Farewell to Ireland
Funeral service for Pogues singer Shane MacGowan
Last farewell: passers-by throw flowers at the hearse. photo
© Liam Mcburney/PA/dpa
Fans sing “Dirty Old Town” at Shane MacGowan’s funeral procession, a tribute to the late Pogues frontman.
The Pogues singer died with a moving memorial service Shane MacGowan has been remembered. The musician died at the age of 65. Among others, actor Johnny Depp and singer Nick Cave came to a service in the Irish town of Nenagh. Fans had previously said goodbye at a funeral procession in the capital Dublin.
They lined the streets there as a horse-drawn carriage carrying MacGowan’s coffin drove through town. Some people sang the song “Dirty Old Town”, the PA news agency reported. MacGowan’s coffin was covered with an Irish flag, and an old black and white photo showed him as a young man with a cigarette in his hand.
MacGowan was born on Christmas Day 1957 in the southeastern English county of Kent, but drew on his Irish roots in his music. He started drinking alcohol as a child. He later suffered from the effects of heavy alcohol and drug abuse. He became particularly famous for the song “Fairytale Of New York” with Kirsty MacColl.
MacGowan died after a long illness, as his wife Victoria Mary Clarke announced on Instagram last week. At the funeral procession in Dublin on Friday, people waited with flowers in their hands or took photos. At a funeral service in Nenagh in the southwest, Nick Cave sat down at the piano.