'A hell-raising, wise-cracking punk rock and roller': Damien Dempsey pays tribute to Shane MacGowan
Crock Of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan cff
Damien Dempsey has paid tribute to Shane MacGowan ahead of his funeral on Friday.
Dempsey spoke at length about his relationship with The Pogues' frontman as both a friend and a mentor.
MacGowan was someone who was there for the Dublin singer-songwriter throughout his career giving him confidence when he was starting out.
"Shane gave me great encouragement after hearing my first album and telling me it was a classic album and Colony is a song he wished he had written," Dempsey wrote on social media.
"When I got slagged off after that I didn't care as much because Shane MacGowan dug it, so to hell with the nobody naysayers."
He credited MacGowan with creating "some of the most timeless, moving, electrifying, and achingly beautiful snatches of genius the world has ever known".
It was the late icon's compassion and humanity that helped him to write songs that spoke deeply to his millions of fans.
"He could feel what people felt, he could walk in their shoes with his brilliant imagination and caring heart, he felt the pain of the world..."
Being able to give the Irish community in Britain pride in themselves at a time when they were marginalised was just one example of the power of his music.
MacGowan's compassion led him to reach out to Dempsey at a time when he was grieving the sudden loss of a friend.
Dempsey had turned to brandy to help him through the loss and when MacGowan heard about this, he had a word with the then-20-something Dempsey.
"He said: 'get off the brandy, Damien' and he proceeded to tell me the damage that brown spirits do to you. He reeled off a list of the people they destroyed, so I knocked the spirits on the head altogether."
In the post which accompanied a video of Dempsey and his band rehearsing MacGowan's hit Body of an American, Dempsey spoke of his final times with him.
He revealed that he had visited him in St Vincent's Hospital a few times in recent weeks where they watched DVDs and talked about ghosts and spirits.
"He was sharp as a tack and even sang a bit of a song one of the days and his old voice was back. I got goosebumps thinking if he gets out he might start gigging again, but the body was done, wanted to rest."
In his moving tribute, Dempsey said that MacGowan had the soul of a File, the ancient Irish poet, and the Seanchai, the ancient Irish storyteller rolled up into one.
"A hell-raising, wise-cracking punk rock and roller," Dempsey called him.
Funeral arrangements The Dubliner will be among the mourners at MacGowan's funeral on Friday. He may even sing as he did earlier this year at the funeral of Sinéad O'Connor.
Fans will have the chance to say their goodbyes as the procession travels through the capital before heading to Tipperary for the funeral.
The Pogues singer's coffin will arrive at the car park of the Shelbourne Park Greyhound Stadium at 10.30am and be transferred to a horse-drawn carriage.
The Artane Band and a piper will then lead the carriage and family cars onto South Lotts Road, across McMahon Bridge, and down Pearse Street to the junction of Lombard Street East and Westland Row.
It will then cross Westland Row and Lincoln Place into Fenian Street and then travel on to Denzille Lane where the coffin will be transferred back into the hearse privately.
The procession is expected to last about an hour and a quarter.
The hearse and family cars will then depart for Co Tipperary for the funeral Mass, which is open to the public and will take place in St Mary of the Rosary Church in Nenagh. The cremation will be private.
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