Album: The Snake (U.S.)
Year: 1995
. . .
After being drummed out of the Pogues for failing to show up for the gigs supporting the incredibly underrated Hell’s Ditch, Shane MacGowan resurfaced in 1994 with a new backing band, with the shade-throwing name of The Popes.
The first album by Shane MacGowan and the Popes was called The Snake, and while it was closer to the classic Pogues sound than the first post-MacGowan Pogues album, Waiting For Herb, it did feature crunchier guitars throughout. And while nobody was ever going to mistake it for, say, If I Should Fall From Grace With God, if you loved MacGowan’s raggedy voice and sharp songwriting, you could find things to enjoy in The Snake, like the opener “Church of the Holy Spook” or the self-depreciating “I’ll Be Your Handbag.”
However, The Snake wasn’t released in the U.S. until 1995, and the U.S. label stuck a few different songs on it, the best of which was a duet with Sinéad O’Connor called “Haunted.”
“Haunted” was originally recorded by The Pogues for the Sid & Nancy soundtrack in 1986, the first of their collaborations with Alex Cox, which no doubt led directly to the awesomely infamous Straight To Hell the next year.
Anyways, that initial version featured Pogues bassist Cait O’Riordan singing, and it was good, of course, but I really love the duet version with Sinéad. Because the compare and contrast with Shane MacGowan’s croak and Sinéad’s big beautiful voice just kills me, especially on the second verse, which starts with Shane singing:
The first time I saw you
Standing in the street
You were so cool you could have
Put out Vietnam
Followed by Sinéad singing:
All the girls say “Whats he like?”
I said, “He’s kind of shy
But that’s the kind of girl I am
He’s my kind of guy”
And while it’s nowhere near “Fairytale of New York” in terms of Shane MacGowan duets, duh, I really do like the chorus, where they “harmonize” together.
I want to be haunted by the ghost
I want to be haunted by the ghost
I want to be haunted by the ghost
I want to be haunted by the ghost
Of your precious love
Of your precious love
But the break in to the half-time drum beat over the “Baba O’Riley” chords as Sinéad sings “your precious love” just kills me every single time.
Like the original Pogues version, the remake of “Haunted” was made also made for a rom-com, this one called Two if By Sea, starring Denis Leary & Sandra Bullock, a film which totally tanked on every level, but at least had this song. It also charted at #30 in the U.K.
After that, Shane MacGowan and the Popes recorded one more studio album — The Crock of Gold — that totally escaped me (as did the final Pogues album, Pogue Mahone), and to date he’s not recorded another studio album with anyone, though he eventually rejoined the Pogues just after the turn of the century, a reunion which lasted for 15 more years. Not that it matters, as MacGowan had earned a lifetime pass before the 80s were over.
As for Sinéad O’Connor, we’ll be spending quite some time with her in a few weeks . . .
“Haunted” Official Music Video
“Haunted” live in 1995
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