Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan died from compilations of viral encephalitis and pneumonia, his wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, has revealed.
The 65-year-old musician had been receiving treatment at a Dublin hospital for the last several months. He was discharged on November 22nd so he could spend his remaining days at home with family and friends. He ultimately passed away on November 30th.
“He wasn’t ready to give up. He wasn’t ready to stop fighting – but his body did it for him,” Clarke told RTÉ Radio 1.
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A funeral for MacGowan is set for Friday, December 8th, and is open to the public. The procession will begin in Nenagh and travel to Dublin, where a funeral will be held at St. Mary of the Rosary church. Ireland’s president, Michael Higgins, is expected to attend the funeral. Other reported guests include Bono and the surviving members of the Pogues.
MacGowan’s remains will then be returned to Tipperary and cremated, with his ashes scattered across the river Shannon, which he sang about on The Pogues’ song “The Broad Majestic Shannon.”
Clarke also revealed that in his final months, MacGowan was seen by a “constant stream of visitors,” including U2’s Bono and The Edge, Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie, Imelda May, Irish playwright/filmmaker Jim Sheridan, and others.
See tributes to MacGowan from Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Nick Cave, and Bono, and read Jonah Krueger’s new essay on”Fairytale of New York,” the quintessential Christmas song for punks, drunks, and everyone else whose rough around the edges.
