Two worlds collided when Shane MacGowan found an unlikely kindred spirit in the supermodel Kate Moss, with the pair often staying up all night together, carousing and lost in conversation.
They formed a strong bond, according to Victoria Mary Clarke, MacGowan’s widow, after being introduced through the actor Johnny Depp. Sharing many intellectual and cultural interests, MacGowan and Moss’s friendship flourished, culminating in her agreeing to sing on a tribute album to the late frontman of the Pogues.
MacGowan died at the end of November 2023, aged 65, following a period of poor health.
“They got on really, really well because they were similar too. She’s a really intelligent, really well-read, really cultured, really funny and really musical [person]. They would sit up all night talking and drinking. I would go to bed and get up, and they would still be sitting there, so a lot in common,” Clarke said.
A new charity tribute record for the late Pogues songwriter called 20th Century Paddy — The Songs of Shane MacGowan will feature a diverse galaxy of musical stars and close friends. It will pay homage to the Celtic punk poet’s legacy with cover versions of his most loved songs. The track listing is being kept under wraps until the album’s release in November.
The line-up of artists assembled by Clarke, MacGowan’s partner for more than 40 years, includes Bruce Springsteen, Hozier, Jessie Buckley, David Gray and Tom Waits.
While most contributors are household names in music, Moss’s appearance on the album proves that the former supermodel is not just a pretty face, but a singer too.
Clarke noted Moss’s brief collaborations with a number of artists over the years. She described her as a “naturally talented” vocalist and said MacGowan believed the model should sing more.
“We stayed very good friends with her. Over the years, Kate has sung with a number of people, including Bobby Gillespie, and I saw her sing with Chrissie Hynde. But it isn’t, I suppose, something that she pushes because she does her other career. It’s something that I always feel that she should do more of,” Clarke said.
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Clarke immediately approached Moss about being part of the record but was surprised that she agreed, having contacted her in hope rather than expectation.
“I thought that she might be too shy. She is really shy. But no, she said yes. Off she went, and she did an amazing job. I am really, really impressed with what she’s done,” Clarke said.
Clarke said that Moss was a “loving and caring person” who had been a fan of MacGowan’s music since childhood.
“When she met Shane, she was really excited. Her brother, Nick, was in the video for That Woman’s Got Me Drinking. So she was there when we were shooting it. That’s how we got to know her when we were shooting that. We continued, through her various other relationships with people like Pete Doherty, to hang out with her and stay friends,” Clarke said.
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MacGowan’s songs were allocated to the various artists who agreed to Clarke’s request on a “first-come, first-served” basis. Negotiations over who would get to sing what was a “lengthy and involved” process, Clarke added.
Jessie Buckley, who will find out on Sunday whether she has won a best actress Oscar for her performance alongside Paul Mescal in Hamnet, will duet with Hozier on the record. Clarke revealed that MacGowan had been a fan of Buckley’s singing but that the pair never met.
“It was Hozier who approached her. She is a brilliant singer. Shane was aware of her singing. He was very much a fan of her. Apart from music, Shane was really obsessed with film. He definitely had ambitions to write films, so she is a really wonderful person to have.”
Jessie Buckley
MYUNG J CHUN/LOS ANGELES TIMES/GETTY IMAGES
Clarke remained tight-lipped about the track listing and would not say what song Moss sang on the record.
Moss’s appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in 2022 provided little hint of her song choice. Her list of favourite tracks included Neil Young’s Harvest Moon, David Bowie’s Life on Mars and Van Morrison’s Madame George, but she made no mention of the Pogues frontman.
“She’s just got good taste in music. They would sit together and talk about music or sing together. She likes singing, and she will do it all day long. It’s just getting her to do it in public that’s the thing. I think she should definitely pursue it,” Clarke said.
Depp, who was MacGowan’s best man at his wedding to Clarke in 2018, will also sing on the record. Depp’s friendship with MacGowan is well documented, and the Pogues singer once described the actor as “the brother me and Vic never had”.
“They had so many similarities. They are very much their own people. Shane lived in his own world, and he drew on his own inspiration. He went inwards to get what he called the eternal buzz. He was never that interested in what anyone thought about his work or about him. Johnny also continues to do visual art, but also to sing and play guitar, and he’s obviously doing films all the time. I think [they shared] that kind of multi-strand artistic temperament and that refusal to really be too affected by anyone else’s opinion. Also, a wild imagination and wicked sense of humour.”
Johnny Depp with MacGowan in 1994
CHRIS GRIEVE/MIRRORPIX/GETTY IMAGES
The couple issued a statement of support for Depp during his defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard. Clarke said the actor was an “obvious choice” for the album.
“They had a lot of fun together. They would spend nights when you would still find them talking 24 hours after you went to bed. They both had a good capacity for drinking. They would talk about books. Johnny and Shane were both really interested in literature, particularly Irish literature. They talked about movies, about art, religion, you name it.”
In 2018: Victoria Mary Clarke with MacGowan, Depp and President Higgins
MARK STEDMAN
While the contents of the album remain a secret, one track has been announced. Bruce Springsteen’s cover of Rainy Night in Soho has already been released. Springsteen visited MacGowan a few months before he died and spent an afternoon with the singer before a gig at the RDS Arena in Dublin with his E Street Band.
Clarke said the afternoon was unforgettable. “The last thing Shane said to Bruce was, ‘I’ll see you next time.’ It was a really lovely experience to have him just sitting around having a chat for the day. They got to talk about things that they were both interested in,” she said.
“Shane had been a fan of Bruce’s since he was about 12 or 13. He had quite an encyclopaedic knowledge of the albums, the music, and the musicians. Bruce can talk about anything, really. He’s very easy to get on with, and he’s a very down-to-earth guy. In retrospect, it helped, I think, to have that memory.”
MacGowan with Bruce Springsteen
In a social media post last week, Springsteen recalled how he “stood in his warmth, kissed him and told him I loved him”. Springsteen also called MacGowan one of his “all-time favourite singers” shortly after his death. Clarke believes the pair had much in common as artists.
“They are both people who have this real visceral reaction to human suffering. They can’t ignore it and think about something else. They are both very sensitive and would feel they are moved by it and have to respond to it in some way,” she said.
“Shane’s speciality as a songwriter was not songs about himself; it was songs about other people. People who are living on the street, on drugs or alcohol, having problems with addiction, or people in wars. He did think about people and wrote about people. Bruce does the same. He’s very much a protest singer. I think they both had strong feelings that music can be used for change.”