet city of my dreams Of speed and skill and schemes Like atlantis you just disappeared from view And the hare upon the wire Has been burnt upon your pyre Like the black dog that once raced Out from trap two. The site of the stadium now houses the BBC's Media Village. Townshend's White City is the nearby housing estate, a pretty rough area. It's all within a mile of the Goldhawk Road and other places from The Who's early history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_City%2C_London
MiketheKnife wrote:
Brill! Great Craic this!
Christ- sorry- was channeling the voice of an Irish Au Pair I Knew in Germany- friend of an old girl friend- the destroyer of many a Hefeweizen glass.
Brill! Great Craic this!
MinMan wrote:
How about Van Morrison or Rory Gallagher for a start? In a diffrerent league?
Check out a documentary called "If I should fall from Grace"
Love them Pogues!
wally42 wrote:
Actually, Shane Mcgowen is revered as one of Ireland's greatest living poets and songwriters. So, what Irish culture are you referring to?
How about Van Morrison or Rory Gallagher for a start? In a diffrerent league?
MinMan wrote:
Ugh! These Pogues don't represent the best of Irish culture. Maybe if they would lay off the Guiness.... naw, it's hopeless stuff.
Actually, Shane Mcgowen is revered as one of Ireland's greatest living poets and songwriters. So, what Irish culture are you referring to?
Ugh! These Pogues don't represent the best of Irish culture. Maybe if they would lay off the Guiness.... naw, it's hopeless stuff.
Pogues - White City The Jam - Town Called Malice U2 - When Love Comes To Town I'm getting a municipal vibe, here. It's not the right time of year for "Summer in the City" so what else could be next? I hope it's not Mellencamp's "Small Town." TJ
just saw The Pogues in Vegas last week! - Shane and the boys are in great form! A show to be remembered.
ThePoose wrote:
Is Elvis C.'s ex, Kate, playing bass on this one?
No, this one's from "Peace and Love," which was two albums after "Rum, Sodomy and the Lash," which Costello produced and was the last album she played bass on. For me, this album is the beginning of the end for the Pogues. Funny that all I ever seem to hear on RP is stuff from this album and later. Funnier yet, RP is about the only place where you can hear post-Shane Macgowan Pogues (and that's not necessarily a good thing, even if you don't like Shane).
El mejor tema para tomarse unas pintas. Fijaros que es el tema que sale cuando Sean Penn entra en el pub al comienzo de la mítica "El Clan de los Irlandeses". Opa iii...Slaointe!!
The Pogues are OK, but a much better Irish band is The Prodigals, www.prodigals.com. They've put out five kick-ass studio albums and a live disc a couple of years back. They're absolutely fantastic live, but they mainly play up and down the East Coast. Are you listening, Bill?
I just don't understand the enduring popularity of the Pogues - a reasonable but not exceptional band saddled with a lead singer who can't carry a tune. The only conclusion I can reach is that in a cross-media age Shane's quite legendary facial challenges in fact work in his favour?
Is Elvis C.'s ex, Kate, playing bass on this one?
Come boys...lighten up!! pour me a guiness and a shot of jamison and lets party
https://www.radioparadise.com/graphics/smiles/eusa_wall.gif
The Pogues - ho hum. Totally unable to understand what all the fuss is about. Seen half a dozen better Irish bands!
Who came first, the Pogues or Oysterband? I recently bought everything available by the latter, and this sounds like some song on an Oysterband album.
Is it ever a bad time to enjoy The Pogues? Pogue mahone!
This is great; no offense taken!
this is o.k. nothing special as far as i'm concerned. no offense to the pogues fans.
Hmmmm ... is that the same White City Pete Townshend wrote about (aboot)?
Pretty much anything from these fine fellas gets a big thumbs-up from me.
What an awesome intro.
I love these guys. Give me more.
The Jam, The Pogues and it's Friday. Does it get any better? I think I might just tell my Manager to Pogue ma hone
Aw-right! Richard Thompson goes ZY-DE-CO!
I was SOOOOO in the mood for this...
keemun wrote:
er. this guy? (click here)
agh, what a treat fer th' eyes he is...
KevDogRedux wrote:
Some cuts from Rum, Sodomy & the Lash would be most welcome.
I second!
LaChinchon wrote:
Ah, Shane and me boys. Love 'em. There is a documentary, which I have not seen yet, about MacGowen, and apparently he is still the same unrepentant drunken sot that he was during the Pogues' heyday. Still the same pretty face, too.
er. this guy? (click here)
DH wrote:
Much more Pogues please.
yes please. :D
LaChinchon wrote:
Ah, Shane and me boys. Love 'em. There is a documentary, which I have not seen yet, about MacGowen, and apparently he is still the same unrepentant drunken sot that he was during the Pogues' heyday. Still the same pretty face, too.
Saw it, and sadly it's all true.
Ah, Shane and me boys. Love 'em. There is a documentary, which I have not seen yet, about MacGowen, and apparently he is still the same unrepentant drunken sot that he was during the Pogues' heyday. Still the same pretty face, too.
Another pint of the ol' black please and long may your big jib draw.
Originally Posted by drover: As I understand it, Shane MacGowan is still quite a popular figure in Britain/Ireland. I bet most people walking the streets on the other side of the pond could tell you who he is if you asked.
Yep, as long as he keeps himself alive. He's not doing a very good job, always looks like someone on the verge of total collapse. But I hope he lasts many more years! (pimp)
Much more Pogues please.
Some cuts from Rum, Sodomy & the Lash would be most welcome.
I dig this Irish theme we\'ve got going in this set!
The Pogues was one of the greatest 80s bands but this song is not one of my favorites. They were starting to go downhill by this album IMO. I'll have to see about uploading some other Pogues stuff so people can get a better idea of what they were like in their heyday.
Originally Posted by DrCrane: Thanks for playing one of my uploads, Bill! I always thought the Pogues were one of the lost bands of the 80s. Maybe their bad choppers outweighed their good chops?
As I understand it, Shane MacGowan is still quite a popular figure in Britain/Ireland. I bet most people walking the streets on the other side of the pond could tell you who he is if you asked.
White Noise is more like it.
Thanks loads for the shot of Pouges!
Outstanding! Just when the Natalie Merchant, Ani Difranco, etc. was about to make me give up you pull me back in!