Bruce Springsteen’s “A Rainy Night in Soho” is the first release from “20th Century Paddy: The Songs of Shane MacGowan.”
Bruce Springsteen’s new studio version of Shane MacGowan’s “A Rainy Night in Soho” is the first release from an upcoming tribute album, 20th Century Paddy: The Songs of Shane MacGowan. You can listen to the song below.
The album will be released on Nov. 13, in three-LP and 2-CD formats, and digitally.
MacGowan, the frontman of the band The Pogues, died in November 2023 at the age of 65. In tribute to him, Springsteen and The E Street Band performed “A Rainy Night in Soho” — from the 1986 Pogues EP Poguetry in Motion — at three shows in Ireland in May 2024.
Other artists on 20th Century Paddy include The Pogues, Tom Waits, Steve Earle, The High Kings, Hozier & Jessie Buckley, Johnny Depp & Imelda May, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Dropkick Murphys, Glen Hansard, The Libertines, David Gray, Primal Scream, Kate Moss, Damien Dempsey, Moya Brennan, Amble, Camille O’Sullivan, Cronin, Garron Noone, Johnny Mac & the Faithful, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Lisa Moorish & Another Day, Lisa O’Neill, LYRA, Madra Salach, Mundy, Picture This, Pinch of Snuff and The Murder Capital.
A complete list of tracks is not yet available.
Springsteen said in a press release:
Every once in a while, every once in a great while an artist comes along whose voice seems to speak to history itself. Woody Guthrie, Jimmy Rogers, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Miles Davis, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Coltrane, Patti Smith, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, John Lydon, Hank Williams, Sinatra. Geniuses all, they were both timeless and the embodiment of their moment in time. Many, unsurprisingly, led difficult lives not easily bound by the shackles of convention. They were natural rebels unable to stifle or heed the impulses that led them to their glory and personal hardships.
Great art is by nature lawless. We do not get to choose our obsessions. We do not get to dictate our blessings or our transgressions. It’s a little joke the gods play on us. Shane’s voice was so deeply real, profane and honest, his writing so flashing, alive and historically rich its genesis appeared as a mystery to all including, I believe, its creator.
The dangerous joy, the glee and courage, the humor in the face of fate, the wild ramble of a life driven towards the artistic heavens and the daily balm of self obliteration. Shane was all naked bottomless humanity. Threatening to force us to ask ourselves if we were living deeply, authentically. He was raw, hilarious, no apologies and profound. His soul was filled with the transgressive and ecstatic properties of the saints. I don’t know who’ll be listening to my music in 100 years but I know they’ll be listening to Shane’s.
Though I did not know Shane very well, I spent a lovely afternoon in his presence shortly before he passed. He was not well but he and his wife Victoria proved warm and gracious hosts. As I left, I thanked him for his beautiful work, his music, his songs, his life. I stood in his warmth, kissed him and told him I loved him.
Fifty percent of artists royalties from the album will be the homelessness organization, Dublin Simon Community.
For information and updates, visit shanemacgowan.os.fan.
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