A Drink with Shane MacGowan

Funny, honest, brilliant and opinionated, A Drink with Shane MacGowan is the highly-acclaimed memoir of a true music icon. 'One of the freshest, most original biographies I've ever read' - Lynne Barber, Observer 'His candour, coupled with an acerbic wit, makes him an ideal guide through an unmistakably colourful life' - Time Out Shane MacGowan was an intensely talented songwriter whose band, The Pogues, merged punk with Irish folk music to create a sound uniquely their own. An anarchic hellraiser with the soul of a poet, he is forever associated with Christmas after the chart-topping success of 'Fairytale of New York', his duet with Kirsty McColl. He grew up on a small farm in Tipperary, won a scholarship to Westminster, was rapidly expelled, became a rent boy, then a central figure of punk and the hugely influential star of The Pogues - until his bandmates got so fed up of his behaviour they kicked him out for a time. MacGowan's music, innovative and powerful, is as distinctive as his chaotic, breakdown-scarred, drug and alcohol-fuelled lifestyle. Written with his girlfriend (and later wife) Victoria Mary Clarke, A Drink With Shane MacGowan is a joyful celebration of a charming musician with a remarkable perspective on the world. 'An enormously vivid and descriptive picture of his life and dramatic times' - Irish Times 'This endearing memoir . . . is Irish rock distilled' - Sunday Times

Shane MacGowan, who died on 30 November 2023, was an Irish musician and singer, best known as the lead singer and songwriter the Pogues. He was fired from the band in 1991 and went on to form The Popes before being reunited with the Pogues in 2001. He was the co-author, along with his long-time girlfriend Victoria Mary Clarke, of the autobiography A Drink With Shane MacGowan. Victoria Mary Clarke spent her childhood in west Cork, with hippy parents, no running water and no telly. At 18 she moved to London, fell in love with Shane MacGowan and into a life of debauchery. She has written for numerous newspapers and magazines, including the Sunday Independent and Paris Vogue, and is the author of Angel in Disguise?

Acknowledgements - i: Acknowledgements Section - ii: Forewords Unit - Act One: A rugged Irish cottage, night. Unit - Act Two: Filthy McNasty's Whisky Café, Islington, London, night. Section - iii: Interval Unit - Act Three: Act Three Chapter - Scene One: Plethora restaurant, Islington, London, early winter evening. Chapter - Scene Two: A black taxi, London, night. Section - iv: Refreshments Unit - Act Four: Luxurious house in Hampstead, London, early winter morning. Unit - Act Five: Lone tour bus, desolate highway, USA, day. Unit - Act Six: First-class cabin, transatlantic aircraft, evening. Airport lounge. Unit - Act Seven: Shannon Airport, Ireland, morning. Unit - Act Eight: A rugged Irish cottage, night.