1985 Songs: A Pair of Brown Eyes
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (72385)
United States
March 14, 2025 10:42am CST
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:

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11 people like this
7 responses
@FourWalls (72385)
• United States
15 Mar
Don’t you have some chicks to look after? 



1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (113022)
• Marion, Ohio
15 Mar
@FourWalls Chicks get checked morning and night. Just put the big ones up
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (184500)
• United States
15 Mar
Totally off my radar. Love the album cover...not.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (72385)
• United States
15 Mar
Just don’t see you as a punk rocker…or a FOLK punk rocker. 



1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (184500)
• United States
16h
@FourWalls You're right. Just not my genre. 

1 person likes this
@FourWalls (72385)
• United States
2h
I enjoy the Pogues a lot. I sure wish Shane had taken better care of himself.
@lilacskies (11322)
• United States
14 Mar
I think I may have heard of this one.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (72385)
• United States
14 Mar
The Pogues were pretty popular in parts of the country (and still are).
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (83144)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
14 Mar
Nope not these brown eyes but other song about them
1 person likes this
