Did Shane MacGowan and Elvis Costello fall out over ‘Rainy Night in Soho’?
In December 2023, thousands of mourning fans and famous friends flocked to the streets of Tipperary, Ireland, to pay their respects to one of the nation’s most cherished songwriters, Shane MacGowan. The former Pogues frontman sadly died aged 65 following many years of health complications.
In one of the funeral ceremony’s most poignant highlights, the Australian musician Nick Cave, who had been a close friend of MacGowan’s for many years, covered the Pogues’ classic song ‘Rainy Night in Soho’. In light of the occasion, Cave altered the line “Now the song is nearly over” to “Now the song is over”.
Speaking to The Irish Times in a recent interview, Cave recalled that he and MacGowan met in London in the 1980s. “God knows when I exactly first met Shane. He’ll remember,” he said. “Shane has an astonishing memory. 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.”
‘Rainy Night in Soho’ was first released in 1986 on the Poguetry in Motion EP, which followed the band’s successful second LP, Rum Sodomy & the Lash. The song became an immediate favourite among fans for its moving, lovelorn lyrics and swirling piano-driven instrumentals. Cave notably recorded a cover of the song as a B-side to his and MacGowan’s 1992 duet of ‘What a Wonderful World’.
Like The Pogues’ immortal Christmas classic, ‘Fairytale of New York’, ‘Rainy Night in Soho’ relies on a brooding yet uplifting quality. In the original recording, this is achieved by a bold string section and cornet adornments. Although the instrumentation proved the perfect accompaniment to MacGowan’s poetic lyrics, they were the subject of heated debate during the recording sessions.
Between 1985 and 1987, The Pogues’ releases were produced by the English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello. According to Carol Clerk’s book The Story of the Pogues, MacGowan locked horns in an argument about the final mix of ‘Rainy Night in Soho’. MacGowan preferred a mix featuring the cornet in the instrumental break, while Costello favoured a mix with oboe treatments.
Ultimately, MacGowan got his way, although Costallo’s oboe mix was used on Canadian editions of the Poguetry in Motion EP. A third version, which combined elements of both mixes, was later included on the 1991 Poguetry In Motion re-issue and the remastered and expanded Hell’s Ditch CD release.
According to guitarist Philip Chevron, Costello made “something like 13 versions… with different edits of the two recordings”.
Listen to MacGowan’s original cornet version, Costello’s oboe version and Nick Cave’s live cover below.
