"He has that special gift that makes you feel like he's speaking to and for your soul alone."
There were moments when it was difficult to hear. There were moments that didn't quite register. There were moments when Philomena Begley forgot the lyrics to Fairytale of New York.
It was 100% Shane MacGowan.
What else did we expect from the punk rock laureate?
Throughout his career, MacGowan has consistently blazed his own trail and in doing so, he's established himself as one of the finest lyricists of all time. When his body of work is that good, it speaks for itself.
The most recent episode of The Late Late Show paid tribute to MacGowan's legacy and the impact of his work on the lives of others.
The Pogues legend and his wife Victoria Mary Clarke were joined by friends and family as the Late Late showcased MacGowan's skill as a songwriter.
They were accompanied by Patrick Bergin, Moya Brennan, Aidan Gillen and Pat McCabe for the music session.
Philomena Begley may have forgotten some of the words during the performance of Fairytale of New York, but that was more than compensated by what some other people said about MacGowan's talent.
Liam Neeson said that MacGowan "took aspects of Irish culture and music and kicked it up the arse, with a great sense of pride, joy, rebelliousness, and sent it out into the world. It was fecking great, it stopped us all moping into our pints."
Elsewhere, Love/Hate star Tom Vaughan-Lawlor took great comfort in MacGowan's lyrics when he first moved to London.
"I moved to London in my early twenties, often it was quite a lonely time to begin with. And Shane's writing and performing spoke to the punk in me as a teenager, he was now speaking to me as a young Irishman alone in London that's trying to find his way. He has that special gift that makes you feel like he's speaking to and for your soul alone. It's one of the many reasons why he's a truly great artist and an amazing man," said the star of Avengers: Endgame.
Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream said that the lead singer of The Pogues: "has vast empathy for other human beings. Their excesses, their joys, their failings, and struggles. He has a poet's eye for seeing things in everyday life that most of us don't see. Punk. Poet, Irishman. Outsider. Rock on, Shane.
We'll leave the final words to Spider Stacy and Cait O'Riordan from The Pogues. They kept it simple by saying "we love you."
Take a look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwb56APbUbo
Clip via The Late Late Show
