Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea has shared a tribute to late Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan, who died Thursday, November 30, at age 65.
“And now I say, god bless the great Irishman Shane MacGowan,” Flea writes in an Instagram post. “Everytime I heard him sing I heard the truth, and my heart filled up with humanity.”
Flea recalls seeing MacGowan perform with The Pogues in the ’80s, noting that the show “was so beautiful and I was reduced to tears.”
“I approached him, and gushed ‘Man that was so beautiful, thank you etc…"” Flea writes. “He looked at me and burst into laughter, accidentally spitting beer in my face, and it was not thoughtless or mean at all, he was just so humble and being a dude singing it seemed absurd to him to be elevated, like I was doing to him.”
“I have never been a church going man or a religious man, but if I ever felt [baptized], it was that beer and spit in my face that did it,” he adds. “[I’m] so grateful he sang his songs for us.”
Here are a few of the other tributes to MacGowan:
Garbage: “Some people are just too fragile for this world. Too sensitive. They see too much. They feel too much. Belly on up to that bar then Mr MacGowan and line em up. Cheers to you, you beautiful, brilliant bastard. Thanks for all the fantastic music. We shall miss you.”
Dropkick Murphys: “Rest in Peace Shane McGowan. You were one of a kind. Thank you for the impact you had on so many of our lives.”
Flogging Molly: “Farewell to a legend.”
Jack Antonoff: “shane macgowan has made me feel something that nobody else ever could through his work. his way is something i feel inspired by everyday in the studio and on tour. love to those close to him and for the rest of us who wouldn’t be here without his music it’s a sad day.”
Against Me!‘s Laura Jane Grace: “Forever grateful to have had the opportunity of opening for the Pogues years ago. Shane was a lyrical god to me, always will be.”
President of Ireland Michael Higgins: “Shane will be remembered as one of music’s greatest lyricists. So many of his songs would be perfectly crafted poems, if that would not have deprived us of the opportunity to hear him sing them.”
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