Libertines cover ‘Fairytale of New York’ in tribute to Pete Doherty’s late wildman pal Shane MacGowan
As part of singer Pete Doherty’s ongoing tributes to his old friend Shane MacGowan, The Libertines have covered The Pogues’ ‘Fairytale of New York’.
The Libertines have covered The Pogues’ ‘Fairytale of New York’.
Pete Doherty, Carl Barât, John Hassall and Gary Powell shared a video on their official Instagram page of Carl playing the festive classic tune on the piano, with him and Doherty singing along.
The caption of the video said it was a tribute to late Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan, who died aged 65 on 30 November after being stricken with a string of illnesses including pneumonia.
It said: “RIP Shane, this one’s for you matey x.”
The band also posted a second video of the whole band performing the song while on stage during one of their intimate shows.
It was captioned: “Another one for Shane x.”
Pete, who was a friend of Shane’s, revealed after the wildman’s death he once stole his crack pipe and told him his drugs were rubbish.
The recovering heroin addict told the tale while recounting his first meeting with the singer.
Pete said on BBC Sounds about being introduced to Shane by his supermodel ex-girlfriend Kate Moss: “When I met him he charged in and took my crack pipe off me, smashed it up, charged out and then came back and helped me put it back together with Sellotape.
“He smoked all my drugs and told me (what bad) quality they were after having smoked them all. That was the first time I’d ever met him so I thought that was pretty cool!”
Pete stressed not all their encounters involved drugs, adding: “Most of the time he’d be (at Kate’s) house and he’d say, ‘Go on, get the guitar out and show us what you’ve got,’ and we’d just play guitar and sing songs.”
Pete also said about his shock hard-living Shane had died: “I just loved the bloke to be honest. I knew he was ill but I kind of thought he was bulletproof... I don’t want to sound all gushing but I’m just going to say how I really feel.
“I loved him, he was solid, he had a manic laugh and he knew a hell of a lot about history – the American Revolution, the history of Cuba... when he’d get up on stage and play with us, he was just always up for it. Always up for the banter.
“Up in the dressing room we’d get the guitar out and for me that’s the strongest connections I’ve made – with people like that, through music.
“I loved and respected him. For a long time I was sitting at his feet in awe and over time I got his respect.
“During difficult times in my life I could speak to him. When I was in jail he knew some people and he helped me out with a few spots and I felt close to him.”
Pete also gushed Shane was one of the “top three or four lyricists of the past 40 years” and said ‘Fairytale’ was “one of the best songs ever written”, adding: “It’s something he can be proud of – you never get tired of hearing it.”
