Victoria Mary Clarke, the wife of Pogues singer Shane MacGowan, who died on November 30, has spoken about her thoughts on her husband’s music, as well as addiction and grief, in a new interview. The journalist and author also shared her thoughts about wanting to soon publish a book with the lyrics to previously unpublished songs by MacGowan.
“There are a lot of unreleased songs”
Clarke told The Guardian that her late husband often wrote songs about her – “and not always in a flattering way.” She explained: “He wrote a song called ‘That Woman’s Got Me Drinking’ . That was pretty mean. He definitely had a way of using songs to get back at you.”
But the Irishman probably also sang about his wife in a romantic way. However, many of these tracks were never recorded. “I guess at some point we’ll do a book of his unreleased stuff because there are a lot of unreleased songs,” said Victoria Mary Clarke.
Shane MacGowan died aged 65 from pneumonia after a long illness. His funeral took place on December 8th at St Marys of the Rosary Church in Nenagh. In the interview, the widow also opened up about how she deals with grief: “I’m actually fine because I have the feeling that he’s still there. Especially when I sit in his chair or look at his picture, I feel like he is communicating with me. I can tell him things and I feel that he is watching me and is completely with me.”
MacGowan had changed Clarke
The 57-year-old also spoke to the paper about MacGowan’s drug use. “He did crazy things like take 100 tablets of LSD in a day and then jump out of the window of a moving taxi, or paint himself blue. And he often set things on fire. He set fire to hotel rooms we were staying in – while we were there – because of the LSD. “We were living very close to the edge of actual destruction,” Clarke said.
The consumption is also said to have led to arguments, as Victoria Mary Clarke said she tried to constantly change her husband to be good. But if she were to look back now, she would realize that he was the one who changed her – for the better. In the interview, she said that she was selfish and obsessed with celebrities when they first met. As The Pogues became more successful, she longed to be at parties with Elton John and Bono, but MacGowan preferred sitting in bars: “And as the years went on I just melted when I was around him. “I started to feel the connection with people and recognize the value of that connection,” she revealed.