How Shane MacGowan got his bite back

Normally, when you hear from a doctor to a pop star, they'll be sat in a wood-panelled room, sweating a bit and trying to explain why the signature on the barbiturate prescription does, indeed, look like theirs.

So it's nice to hear a positive story for a change. In fact, "positive story" is probably underselling this one. It's more like a Christmas Miracle wrapped in a tale of human endurance.

It's the story of Darragh Mulrooney, the dentist who gave Shane MacGowan back a mouth full of teeth. The Independent has saluted this extraordinary work:

Shane recorded most of his great works when he had some teeth to work with,” Dr Mulrooney says. “The question on everyone’s lips is how it will affect his voice. The tongue is a finely attuned muscle and it makes precise movements. We’ve effectively retuned his instrument and that will be an ongoing process.”

MacGowan’s new teeth make at least one concession to his notorious reputation. A single gold tooth was added to his smile at the singer’s request. Asked what he thinks, MacGowan, a man of few words, says: “I’m getting used to them … it’s good to have teeth again. I feel better about the way I look.”

(Does MacGowan have a reputation for having gold teeth?)

It's a bit harsh, though, being offered a full set of realistic choppers and asking for an old-school one in the mix. Like being given a robotic prosthetic arm and demanding that one of the fingers is just a hook.

Shane McGowan gets some help

The Quietus has a brilliant interview with Shane McGowan; one of the highlights is McGown revealing his unexpected collaborators. The dead:

"I actually see people dictating to me behind me through… they call it the third eye, but the Japs reckon you've got at least eight, apart from the two here. I've seen ghosts behind me in period costume dictating songs on a couple of occasions. 'A Rainy Night In Soho' was automatic writing. I had no idea what it was about. I had a vague idea by the time I got to the fourth verse but until then I hadn't got a clue what was going on."

("The Japs"? Really, Shane?)

It's not entirely unlikely that ghosts would want to work with Shane - if you died years ago, had no body to talk of and some people find your continued existence a befuddling scientific impossibility, wouldn't you look for someone similar to work with?

McGowan does his bit for Haiti

As group singalong singles go, you've got to prefer the news that Shane McGowan has put together a bellowy cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins to raise money for Haiti:

The song is set to include Nick Cave, Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie, the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde, the Clash's Mick Jones, the Sex Pistols' Glen Matlock, and singer Paloma Faith.

Johnny Depp is also going to be involved, playing guitar. It won't sell in anything like as many numbers as Cowell's tune, but at least there's no message.

How did you spend Christmas, Shane McGowan?

You have to feel a pang of sympathy for Shane McGowan. Having reached his 50th birthday - against, it should be noted, enormous odds - on Christmas Day, he might have expected some praise. A reassessment of his career. Perhaps a South Bank Show special.

Instead, he ended up doing this. On his 50th Birthday. On TV:



And we know it's possibly being a little over-sensitive, but is it really all that funny to replace a woman who died in the sea with a person dressed up as a beluga whale?

UPDATE: This has returned to YouTube:

Who said there'd be no celebrity Big Brother this year?

According to "friends" filtered through "tabloid reports" and then inspected by the NME, there are plans for Pete Doherty and Shane McGowan to, erm, become flatmates running a North London pub together.

We say "plans", although we suspect this might simply be an idea floated for a new sitcom on ITV.

[Thanks to James McCabe for the tip]