Sunday Morning Soho !!

 
This is Shane MacGowan ~ Irish Boy, Bawd, Bard, Balladeer ~ with his Best Ballad.  Beautiful & Haunting.   I don't like love songs as a rule, but I make an exception for this (& Oasis's 'Wonderwall').   The lyric "You're the measure of my dreams"  is probably the most Romantic line ever penned, ever,  certainly by McGowan.   And all alleged alcohol associations aside,  his accomplishment here is nothing short of Perfection.  A Poignantly Perfect Paean to Lost Love.  It couldn't be bettered,  could it?

I have always adored McGowan & the Pogues.  Even when he plays the Shambling Drunk.   The man writes some Special lyrics ~ Sweet & Sad.    'A Pair of Brown Eyes'  &  'Haunted by the Ghost'  are some of my favourite songs of  forever,  along with this one.    And Sunday morning does evoke that  "Cloak of Silence".

Originally included on their  Poguetry in Motion  EP, a different version can be found on an expanded edition of the Pogue's 1985 release,   Rum, Sodomy and the Lash.   I possess both.  Both are Beautiful.

I've been loving you a long time
Down all the years, down all the days
And I've cried for all your troubles
Smiled at your funny little ways
We watched our friends grow up together
And we saw them as they fell
Some of them fell into Heaven
Some of them fell into Hell

I took shelter from a shower
And I stepped into your arms
On a rainy night in Soho
The wind was whistling all its charms
I sang you all my sorrows
You told me all your joys
Whatever happened to that old song
To all those little girls and boys

Sometimes I wake up in the morning
The gingerlady by my bed
Covered in a cloak of silence
I hear you talking in my head
I'm not singing for the future
I'm not dreaming of the past
I'm not talking of the first time
I never think about the last

Now the song is nearly over
We may never find out what it means
Still there's a light I hold before me
You're the measure of my dreams
The measure of my dreams

This song has also been covered by Damien Dempsey, Paddy Reilly & Ronnie Drew, who recorded it on his final album   The Last Session: A Fond Farewell.