Announced on August 5, the release marks four decades since the record’s debut. ‘Rum Sodomy & The Lash’ was the band’s second studio album and reached No.13 on the UK Albums Chart upon its original release. Produced by Elvis Costello, the album remains one of the band’s most influential works, blending traditional Irish folk instrumentation with raw punk energy.

The 40th anniversary edition will be available in two physical formats: a deluxe 2-CD set and a limited two-LP red marble vinyl. Both versions will include the original tracklist and an expanded bonus disc featuring the ‘Poguetry in Motion’ EP, B-sides, BBC session recordings, and live performances.

Highlights include rare live recordings of “A Pair of Brown Eyes” and “Sally MacLennane” captured at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom in December 1987, as well as a previously unreleased rough mix of the band’s cover of The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe in Magic?”

The expanded release also features tracks from the band’s July 1985 BBC Radio 1 session on The Janice Long Show, including versions of “Wild Cats of Kilkenny,” “Billy’s Bones,” and “The Old Main Drag.”

To accompany the anniversary release, The Pogues toured the UK in May, with shows in cities including Leeds, Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham, and Manchester. A North American leg is also scheduled to run from September 5–17. The bands live performance tour dates can be seen here.

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The anniversary album will be available on CD from on September 19, followed by the vinyl release on October 24. The link to pre-order the 40^th anniversary edition of album ‘Rum Sodomy & The Lash’ can be accessed here via the official store .

Full Tracklist:

‘Rum Sodomy & The Lash’ (1985)

1. The Sick Bed Of Cúchulainn
2. The Old Main Drag
3. Wild Cats Of Kilkenny
4. I’m A Man You Don’t Meet Every Day
5. A Pair Of Brown Eyes
6. Sally MacLennane
7. Dirty Old Town
8. Jesse James
9. Navigator
10. Billy’s Bones
11. The Gentleman Soldier
12. And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Bonus Tracks
– The Parting Glass (B-side)
– A Pistol For Paddy Garcia (B-side)

‘Poguetry in Motion’ EP:
– London Girl
– A Rainy Night In Soho
– The Body Of An American
– Planxty Noel Hill

BBC Radio 1 – ‘Janice Long Show’ (July 11, 1985):
– Wild Cats Of Kilkenny
– Billy’s Bones
– The Old Main Drag
– Dirty Old Town

Additional bonus Tracks
– A Pair Of Brown Eyes (Live at Glasgow Barrowland)
– Sally MacLennane (Live at Glasgow Barrowland)
– Do You Believe in Magic? (Rough Mix)

In case you missed it, MXDWN’s original coverage of the UK tour commemorating the 40 year anniversary earlier this year can be read here.

The Pogues return in 2025 for their first UK Tour since 2012 to celebrate 40 years of Rum Sodomy & the Lash Ft James Fearnley, Jem Finer, Spider Stacy & special guests.
Tickets go on sale 9:30am Fri 22 Nov. Sign up at https://t.co/PxhZ8bnwBA by 5pm on 19 Nov for presale access pic.twitter.com/hFACjdf7yc

— The Pogues (@poguesofficial) November 18, 2024

The concerts lined up will see most original band members performing: James Fearnley, Jem Finer and Spider Stacy have confirmed they will be returning to the band for their revival tour. Furthermore, the band has announced there’ll be special guests throughout the nights of tour.

The tour is relatively limited, with only six dates set so far; it will be starting off from Leeds and culminating in Newcastle on May 8. Here are all the stops and venues:

Leeds, O2 Academy (May 1)

Birmingham, O2 Academy (May 2)

London, O2 Academy Brixton (May 3)

Glasgow, Barrowland (May 6)

Manchester, O2 Apollo (May 7)

Newcastle, O2 City Hall (May 8)

The Pogues begun their career in the early 80s in London, with little success at first. They released their first album, titled “Red Roses for Me” in 1984 and successively their hit record “Rum Sodomy and The Lash” the following year. The latter album gained The Pogues critical acclaim and peaked at 13 on UK charts, eventually receiving a gold certification. “Rum Sodomy and The Lash” is perhaps The Pogue’s most successful studio album.

The band kept releasing albums with their front man, Shane MacGowan, until 1991. Their record “If I should Fall From Grace with God” peaked at number 3 on UK charts, making it their highest achieved position on UK charts; the record also includes the hit Christmas song “Fairytale of New York” which comes back to charts every year at Christmas, but always fails to achieve number one.

After firing MacGowan, the band released a few records that weren’t reviewed positively by critics and failed to achieve success. This eventually led the band to break up for some time, to eventually reunite, along with MacGowan, in the early 2000s, and start performing together around the UK and Ireland and played some shows around Europe and the US as well. Their last performance together took place in Hyde Park in 2014, after which the band dissolved once again.

The Pogues have announced that the upcoming tour will see all the songs from “Rum Sodomy and The Lash” performed, along with some other ones.

Tickets will be available on pre-sale on November 20 if fans sign up here before 5 pm on November 19. General tickets will instead be available on Friday November 22 at 9:30 am.

After news of the late Shane MacGowan’s death, aged 65, last Thursday, his wife Victoria Mary Clarke reportedly told the BBC she would love to see the song at the top of the charts. On BBC Radio 4 Clarke said “It would be nice, wouldn’t it?… It should be Christmas number one, it absolutely should. I’m very much in favour of that.” 

The wife of Shane MacGowan, Victoria Mary Clarke, tells @MarthaKearney on #R4Today she hopes Fairytale of New York will be Christmas No 1.

Hear her memories of The Pogues frontman, who died this week aged 65, and how he enjoyed watching programmes about the Royal Family.

— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) December 2, 2023

The Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band The Pogues, fronted by Shane MacGowan, reached international heights with their popular hit ‘Fairytale of New York’  back in 1987. The duet with Kirsty MacColl quickly became a favourite of the UK and Irish nations, reaching number one in the Irish charts and number two in the British charts over Christmas. It has returned to the top 40 every year since 2005. Although, despite it being the third most streamed Christmas song in the UK, it has surprisingly never reached number one in Britain. 

The nostalgic song follows the story of two lovers, Irish immigrants in New York City, who quarrel and reminisce on Christmas Eve about their early love life. The song received huge criticism due to the fact it uses the word “faggot”, deemed offensive to homosexual people and in 2007, was briefly censored by the BBC. However, following protests from fans and the late Kirsty MacColl’s mother, the censorship was lifted. 

Watch the official video for ‘Fairytale of New York’ here

As it currently stands, ‘Last Christmas’ by the pop duo Wham!  is on track to take the number one spot next Friday. The duo consists of the late George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley and has been a crowd-pleaser every year since its release in 1986. Mariah Carey is close behind, moving from number six to number two, with her classic ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’. However, The Pogues are competing currently at spot number three. 

Watch Wham!’s Last Christmas below

There is also a new festive song by Eurovision’s Sam Ryder ‘You’re Christmas to Me’, released solely on Amazon Music, which is currently placing at number four in the UK singles chart.

The 2023 Christmas title will be announced in less than three weeks live on BBC Radio 1’s The Official Chart show on December 22.

His wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, has since posted a heartfelt statement on Instagram, writing, “I don’t know how to say this so I am just going to say it. Shane who will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the start and end of everything that I hold dear has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese. I am blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him and to have had so many years of life and love and joy and fun and laughter and so many adventures. There’s no way to describe the loss that I am feeling and the longing for just one more of his smiles that lit up my world. Thank you thank you thank you thank you for your presence in this world you made it so very bright and you gave so much joy to so many people with your heart and soul and your music. You will live in my heart forever. Rave on in the garden all wet with rain that you loved so much. You meant the world to me.”

An ever-charismatic and endearing figure, MacGowan and his renowned snarl came to represent many things during his 65 years on Earth; the nonchalant fusion of punk and poetry, Irish nationalism and pride, and, to a great many, Christmas music. “Fairytale Of New York“, indeed, remains a true December classic; will we see it take number one spot this Christmas? Above all though, MacGowan always remained true to himself, his culture, heritage and nation, and his nonconforming spirit.

Listen to “Fairytale Of New York” below:

Born in Kent to Irish immigrant parents in 1957 and growing up in various cities in the Southeast of England, MacGowan’s punk nature was evident from the start. He was allegedly expelled from secondary school for possession of narcotics and soon became enamoured with the early punk scene, experiencing his first bout of fame as he was pictured in a newspaper after being injured at a Clash gig. So inspired was MacGowan by the Pistols and the Clash he decided to join Shanne Bradley’s punk band, the Nipple Erectors.

Come 1982 and he had formed his own band, initially named Pogue Mahone (an anglicisation of the Irish phrase póg mo thóin, meaning ‘kiss my arse’). Shortened later to the Pogues, MacGowan employed his Irish identity to explore in his lyrics Irish nationalism, Irish history and the Irish diaspora in England. The Pogues’ first album, Red Roses for Me, came in 1984, followed by Rum, Sodomy & the Lash in 1985 and their most commercially successful record If I Should Fall from Grace with God in 1988.

Listen to “Dirty Old Town” below:

Notable singles from his time with the Pogues include covers of traditional Irish folk songs “Dirty Old Town” and “Irish Rover“, along with “Fairytale of New York” featuring Kirsty MacColl and “Dark Streets of London“. After leaving the band in 1991 he formed another group, Shane MacGowan and the Popes, releasing two full length LPs before re-joining the Pogues in 2001.

Listen to “Irish Rover” below:

The book will also have a foreword by American actor Johnny Depp, as well as art critic Waldemar Januszczak. Depp, a collector of MacGowan’s artwork, had this to say in the foreword: “It’s rare for a creative genius like Shane to have one avenue of output. Such an incendiary talent is likely to have a multitude of facilities …. And so, revealed here, is Shane’s propensity for the wild, for the absurd, for the political, for the beautiful …. but, regardless of medium, his work will always be full of poetry – a bit like the great man, and my great friend, himself; the artist, Shane MacGowan.”

Fans will also get to see pictures of MacGowan’s notorious nightlife. Nights out with, among many, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave and fashion model Kate Moss will apparently be on display, along with a number of MacGowan’s sketches, character studies, paintings, self-portraits, stories and “abstract snippets”. However, it’s a marvel in the first place that such a wealth of material has become available in the first place.

MacGowan’s wife (and collaborator on the book), Victoria Mary Clarke, has said that they only found the drawings during the making of last year’s documentary on MacGowan – Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan – when her mother found thousands of the drawings, which she delivered in a bin bag. She said “we didn’t even know it existed, it was miraculous, like finding a crock of gold!“

It seems an important venture for the famous musician, for whom art has been a life-long passion. He said in a statement that art was “one of the only O levels I got”. The singer has had a history of designing his own album covers, such as The Pogues’ Red Roses For Me and If I Should Fall From Grace With God. He also noted some of his favourite artists and stylistic periods, ranging from the renaissance (such as Caravaggio) to the impressionists (Lavery, Brendan Fitzpatrick) and the surrealists (Dali, Chagall), opining that “there’s millions of them”.

The collection is set to be released next April, but it will be limited to only 1,000 copies, so it’s best for fans to get in quick. If you want to pre-order now, you can look here. If you want to read more about the upcoming release, you can look here. If you want some Christmas cheer, you can look below, and reminisce with this Pogues classic.

The censored version to be played this Christmas will exclude the words ‘slut’ and ‘faggot’. BBC Radio 1 hosts have stated they will be removing these two words in an effort to not offend members of the LGBTQ+ community and younger audiences who might be particularly sensitive to offensive language towards women and especially sexuality.

https://t.co/w9iAFQSvDX

— The Pogues (@poguesofficial) November 19, 2020

Fairytale of New York was released November 23rd, 1987 and featured on The Pogues’ album If I Should Fall from Grace with God. It’s original release only made it #2 on the UK Christmas hits, however, since then it has reached triple platinum in sales. In 2019 it was awarded the title of The Most Played Christmas Song in the UK of the 21st Century.

The beginning of the controversy surrounding this Irish Christmas folk-song began in 2007 when BBC Radio 1 released an edited version in an attempt to avoid any offence taken by listeners. The Pogues stated it was amusing and ridiculous to them. After mass outrage, BBC Radio 1 reversed its position and continued to play the original version through the holiday season.

‘Morning https://t.co/xnoWEhjOl1

— The Pogues (@poguesofficial) November 19, 2020

2018 saw a much wider call to remove the offensive language from the track, or remove it from the radio-stations all together, however, the original version continued to dominate radio plays. MacGowan from the band defended the words once and for all in a statement on The Tonight Show, saying, “The word was used by the character because it fitted with the way she would speak and with her character. She is not supposed to be a nice person, or even a wholesome person. She is a woman of a certain generation at a certain time in history and she is down on her luck and desperate.”

Her dialogue is as accurate as I could make it but she is not intended to offend! […]If people don’t understand that I was trying to accurately portray the character as authentically as possible, then I am absolutely fine with them bleeping the word, but I don’t want to get into an argument.”

In 2019 there was still no censorship on the song on the Christmas radios and mixed reactions and opinions on whether it should be allowed on air was still broadly up for debate. Despite the dispute, the song received its most streams and downloads last year then ever before.

Even now in 2020 there continues to be split beliefs among all generations and communities throughout the UK on whether to censor Fairytale of New York. BBC Radio 1 has made headlines with the call to censor the iconic holiday hit from The Guardian to The Gay Times to CNN and all BBC radios have now been instructed to make the best decision based on their audiences.