The passing of a legend ... and recollections of the tragic loss of Kirsty MacColl.
Will this go down as one of the great duets of all time?
I saw Shane MacGowan in an Irish pub a few years ago ... I have to say, in a colourful bar, he looked monochrome – he was grey, no colour at all. He sang two songs, one he knew well, the other not so, and made a mess of it.
I was there with a musician friend who was full of anger for the group surrounding MacGowan, especially when they all vanished into the gents for 20 minutes ... in his book, they were feeding off him. To be fair, they may well have been friends trying to manage him, but it didn't look like it, and my friend knew the industry too intimately to offer them the benefit of the doubt.