Shane MacGowan - The Nips Classic Single - Gabrielle - HD Audio & Visual Remaster

Gabrielle - A song par excellence.
This could be considered to be Shane MacGowans first hit. The song was written and sung by Shane with the very able backing of The Nips.
We can hear Shane starting to grow into his voice here and for a punk vocal his delivery is better than most. As with all great MacGowan songs it is catchy and full of great hooks. This is by far his best composition and performance before he would finally find his voice with The Pogues.
The song features a fantastic bass line by Shanne Bradley which lifts the chorus. Shanne was Shanes first chioce for Pogues bassist but that was quickly vetoed by fellow ex Nip James Fearnley who was not impressed with her personality.
The Pogues spot was ably filled by another female bassist brimming with personality - the inimitable Cait O’Riordan.
The production here is by Stan Brennan who does a far superior job than he did on Red Roses For Me. Jem Finer and James warned Shane against letting him produce The Pogues debut LP but one of Shanes traits is loyalty.
Shane can be seen in his Union Jack punk outfit. Is this statement conflicting with his political views? I would say most definitely not. It is more a punk fashion statement. After all, many bands in this period wore swastikas, this did certainly not make them Nazis. It is designed to shock, that is all.
Certainly, by all accounts Shane, was regularly beaten up in this period which many have subscribed to his republican views.
The Jam famously captured the latent right wing violence of the late 70’s and early eighties on ‘Down In The Tube Station At Midnight’.
Gabrielle
Let's go down to the old West End
Where we used to go when you were my girlfriend
Take the 73 to the city
With you sitting there, looking so pretty
I'd take you where you could shake it down, now
To the rocking part of town
A shake it up
A shake it up
A shake it up
A shake it up Gab-Gab-Gab-Gabrielle
A shake it up Gab-Gab-Gab-Gabrielle
A shake it up Gab-Gab-Gab-Gabrielle
A shake it up Gab-Gab-Gab-Gabrielle
Let's down to the old West End
Where we used to go when you were my girlfriend
Take a seven and breeze through the city
With you sitting there, looking so pretty
And though you never once gave it away
I can still remember those crazy days
We'd dance all night and sleep all day
In the old West End everybody was dancing
Dancing....
And though you never once gave it away
I can still remember those crazy days
We'd dance all night and sleep all day
In the old West End everybody was dancing
Dancing....