Last week, Jim (NewEpicAuthor, A Unique Title For Me) set the subject of a loner (my attempt). This week, posture – leaning, sitting, standing.
My choice came instantly this week. How about not being able to stand? Not even being able to stagger?
I’m going really low-brow this week. I love the energy in Irish music, and Shane MacGowan is one of my favourites. And, you know, an element of music is just that foot-tappingness – it doesn’t always need to be deep and meaningful.
Shane MacGowan actually sings some very politically-charged, Irish Republican material, but he has also had a seemingly lifelong affair with booze, and this is one of his odes to whiskey, or, as the song personifies it, to Nancy. [Nancy Whiskey was a real-life Scottish singer.] The song was first written mainly by the Clancy Brothers and there are several versions of it, including by The Dubliners and The Clancys themselves, but I chose Shane’s interpretation.
The song contains the wonderful lyric I fell down flat, I could not stagger, Nancy had me by the legs which I always thought was a glorious metaphor for being so drunk you’re unable to stand!
Please Fall Down Responsibly 🙂 .
As I went down through Glasgow city
Just to see what I might spy
What should I see but Nancy Whiskey
A playful twinkle in her eyeWhiskey, Whiskey, Nancy Whiskey
Whiskey, Whiskey, Nancy OhhI bought her, I drank her, I had another
Ran out of money, so I did steal
She ran me ragged, Nancy Whiskey
For seven years, a rollin’ wheelWhiskey, Whiskey, Nancy Whiskey
Whiskey, Whiskey, Nancy OhhThe more I held her, the more I loved her
Nancy had her spell on me
All I knew was lovely Nancy
The things I needed I could not seeWhiskey, Whiskey, Nancy Whiskey
Whiskey, Whiskey, Nancy OhhAs I awoke to slake my thirst
As I tried crawling from my bed
I fell down flat, I could not stagger
Nancy had me by the legsWhiskey, Whiskey, Nancy Whiskey
Whiskey, Whiskey, Nancy OhhCome on landlandy, what’s the owing
Tell me what there is to pay
Fifteen shillings that’s the reckoning
Now pay me quickly and go awayWhiskey, Whiskey, Nancy Whiskey
Written by Paddy Clancy, Tommy Makem, Liam Clancy, Tom Clancy
Whiskey, Whiskey, Nancy Ohh
Whiskey, Whiskey, Nancy Whiskey
Whiskey, Whiskey, Nancy Ohh
– Performed by Shane MacGowan and the Popes, Album: The Snake
Mister Bump 
Absolutely brilliant, love it 💜💜💜
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Fun song (not that drinking until you can’t stand is a good thing…but still. 🤣🤣) Thanks for the share! 👍
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It’s very ironic that I am now mostly a tea-total old fart! The trouble is, I suspect I’m not alone 😀
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That’s because we have hard enough of a time staying awake! 😀 😀
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Oh I love Irish pub music! Such fun and everyone joins in 🤣. I seem to remember Nancy Whiskey as a child. Did she sing a song called Freight Train?
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I think so, that rings a bell. I think she only died 15-or so years ago – I looked to check her out and the song I listened to was very skiffle-y. The Clancys were the same era so I’m guessing they must have known each other.
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Thanks I’m going to look for it. I remember he tune. It’s stuck in my head now! 🙂
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I found it! Yes that was the one. Thanks for the memory 🙂
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He’s got a great voice to sing that song. Is he still alive, with all of his consorting with Nancy?
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Last I heard, yes. I believe he is in a wheelchair now but I don’t think because of booze, but some kind of accident to his back. I have most of his stuff but I think most of it is early 90s, so getting on for 30 years ago – I know he preferred live to studio, but I have a couple of live albums where he was obviously off his head.
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I wrote his name down and will see if I can get some of his music from the library.
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He was lead singer with the Pogues, without doubt the most commercially successful. They were London-based Irish so a lot of what they did was for the UK market, that’s how I first knew him. It should be quite easy to get hold of Pogues music. He also did his own more authentic Irish songs, and released a few albums as “The Popes” or “SM and the Popes” – they are altogether less common. The Popes were never really known as a band but they were very good individual musicians – traditional Irish music, tin whistles, banjos, fiddles… I’d prefer that music to Pogues, if I were pushed.
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All good info, thank you.
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Fun song about a not so fun situation. Still I really liked the music! 🙂
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Yeah I think we get more risk-averse as we get older. Most of us anyway. I’m pretty much ea-total now but there was a time when I went out every night. I have never been so bad that I couldn’t walk, though.
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[…] off, I want to thank Stroke Survivor UK for posting a song by Shane MacGowan in this past Sunday’s Song Lyric Sunday, which led to a […]
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[…] week, Jim (NewEpicAuthor, A Unique Title For Me) set the subject of posture (my attempt). This week he gives us the subject of losing, finding, hiding or […]
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