The Pogues Never Played a Klezmer Song

Dying bodies of water green, parades, drunken douche bags: these are things I’m not much of a fan of.  Also the fact that I’m Jewish, and have no reason to take part in St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, makes me think of today as simply another day in the office.  Meanwhile, a bunch of guys named "Tommy" and "Frank" are calling sick out of work and pounding Car Bombs right outside my window, and I’m left to fear the sea of green beads and "Fuck me I’m Irish" t-shirts that I’m going to have to deal with when I go for my coffee recharge in an hour. But wait, I hear a familiar sound.  It’s the drunken croon of Shane McGowan!  That bar across that street that would normally be playing an awkward mix of Bon Jovi, Lady Gaga, and 90’s gangsta rap is blasting Rum Sodomy & the Lash in it’s entirety.  For the moment life is good for this Jew on St. Pat’s Day. If for nothing else, I think we should all take a moment and be thankful for the fact that if not for The Pogues, who would have come along and decided to fuse punk music with traditional folk sounds?  Sure, Shane MacGowan looks like a ghost with bad teeth, but would we have bands like Golem, Gogol Bordello, and The Shondes (among many others) fusing world sounds with punk aggression? I’m doubtful.