So, it's still hard to comprehend that singer, songwriter and poet Shane MacGowan has bid his final farewell - tonight (and for many nights to come) his songs will be sung, and he leaves behind a formidable musical legacy defined by his extraordinary work with The Pogues.
We pay tribute to Shane with a selection of choice moments from the RTÉ archives - in 2020, Bruce Springsteen offered his own thoughts on Shane to Ryan Tubridy on the Late Late Show.
Via RTÉ Archives, let's jump all the way back to 1988, and a RTÉ news report on the banning in the UK of The Pogues' song Streets Of Sorrow, written in support of the Birmingham Six.
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Let's go back even further, courtesy again of the RTÉ Archives - listen to a 1985 interview with The Pogues from The BP Fallon Orchestra.
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Over 30 years later, in a clip from the 2017 documentary Fairytale of New York - The Story Of A Christmas Classic, Shane recalls his memories of the first time he sang as a child.
In, 2018 Shane and wife Victoria Mary Clarke talked to Ray D'Arcy about the all-star 60th birthday celebration held in his honour, offering his irreverent take on Bono's performance of Rainy Night in Soho:
The same year, Shane and Miriam sat down for a fascinating conversation with Miriam O'Callaghan on RTÉ Radio 1 about Shane's career and their life together, through good times and bad:
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Now take a moment to enjoy one of the greatest love songs ever written, Shane's Rainy Night In Soho, as performed by his friend Sinead O'Connor, another imcomparable talent lost this year.
There's only one way to end, with Shane performing Fairy Tale of New York in the company of Sharon Shannon and a host of Irish musical talent, for a TG4 special recorded in 2018.
Watch more classic Shane MacGowan clips from the RTÉ Archives here.
