Scott Egan was visiting Dublin when he happened upon his idol, Shane MacGowan of The Pogues, who was chatting on the phone.
The New York native patiently waited and it paid off. The two spent hours in a hotel bar in the late 1990s.
“All I wanted to do was shake his hand,” said Egan, who now lives in Tucson. “I said, ‘You’re great. You’re a great songwriter. I love your music.’”
His response?
“‘You’re a Yank, huh? Want a drink?’” Egan recalled. “There were several bars in this hotel. He had already been sitting in one of the hotel’s many bars. He had his notes and his CD player. We sat there for three to four hours and talked. We had a lot of drinks coming in, but I had him all to myself during that time. I recorded it, but the recording is so bad. He was playing music the whole time. He wanted to play songs for me.”
MacGowan, whom the New York Times described as a “titanically destructive personality and a master songsmith,” died Nov. 30 in Dublin at age 65.
Nick Cave and Bruce Springsteen mourned MacGowan’s death by sharing the impact the Dubliner — best known for his 1988 song “Fairytale of New York” — had on music.
Cave called MacGowan “the greatest songwriter of his generation, with the most terrifyingly beautiful of voices.” Meanwhile Springsteen said the “passion and deep intensity of (MacGowan’s) music and lyrics is unmatched by all but the very best in the rock and roll canon. … I don’t know about the rest of us, but they’ll be singing Shane’s songs 100 years from now.”
Egan and his band, The Wholigans will honor MacGowan with a tribute concert. The Wholigans will be joined by The Nasties, featuring Limell Lawson, Nancy McCallion and Catherine Zavala of The Mollys.
“Shane MacGowan had a big influence on a number of Irish music groups in Tucson,” he said. “The Mollys, they, too, were a big influence on a lot of people. They split up two years ago. The two main women, Nancy McCallion and Catherine Zavala, are going to be there.
“They used to play some great Pogues tunes. The Wholigans, we’re going to do the first half of the show and The Mollys the second half. It’s all Shane MacGowan songs.”
The concert is free, but the bands are asking for donations to Casa Maria Soup Kitchen, where Egan volunteers.
When The Pogues arrived on the music scene in the early 1990s, Ireland was rife with political activity. An Irish-American who was raised in New York, Egan said he was “engaged in the Irish struggle for the unification of their country.”
MacGowan had those sentiments as well: supportive of the movement for peace and the unification of the country. Growing up, Egan listened to music by the Clancy Brothers and the Dubliners, but it just didn’t stir him. MacGowan, he added, helped revitalize Irish music.
“It was nice stuff, but nobody else stirred my soul like The Pogues did,” he said.
“The Clash had a big impact on him. He combined the punk scene with the traditional Irish scene. It was so unique and exciting for a lot of people. He will be remembered.”
A Tribute to the Music of Shawn MacGowan of The Pogues
WHEN: 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27
WHERE: Corbett’s Cantina Bar and Grill, Trini Alvarez El Rio Golf Course, 1400 W. Speedway Boulevard, Tucson
COST: Donations accepted
This article appears in Jan 18-25, 2024.