''Hell's Ditch'' is the fifth studio album by

The Pogues The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse" ...

, released in November 1990, and the last to feature frontman

Shane MacGowan Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan (born 25 December 1957) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Celtic punk band the Pogues. He was also a member of the Nipple Erectors and Shane MacGo ...

as a member.

Overview

''Hell's Ditch'' continued the group's slow departure from Irish music, giving more emphasis to rock and straight

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...

, and forsaking their earlier staples of traditional compositions almost entirely. MacGowan parted with the band after the release of the album, owing to the decline of his reliability as a performer, which was caused by his abuse of alcohol and drugs. Several of the songs on the album have

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

n themes, in sound or in content, including "Summer in

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

", "The House of Gods" and "Sayonara". The song "Lorca's Novena" draws on MacGowan's affinity for

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

(particularly

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...

, which he had discovered years earlier when filming '' Straight to Hell''), and the Spanish poet

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

. It tells of the poet's murder by

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 193 ...

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

supporters in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

, and how his body, never having been recovered, was said to have walked away. "The Wake of the Medusa" is a first-person narrative inspired by

Théodore Géricault Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault (; 26 September 1791 – 26 January 1824) was a French Painting, painter and Lithography, lithographer, whose best-known painting is ''The Raft of the Medusa''. Although he died young, he was one of the pi ...

's painting " The Raft of the Medusa", which had appeared on the cover of the band's second album, ''

Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash ''Rum Sodomy & the Lash'' is the second studio album by the London-based folk punk band The Pogues, released on 5 August 1985. The album reached number 13 on the UK charts. The track "A Pair of Brown Eyes", based on an older Irish tune, reache ...

''. The title track is based largely on the life and writings of

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

author and playwright

Jean Genet Jean Genet (; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels '' The Thief ...

, in particular ''

The Miracle of the Rose ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' and '' Our Lady of the Flowers'', with its description of squalid prison life. The album was produced by

the Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...

Joe Strummer John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British singer, musician and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, f ...

, who later served as a temporary replacement for MacGowan when the band went on tour. The cover art for the album was designed by Joshua Cheuse, who also designed the cover for the ''

Clash on Broadway ''Clash on Broadway'' is a box set compilation album by the English punk rock band the Clash, released on Legacy Records in 1991. It comprises 64 tracks on three compact discs, spanning the time period from their 1977 debut single, "White Riot" ...

box set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

as well as album covers for Strummer and

Big Audio Dynamite Big Audio Dynamite (later known as Big Audio Dynamite II and Big Audio, and often abbreviated BAD) were an English band, formed in London in 1984 by Mick Jones, former lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the Clash. The band mixed various mu ...

Track listing

Standard edition

#" Sunny Side of the Street" (

Jem Finer Jeremy Max Finer (born 20 July 1955) is an English musician, artist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Pogues. Life and career Finer was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England, the son of political scientist Samuel Finer. He took ...

) – 2:44 #"Sayonara" (MacGowan) – 3:07 #"The Ghost of a Smile" (MacGowan) – 2:58 #"Hell's Ditch" (MacGowan, Finer) – 3:03 #" Lorca's Novena" (MacGowan) – 4:40 #"

Summer in Siam "Summer in Siam" is a single by The Pogues from their 1990 album, ''Hell's Ditch''. Composed by enigmatic frontman Shane MacGowan, it charted in the UK Top 100 at Number 64. The accompanying music video was directed by Don Letts and produced by ...

" (MacGowan) – 4:06 #"Rain Street" (MacGowan) – 4:00 #"Rainbow Man" (

Terry Woods Terence Woods (born 4 December 1947 in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish folk musician, songwriter/singer and multi-instrumentalist. He is known for his membership in such folk and folk- rock groups as The Pogues, Steeleye Span, Sweeney's Men, ...

) – 2:46 #"The Wake of the Medusa" (Finer) – 3:04 #"House of the Gods" (MacGowan) – 3:46 #"5 Green Queens & Jean" (MacGowan, Finer) – 2:35 #"Maidrin Rua" (Traditional) – 1:47 #"Six to Go" (Woods) – 2:58

Bonus tracks (2005 reissue)

" Whiskey in the Jar" (Traditional) (

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to "Jack's Heroes") – 2:41 (with

the Dubliners The Dubliners were an Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personnel over their fifty-yea ...

) #"Bastard Landlord" (Finer) (B-side to "Summer in Siam") – 3:09 #"Infinity" (MacGowan) (B-side to "Sayonara" 12") – 2:48 #"The Curse of Love" (Finer) (B-side to "Sayonara") – 2:43 #"Squid Out of Water" (MacGowan) (B-side to "A Rainy Night in Soho") – 3:47 #"Jack's Heroes" (Woods,

Spider Stacy Peter Richard "Spider" Stacy (born 14 December 1958, Eastbourne) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is best known for playing tin whistle and sometimes singing for The Pogues. Early life Stacy left school at 16 after fa ...

) (

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

single) – 3:06 (with the Dubliners) #" A Rainy Night in Soho" (1991 version) (MacGowan) (A-side single) – 4:48

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album liner notes, except where noted. The Pogues *

– vocals *

– banjo,

mandola The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vi ...

, saxophone, acoustic guitar,

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional a ...

, shaker *

–

tin whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...

, lead vocals on "The Wake of the Medusa" *

James Fearnley James Fearnley (born 9 October 1954, Worsley) is an English musician. He played accordion in the Celtic punk band The Pogues. Life and career As a child he was a choir treble before his voice changed at the age of sixteen. He took piano lesson ...

–

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a ree ...

, piano, banjo, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, violin, electric

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form ...

kalimba Mbira ( ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and p ...

–

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of ...

cittern The cittern or cithren ( Fr. ''cistre'', It. ''cetra'', Ger. ''Cister,'' Sp. ''cistro, cedra, cítola'') is a stringed instrument dating from the Renaissance. Modern scholars debate its exact history, but it is generally accepted that it is d ...

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, accordion,

auto harp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of ...

, lead vocals on "Rainbow Man", "Maidrin Rua" and "Six to Go" *

Philip Chevron Philip Ryan (17 June 1957 – 8 October 2013), professionally known as Philip Chevron, was an Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist and record producer. He was best known as the lead guitarist for the celtic punk band The Pogues and as the front ...

– acoustic guitar, electric guitar, accordion, backing vocals *

Darryl Hunt Darryl Hunt (February 24, 1965 – March 13, 2016) was an African-American man from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who, in 1984, was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and the murder of Deborah Sykes, a young w ...

– bass guitar, bells, congas, backing vocals *

Andrew Ranken The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse". ...

– drums, tambourine, backing vocals Additional musicians *The Pogues –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

on "Hell's Ditch", "Maidrin Rua" and "Six to Go" *Siobhan Sheahan – harp on "Summer in Siam" * Fiachra Trench – string arrangement on "A Rainy Night in Soho" *Spider Stacy, Terry Woods, Darryl Hunt, Andrew Ranken, John Sheahan,

Eamonn Campbell Eamonn Campbell (29 November 1946 – 18 October 2017) was an Irish musician who was a member of The Dubliners from 1987 until his death. He was also in the Dubliners when they recorded their 25th anniversary show on '' The Late Late Show'' hos ...

, Paul Verner, Jim Hand, Frank Murray – chorus on "Jack's Heroes" Technical *

– producer *Paul Cobbold – engineer *Joshua Cheuse – cover art *Dave Jordan – producer on "Jack's Heroes" and "Whiskey in the Jar" *Terry Woods – producer on "Jack's Heroes" and "Whiskey in the Jar" *

Steve Lillywhite Stephen Alan Lillywhite, (born 15 March 1955) is a British record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited on over 500 records, and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including new wave acts XTC, Bi ...

– producer, mixing on "A Rainy Night in Soho" *Chris Dickie – engineer on "Jack's Heroes", "Whiskey in the Jar" and "A Rainy Night in Soho" *Eamonn Campbell – mixing on "Whiskey in the Jar" *John Sheahan – mixing on "Whiskey in the Jar"

Charts

Certifications

Hell's Ditch demos

The ''Hell's Ditch'' demos (commonly known as the Falconer demos, after the studio in which they were tracked) were recorded prior to this album. "Murder Ska" and "Redemption Song" are both unreleased tracks featuring

on lead vocals. "Victoria" and "Lust for Vomit" are both instrumental versions of songs that later appeared on

Shane MacGowan and the Popes The Popes are a band originally formed by Shane MacGowan (of the Pogues) and Paul "Mad Dog" McGuinness, who play a blend of rock, Irish folk and Americana. Shane MacGowan and The Popes released two studio and one live album in the 1990s, perfor ...

' 1994 debut album '' The Snake'', the latter retitled "A Mexican Funeral in Paris". "NW3" and "Murder Ska" were played live as early as 1988 but never properly recorded. A studio version of "NW3" was recorded for inclusion on ''Hell's Ditch'', but MacGowan was unable to deliver a satisfactory vocal performance, leaving the track as an unfinished instrumental. Thus, " NW3" is an early version of " Mother Mo Chroi", which was released on MacGowan's second solo effort, 1997's '' The Crock of Gold''. "NW3" or "Mother Mo Chroi" appears to be very similar in sound and structure to The Pogues' original song "Rake At The Gates of Hell" (released on the 1987 ''Straight To Hell'' soundtrack album). The Falconer demos are widely available on the Internet, and unlicensed copies occasionally surface on the online auction site

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

. They also appear on the Pogues box set of rare and unreleased material released by

Rhino Entertainment Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded in 1978, Rhino was originall ...

on 17 March 2008.

Track listing

#"Murder Ska" (unreleased track) #"Ghost of a Smile" #"Bastard Landlord" #"Summer in Siam" #"Wake of the Medusa" #"NW3" (early instrumental version of Shane MacGowan and the Popes' 1997 "Mother Mo Chroi") #"Victoria" (instrumental version) #"Redemption Song" (unreleased track) #"Lust for Vomit" (early instrumental version of Shane MacGowan and the Popes' 1994 "A Mexican Funeral in Paris") #"Five Green Queens & Jean"

References

{{Authority control 1990 albums The Pogues albums Island Records albums albums recorded at Rockfield Studios