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.He smiled, tilting his hatand then ceremoniously drawing out his pistol.He aimed it at the Captain s boat, squinting, taking aim.Thesound of his shot barely emerged above the moaning aroundme.His arm coiled back to his forehead.A splinter of woodflew up from the Captain s boat.He aimed another shot and atiny plot of water burst.Then he disappeared behind the rail.The support boats each held a separate rope, which tensionedat our raft when they d gone some distance away.At first,there was nothing but the bark of the raft s resisting fiber. We re too heavy, men began to wail.Then, slowly, thewater smoothed around us and we moved east.The Medusafell behind as the raft slipped along beneath us, water rushingaround our bodies.There was unity: we held each other sarms, we discussed our fears.The sailors revered the sea andthe raft s inadequate construction.The soldiers expected abattle onshore:  There are warrior tribes in the deserts, theysaid.Yet there was hope.The Medusa was in the distancenow and we surmised that the shore was close.The sea wascalm and cups of wine began to move among us.The length of the ropes connecting us to the support boatscreaked and shifted from time to time.Far ahead, we couldsee the boats, streaming into radiating white.The night before, we drank and sang with the soldiers.Thebelief was common that we d reach the desert before the endof the next day.There were some who brooded over this,leaving tears to pool on the deck.There was the hope, too,that should we perish, the wine and brandy could obscure thatsensation of dying, that we d simply merge with a death that97tipped like some numbing liquid.The songs we sang werecommon ones that we taught and bellowed into the morning. The Parting GlassA collection of traditional songs were recorded at the time ofRum, Sodomy & the Lash with the intent to be used asB-sides.The Chevron-produced  The Parting Glass wasincluded on the  Dirty Old Town twelve-inch single, alongwith  A Pistol for Paddy Garcia.  The Wild Rover and The Leaving of Liverpool were B-sides for  SallyMacLennane, and  Muirshin Durkin and  Whiskey, You rethe Devil were also produced by Chevron in quick order forinclusion on the  A Pair of Brown Eyes single.Theperformance of each of these songs revealed yet anotheraspect of the Pogues one that paid homage to the ClancyBrothers and, especially, the Dubliners.Each of these songshad been released in a version by at least one of these bands,and the Pogues versions deviated little from them.Later, thePogues would corecord a set of pub standards with theDubliners, including the single  The Irish Rover at ElephantStudios (a song that merrily describes the tragic end of amagnificent ship).In Pogue Mahone, Spider speaks of theDubliners:  Of all the Irish bands, they were the closest tous&.They understand that music is a living, breathing thingand you don t put it up on a plinth. Muirshin Durkin and  The Leaving of Liverpool are songsof emigration.The latter bears a strong thematic resemblanceto the sweet melancholy of  Kitty, a traditional with whichthe Pogues closed Red Roses for Me.It s also the lyrical rootfor Bob Dylan s  Fare Thee Well.  Whiskey, You re the98Devil describes the Irish involvement in the fight againstNapoleon, akin to  Mrs.McGrath. Although  The WildRover involves only an acoustic guitar accompaniment, it s arowdy pub sing-along.With the performance of pub standards like these and thestrength of their original material, the Pogues became one ofthe UK and Ireland s most heralded live bands.In 1985 NMEnamed them the year s top live musical act.In A Drink withShane MacGowan, Shane recalls the musical climate at thetime:  There was no decent live music around when thePogues started.What I wanted to do was to go back beyondrock and roll, before rock and roll and do Irish music but do itfor a pop audience. But the Pogues did more than that.AlexCox caught the band s January 1985 gig at the Mean Fiddler [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]