Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits and Others Remember Shane MacGowan With Tribute Album ‘20th Century Paddy’

Shane MacGowan is gone, but absolutely not forgotten. A new, all-star music project is proof of that.

Announced today, March 12, a tribute album, entitled 20th Century Paddy – The Songs of Shane MacGowan, celebrating the impressive legacy of the late singer, songwriter and frontman of The Pogues.

Contributors to the collection include Damien Dempsey, David Gray, Dropkick Murphys, Hozier, Johnny Depp, Tom Waits, and Bruce Springsteen, who provides the album’s first single, a reimagined cut of “A Rainy Night in Soho.”

“Shane was all naked bottomless humanity. Threatening to force us to ask ourselves if we were living deeply, authentically,” remarks Springsteen, as “A Rainy Night in Soho” arrives on streaming platforms. “He was raw, hilarious, no apologies and profound. His soul was filled with the transgressive and ecstatic properties of the saints.”

MacGowan died on Nov. 30, 2023, aged 65 following a period of ill health. He left treasure in the form of song, his lyrics welcoming us into a gritty world away from the spotlight, articulating the hard lives of working class Irish immigrants, of finding love and hope in a dirty old town.

Born on Christmas Day 1957 in Kent, England to Irish parents, MacGowan was a force in London’s punk scene, and went on to form The Pogues in the early ’80s. The band mixed Celtic, folk and punk, quickly earning a reputation for high-energy, booze-soaked live performances at a time when New Wave, synth pop and big hair was dominating the music scene.

His gift was recognized with the prestigious Ivors Inspiration Award at the Ivor Novello Awards in 2018, a salute to his poetic songwriting and significant influence on his peers.

Perhaps fittingly, MacGowan passed in the weeks leading into Christmas, the season when the Pogues’ beloved holiday standard from 1987, “Fairytale of New York,” is often in heavy rotation, certainly in the U.K. and Ireland. It remains one of the most popular songs never to have reached the top of the U.K. chart, where it has a peak position of No. 2, and each December makes a regular march into the top 10.

The late artist’s longtime partner, Irish journalist Victoria Mary Clarke, was integral in putting together the 20th Century Paddy project, due out Nov. 13 through Rubyworks.

“Shane’s spirit and songwriting are eternally exalted through this glorious collection,” she remarks in a statement, “each song is uniquely and graciously interpreted by these beyond beautiful artists and his family are humbled by and thankful to each and every one of the musicians involved, to the delightful team at Rubyworks, and to John Kennedy without whom this would not have happened.”