If I Should Fall from Grace: The Shane MacGowan Story Page #2

and it was because of him

that we kept meeting

and then there was one day

I just looked at him and saw beauty

where before I'd seen hideous

-arrogance and...

- obnoxiousticity

I think he's such a strong personality

and has such a sense of... he's so spirited

and he has so much a sense of adventure

and so much fearlessness around

um... around doing things in public

doing things like going on stage

starting bands

umm... going out dressed up

in all kinds of weird clothes

and getting into all kinds of trouble

things that I wouldn't have

had the nerve to do myself

that's... that's what I find so appealing is

that you know... umm...

the sheer nerve...

and the... and the exuberance...

and the imagination

what makes you happy?

you do

how do I make you happy?

it can't be explained in words... you know

maybe in Irish it could be... you know?

it's a larger vocabulary... you know? like

- hmm?

- anything?

can we go in there?

hey... look at this... this bike

this is uhh... a fifty pound

bag for a junkie... right?

all he needs is a hacksaw... right?

take that bike up sell it tomorrow

what you wanna be a star?

i'll pay you back I'll be a star

yeah why not?

I'm all that stands between the

fact of f***ing Irish culture and like

and uhh... the life of Irish culture

when I fell in love with him was when

I actually saw his sensitive side

and that was quite early on

that was... you know... ummm

umm... maybe I was about 20?

so it would mean 14 years ago

sometimes I think he romanticizes me in

the same way that he romanticizes Ireland

or it's almost like the me that he

writes about doesn't really exist

and I'm a kind of an imaginary figure

like I'm not gonna ??? or something

it's obvious that it's not really me

it's a... yeah... romantic ideal

I think he's an idealist

taken to an extreme

he's not really as much of a realist

as he might like to think

we knew he was brilliant at writing

and English and all that kind of thing

and Maurice said, "I suppose you will

probably earn your living as a writer. "

He said, "I will, Dad, but not

in the way you're talking about. "

"I'll earn my living," he said,

"through music, writing through music,

because that's the way you

communicate with people now-a-days. "

"It's a much better form of,

lighter form of communication. "

I remember him saying that to me

you're a little bit pissed

are you? a little bit?

mostly

you're enjoying yourself

yeah

I suppose you see I thought

it might be more in the book form

rather than the... umm... sound form

but uhh... you know really

that's before twelve

I knew around twelve it wasn't

going to be that because

there was Bob Dylan blowing one ear out

and the Grateful Dead blowing the other

and so I knew there was

something going on there

well take my number and give me a ring

well give us your number then

you got a pen and paper?

yes I have...

now here you are

i want your phone number

do you want me to hold your

drink while you're at it?

I mean once I was out of

school I was alright you know

and I could use all the things

that were good about London

like the drugs and the clubs

and the loose women and

the Pistols were playing really good

rock and roll, hard rock and roll

and what's more they

were my generation

and what's more they were singing

about how boring London was

and... like... they were

being totally nihilistic

and that was the way I felt when I

go out and see 'em out of the bin you know

I was working at a shop

it wasn't a shop it was a stall

a market stall at the

end of Gerard Street

in Soho, in London

and one day Shane walked

into the stall and... like he was

uhh... he was slightly

shook looking is what I'd say

he had matted long hair

down to his shoulders

and heavily caked with one thing or other

I don't know what

and he looked a bit dazed

he said that he had... uhh... been

in hospital you know

I knew he was on pills or something

like that but he was lucid

whenever we started talking and... uhh...

he just started to hang around the shop

as soon as he discovered what

was happening in the punk scene

which was, "trust yourself,"

whatever talent you thought you had

and if uhh... you felt you could make

get out there and do it

and Shane did

there's one punk... the Sex Pistols

the rest of them are rubbish

I'm not interested

what's more I probably wouldn't

have been that interested in them

if Johnny Rotten hadn't been so

bloody obviously Irish you know

and made a big noise about it and

made such anti-English records... yeah?

no future

in England's dreamin'

punk was speed-fueled which was why

everybody was so bloody obnoxious you know

spitting in your face

and getting aggressive

and fighting and all the rest of it

but you know that was the scene

the youth scene

mods punks and so it was all speed

and that was... that would have

been the general drug speed and drink

God save the queen...

she ain't no human being...

she's made you a moron

potential h-bomb

he uhh... started producing a fanzine

the first I heard of his creative bent

and uhh... Shane came in with his fanzine

and started selling that

and then the next thing I knew

he was putting a band together

myself and my partner

in the shop at the time

decided we would try and manage the Nips

as they were then called

well actually they were called

the Nipple Erectors

but we had a problem in

that people didn't want

Nipple Erectors on posters

it was supposed to be sexist

which I could never understand

since everybody's got them

but umm... we had to shorten it

from the Nipple Erectors to the Nips

he's well-known as a very good lyricist

a poet even for the

Pogues stuff that he writes

but even the stuff that he

was writing for the Nips

was um... even if you had

taken it out of the pop context

and put an air to it

it still would have been...

it could have been a Pogues song you know?

things like Gabrielle you know?

let's go down to the old West End

you know? like we used to do

when you were my girlfriend...

take the 73 to the city...

you sitting there looking so pretty

the crap I wrote for the Nips

I could write in my sleep

you know it was pop you know

you know I mean... like

you know... I mean like

it was a...

it was a teenage anthem you know

I've never stopped writing adolescent crap

it's just some people can't tell

the real... you know... pop

from the real thing you know?

he always said he wanted to be a

pop star always you know and he

said he wasn't going to hang around

he was going to be a pop star

and when he first like... when

the Noisey Boyseys first began

which later became the Pogues

I remember we went down

to see the first gig

must have been just about the

first gig down in Steve Stanger's club

and there was us and one or two others

and umm... a bunch of squatties I think

who were just back from northern

Ireland who were all eating chips

and proceeded to pelt the

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