Album: Hell’s Ditch
Year: 1990
. . .
It’s one of the givens here at Certain Songs that there are going to be a lot of songs that I love that I really don’t have that much to say about, and so when that happens, they get a perfunctory shout-out in a post about some other song, and so it goes with a bunch of songs on Hell’s Ditch — the jaunty “Ghost of A Smile,” the swirling “Rain Street” and even the low-key instrumental “Maidrin Rua,” — none of which hit me as hard as “House of the Gods.”
Combining three of my favorite things: joyous upbeat music, multiple hooks, and lyrics about getting wasted, “House of The Gods” is probably my second-favorite Pogues song, after “Down All The Days,” and spares no time getting to the point.
Finally found a place they could never reach
Sipping singha beer on Pattaya Beach
Singha beer don’t ask no questions
Singha beer don’t tell no lies
Singha beer don’t ask no questions
Singha beer don’t tell no lies
And yeah, he slurs his words and shit, but the melody he wrote comes through loud and clear, and the peans to Singha beer, which is . . . OK, if you like lagers, but I do love MacGowan not praising it for its taste as much for the philosophical implications surrounding doing nothing but drinking beer on a beach in Thailand. Also incredibly philosophical: Spider Stacey’s soaring tin whistle and somebody else singing “woooooooooooo” and “ahhhhhhhhhhhh” during the rest of the verses, as well as MacGowan’s knowing chorus.
I’m just a wally
(He’s just a wally)
Hanging out on Pattaya Beach
(He’s just a wally, he’s just a wally)
I’m just a wally
(He’s just a wally)
Hanging out on Pattaya Beach
(He’s just a wally, he’s just a wally, he’s just a wally)
And so it goes, throughout this admittedly silly song that never ever fails to make me break out into a big old grin. Sadly, the drink — as well as drugs — that MacGowan wrote and sang about ended getting to him, and when The Pogues toured Hell’s Ditch, they replaced him with St. Joe Strummer as a stopgap measure that felt halfway serious, halfway novelty, and fully unsustainable.
After that, the The Pogues made two more albums: 1993’s forgettable Waiting For Herb — which did have pretty decent single, the Spider Stacey sung “Tuesday Morning,” — and 1996’s Pogue Mahone, which I never got around to hearing. As for MacGowan, you’ll see him here in Certain Songs in a couple of years.
“House of the Gods”
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