The Pogues – Dirty Old Town – Live OGWT 1986

Il 17 giugno 1986 i Pogues furono ospiti di The Old Grey Whistle Test, dove si esibirono con tre canzoni: The Body of an American, Streams of Whiskey e Dirty Old Town.

• DIRTY OLD TOWN, Ewan MacColl’s sorrowful depiction of the hometown once so loved but now a shadow of its former self, was an inspired choice for a Pogues’ cover. MacColl used Salford as a decaying backdrop to romance; his hometown was cast anew as love blossomed yet there was still the dank and dark fetid streets that pervaded his thoughts. Peggy Seeger, MacColl’s wife, always felt that her husband intended for the song to be a proclamation for the regeneration of Salford, for it to be given a fresh start. The Pogues’ version offered something different both in arrangement and feeling. The harmonica of Andrew Ranken opened to create a wistful, nostalgic air. Mandolin, uilleann pipes and fiddle augmented the redolent atmosphere. But it was Shane’s plaintive and reflective vocals that really misted the eyes.