Nick Cave shares touching tribute to Shane MacGowan: “The greatest songwriter of his generation”
Nick Cave has shared touching memories of the late Shane MacGowan as part of his recent edition of Red Hand Files. Cave has shared many nights with The Pogues frontman, who sadly passed away earlier this week, and provided some of the most striking in the new post.
“I remember standing side of [the] stage at the concert in Dublin for Shane’s 60th birthday, and feeling kind of agitated and nervous about performing,” recalled Cave when asked to share some of his memories of the event by a fan. “I was surrounded by all of these artists doing beautiful versions of Shane’s songs and, I don’t know, I guess I was also feeling a bit out of sorts that evening.”
Cave then detailed his feelings when going on stage alongside MacGowan to sing the song ‘Summer in Siam’. “Shane’s wife, Victoria, then pushed Shane on in a wheelchair and,” he continued before sharing his thoughts on MacGowan, the artist, “I know I should be talking about the pure unbridled genius of Shane MacGowan and how he was the greatest songwriter of his generation, with the most terrifyingly beautiful of voices — all of which is true — but what struck me at that moment was the extraordinary display of love for this man, so powerful and deep, that poured forth from the audience.”
Cave then shared a short poem by Raymond Carver before noting that the outpouring of love for MacGowan wasn’t only for his music but his humanity.
“Shane was not revered just for his manifold talents but also loved for himself alone,” Cave writes. “A beautiful and damaged man, who embodied a kind of purity and innocence and generosity and spiritual intelligence unlike any other.”
“Sinéad once said of Shane, ‘He is an angel. An actual angel’,” continued Cave, addressing the loss of both singers. “Whether or not this is the case, who’s to say? But Shane was blessed with an uncommon spirit of goodness and a deep sense of what is true, which was strangely amplified in his brokenness, his humanness.”
“We can say of him most certainly, ‘he was beloved on the earth,’ and Sinéad too — truly beloved and greatly missed, both.”
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