1985 Songs: A Pair of Brown Eyes

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Okay, enough of this “popular, well known” stuff. Back to obscurity! Actually, this song is pretty well known, but probably not here in America. But then you never know! Wanna know what the song is from 1985? Here ya go! A Pair of Brown Eyes - Pogues Shane MacGowan was tremendously mourned when he passed away in 2023. While most people were amazed that he lived to be 65, given the way he abused himself, it was still a massive loss in the world of music. And to think: you’ve probably never heard of the Pogues, unless you’ve encountered their rollicking Christmas song “Fairytale of New York.” The Pogues probably never succeeded in America because you need a translator for MacGowan’s quite thick, no-apologies accent. That never stopped me! (See: Al Stewart.) So what. The Pogues were an Irish folk-punk band, so what did you expect him to sing like? And, in true Irish folk-punk fashion, surviving members of the Pogues sang “Fairytale of New York” at MacGowan’s funeral. In a cathedral. Here you have a song (based loosely on the traditional folk song “Will Ye Go Lassie”) from their second album (if you’re wondering about the title of the album, it is from a supposed quote from Sir Winston Churchill’s take on the Royal Navy: “Don’t talk to me about ‘naval tradition.’ It’s nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash.”) that deals with war and love. Yes, in the same song: a veteran recounting the battle that left him blind, and a drunk looking for a love, remembering her eyes. Who else would put such divergent themes in the same song? That’s why MacGowan is so missed. A Pair of Brown Eyes Written by Shane MacGowan Recorded by the Pogues From Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash, 1985 On the jukebox Johnny sang about a thing called love: