My Crucial Track for 29th March - The Turkish Song of the Damned by the Pogues
Some albums have a good opening track, but the 2nd track is totally killer. What’s your favorite 2nd track song?
Another Pogues track, and another trivial anecdote.
When I was at the LSE, in the early ’80s, I vaguely knew a German chap who ran a fanzine that, he said, was mainly about the Pogues and the Damned. I don’t remember his name and we never kept in contact, but I do remember talking to him, both because punk-iness wasn’t a huge thing on campus, and because I thought the Damned and the Pogues was kind of an odd combination.
Anyway, some time later, after the Pogues third LP came out, I read that this song was
“inspired by a German fan’s muddled attempts to converse with him [Shane MacGowan] about “The Turkey Song” by the Damned”.
Since then, whenever I hear the song I wonder if it was the same slightly nerd-y, very serious and earnest German guy, and I try to imagine the conversation between him and MacGowan.