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Porrick t1_jclof6d wrote

Reply to comment by Bthejerk in The Pogues - The Irish Rover (feat. The Dubliners) [Celtic Punk] by TheBlitzkid46

How can anyone tell whether his lyrics are good or bad? He's completely unintelligible and has been for decades.

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HchrisH t1_jclvdnu wrote

Listen to enough Punk and/or enough Irish accents and it's a fair bit easier. Also The Pogues were big at a time when people still bought CDs and cassettes, and those had liner notes with the lyrics in 'em.

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Porrick t1_jclvwdg wrote

I'm from near Dublin and Shane & Victoria have been sort-of-regular guests at my mother's house for as long as I can remember. Shane is unintelligible even in one-on-one conversation. His accent has nothing to do with it.

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HchrisH t1_jclzref wrote

That's kind of hilarious. I always thought he just sounded like a pretty typical Punk vocalist with some Irish pronunciations added to the mix, but I guess it's a bit more than that.

Still, when he wanted to drive it home on songs like Thousands Are Sailing I always thought he annunciated well enough.

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drivermcgyver t1_jcm32bi wrote

His alcoholism is a big part of his slurring I believe. I wouldn't call it hilarious.

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Exact_Grand_9792 t1_jcnm9me wrote

Yes his alcoholism made it worse but I always understood him well enough. There were other singers of that era who clearly prioritized sound of word over meaning and were also hard to understand. Michael Stipe for example in R.E.M. I find it sad you know the guy personally and took the time to make this comment. And since plenty of us do understand his lyrics in songs, he really is not completely unintelligible when singing.

Punk music has never been about enunciating or singing properly. Someone like Christy Moore would not take the time to cover Fairytale of New York if it were not an awesome song.

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Porrick t1_jcnokke wrote

I guess I just always found it tiresome that this guy comes over and mumbles incoherently while everyone crowds around him and pretends he’s being profound. He’s like a brain-damaged, foul-smelling Chauncy The Gardener.

At least he’s cheerful I guess, that’s worth a lot in my book. And Victoria is lots of fun even on a bad day.

I’ve not been home in a few years, so I’ve not seen them since he got his new teeth. Maybe he’s easier to understand now.

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Exact_Grand_9792 t1_jcnpjjf wrote

I always thought that was a huge part of it too. The teeth. I saw him live in the mid 90s. I can see why interacting with him might be difficult--the alcoholism was well known and yeah speaking he was hard to understand (on a live mic anyway I've never met the guy). But I love their music and don't find him hard to understand when singing. The studio cuts always sounded comprehensible to me.

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