Rake At The Gates Of Hell Quotes

“In October MacGowan received the Q Merit Award. Held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, the press called it the most prestigious award ceremony of the year. Sponsored by Greenpeace, Q Magazine picked the winner. Bono did the presentation. Backstage after the program, Shane was reportedly goofing off, dancing around the dressing room balancing the award on his head when somehow he accidentally caught Bono’s hair on fire. It was not the only mishap involved in the event.”
― Robert Mamrak, Rake at the Gates of Hell: Shane MacGowan in Context

“FS: After they threw you out, that must have made things a bit difficult. SM:     I think they all hated my guts by the time they threw me out. But I’d been screaming to get out of the bloody thing for awhile, it had run its course. FS: It ended in Japan didn’t it, I heard you fell out of a … SM:     I fell out of the train. It was three hours after them bringing you around Saki after Saki after Saki. But anyhow I fell from the top step of the train. They’re very safety conscious and everything, but somehow I managed to break my head open on the platform. It just brought matters to a head. FS: It wasn’t moving, the train? SM:     I haven’t got a clue. I couldn’t tell you if it was moving or not. FS: It’s a bit harsh sacking a man for falling off of a train. SM: Well, it wasn’t the first incident of that nature.”
― Robert Mamrak, Rake at the Gates of Hell: Shane MacGowan in Context

“Trevelyan told Parliament, “The judgment of God sent the calamity to teach the Irish a lesson. That calamity must not be too much mitigated. The greater evil with which we have to contend is not the physical evil of the famine, but the moral evil of the selfish, perverse and turbulent character of the Irish people.”
― Robert Mamrak, Rake at the Gates of Hell: Shane MacGowan in Context

“Listen to his performance of “Boys of Kilmichael” in London’s Brixton Academy on St. Patrick’s Day, 1994. Then compare that to any other version of the song – Jimmy Crowley, Donie Carroll, or Oliver Kane. There is no comparison. The others are pretty. MacGowan makes you want to go out and kill an Englishman. Isn’t that what rebel songs are supposed to do?”
― Robert Mamrak, Rake at the Gates of Hell: Shane MacGowan in Context

“The best compliment we ever got was that the Pogues were ‘like The Dubliners on-speed.’” Shane MacGowan”
― Robert Mamrak, Rake at the Gates of Hell: Shane MacGowan in Context

“You don’t allow yourself the arrogance of self respect.”
― Robert Mamrak, Rake at the Gates of Hell: Shane MacGowan in Context