Shane MacGowan was a ‘a rare and original talent’, says UCC lecturer

SHANE MACGOWAN was a “gentleman, a scholar, and a rare and original talent”, according to the lead singer of a Belfast punk band that toured with The Pogues during the 1980s.

Paul Burgess — now a lecturer in UCC and author of forthcoming book Wild Colonial Boys: A Belfast Punk Story — was front man for an anti-sectarian Belfast punk rock band called Ruefrex, in the 1970s and 1980s.

The group achieved its own slice of fame with a worldwide hit called “The Wild Colonial Boy”, a song sharply critical of Americans donating funds to the IRA to buy weapons.

“It was a UK tour, we sometimes shared a dressing room, you shared a bit of time with them off-stage,” he said.

“It was an interesting dynamic for us as we would have come from a Protestant, unionist background.”

Going on a British tour with The Pogues wasn’t the only time he met up with Shane MacGowan as, years later, he shared an RTÉ studio with the writer of hits such as “Summer in Siam”, “A Rainy Night in Soho” and “The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn”.

“One of the great things about Shane’s legacy is that his talent was recognised while he was still around,” he said.

“There was always a lot of love for him while he was still around and that’s not always the case.

“So I was very, very pleased that Shane would have enjoyed that kind of praise when he was still around.”

Paul never thought of Shane as “difficult to work with”.

“I always found him quite self-effacing and very aware of the whole thing that was going around. While he took his art and his songs seriously, he didn’t take the whole music business too seriously and I found that refreshing.”

Shane MacGowan’s funeral on Friday will be held in Nenagh, where he spent happy holidays when he was growing up.

Singing at the funeral will be Cork Gaeltacht choir Cór Chúil Aodha, led by Peadar Ó Riada.