Pogues ( The ) - A Rainy Night In Soho

First performance: 04/05/2024

Coverinfo

Bruce performed the song 4 times (soundchecks included):
 
"A Rainy Night In Soho" again closes the show. 
 
A heartfelt tribute cover of Shane McGowan’s Rainy Night in Soho.
 
2024-05-04 Principality Stadium, Cardiff, Wales
Bruce soundchecked the song during private rehearsals in advance of the European leg.
 
sound: Instagram 
 
 
all credits to the original photograper
  

Songinfo

"A Rainy Night in Soho" is a song by The Pogues released in 1986, originally included on their Poguetry in Motion EP. Two recordings and various mixes of the song were made in the studio. Songwriter Shane MacGowan and producer Elvis Costello clashed over the final mix of the song, with MacGowan preferring a mix featuring a cornet, and Costello preferring a version with oboe. The cornet version was used, except for Canadian editions of the EP, which used the oboe version. A third version combining elements of both mixes was issued on the 1991 Poguetry In Motion re-issue, and is also available on the remastered and expanded Hell's Ditch CD. Other mixes have surfaced on various compilations and bootlegs, and according to guitarist Philip Chevron there are "something like 13 versions... with different edits of the two recordings".
 
 
  

Bruce on the artist

December 1, 2023 
 
When Shane MacGowan died, Bruce made an official statement on his website:
 
Over here on E Street, we are heartbroken over the death of Shane MacGowan. Shane was one of my all-time favorite writers. The passion and deep intensity of his music and lyrics is unmatched by all but the very best in the rock and roll canon. I was fortunate to spend a little time with Shane and his lovely wife Victoria the last time we were in Dublin. He was very ill, but still beautifully present in his heart and spirit. His music is timeless and eternal. I don’t know about the rest of us, but they’ll be singing Shane’s songs 100 years from now.
 
 
 
2020-05-20 SiriusXM Studio, New York City, NY
Bruce played the song during te 'From my home to yours volume 4' on Sirius XM's E Street Radio, mentioning Shane MacGowan:
 
" I had one memorable evening, a dinner with Joe Ely and Shane MacGowan of The Pogues, in Dublin, that was unforgettable. Now Shane's voice is nearly undecipherable in a loud restaurant, but I was such an admirer, and I love him, and I happy just to sit across from him. And all I know is with the exception of Bob Dylan and Chuck Berry — I'm not sure about the rest of us — but I know we'll be singing Shane MacGowan songs 100 years from now. Man, that's beautiful. That'll always be timeless. "
  
 
 

Lyrics

I've been loving you a long time
Down all the years, down all the days
And I've cried for all your troubles
Smiled at your funny little ways
We watched our friends grow up together
And we saw them as they fell
Some of them fell into Heaven
Some of them fell into Hell
I took shelter from a shower
And I stepped into your arms
On a rainy night in Soho
The wind was whistling all its charms
I sang you all my sorrows
You told me all your joys
Whatever happened to that old song?
To all those little girls and boys
Sometimes I'd wake up in the morning
The ginger lady by my bed
Covered in a cloak of silence
I'd hear you talking in my head
I'm not singing for the future
I'm not dreaming of the past
I'm not talking of the first times
I never think about the last
Now the song is nearly over
We may never find out what it means
Still there's a light I hold before me
You're the measure of my dreams
The measure of my dreams