Ray D'Arcy has recalled the afternoon his mother, "devout Catholic teetotaller" Mary D'Arcy and the late Shane MacGowan sang and did an interview in her kitchen in Kildare.
The surreal, and very funny encounter took place in 2001 to mark the release of writer and director Sarah Share’s film, If I Should Fall from Grace: The Shane MacGowan Story.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Paying tribute to The Pogues’ singer, who has died aged 65, on his RTÉ Radio One show on Thursday afternoon, Ray spoke about how Shane agreed to be interviewed by Mary on Today FM.
"A friend of mine, Colm, had worked on the film and they wanted to promote it and Shane would have no interest in talking to someone like me," Ray said.
"Knowing that my mother was - and still is - a huge Shane MacGowan fan, I suggested that maybe Shane would be interviewed by her and he agreed.
"So, we set up camp in my mother’s kitchen and broadcast from there. My mother is a devout Catholic teetotaller so there is a bit of a difference between herself and Shane."
The wide-ranging interview touched on house extensions, Shane’s early adventures in London and how Mary and Shane had something in common having both spent time in London during their younger days.
In the interview, she remarked that it is a good thing that Irish people no longer have to spend time away from home in the same way they did in the 60s and 70s.
"Yeah, there was always sadness expressed about it and I felt a little rage," Shane said.
They also spoke about The Pogues’ biggest hit, 1987’s Fairytale of New York. "I never thought it would be so big, with people still singing it in bars at Christmas and it’s still played on the radio," the singer said. "I never get sick of hearing it, even though I wrote it."
However, he added that he hadn’t been to New York at the time he wrote the classic Christmas song with Jem Finer.
"Well, I was about to go but I knew lots of people who had been to New York and they managed to get back but I knew plenty of stories about people who hadn’t got back."
The interview ended with local Kildare guitarist Ciaran Wynn joining Mary and Shane for a very impressive duet of Fairytale of New York.
When Today FM listeners remarked that Mary was a natural on radio and that she should have her own show, Shane told Ray, "Well, she’s doing a lot better than you!"
The Ray D’Arcy Show, RTÉ Radio One, Monday to Friday
