"Whatever happened to that old song?" - Here's Springsteen's "A Rainy Night in Soho" lyric-video
- Letters To You
- 39 minutes ago
- 3 min read
March 12, 2026
This week Bruce Springsteen has released a beautiful studio version of the late, great Shane MacGowan's song "A Rainy Night in Soho," originally recorded and released by MacGowan's band The Pogues back in 1986. Springsteen first performed live versions of "A Rainy Night in Soho" during his 2024 concerts with the E Street Band in Ireland. The song was performed in tribute to MacGowan, who died in late 2023. Bruce's new studio version of "A Rainy Night in Soho" is now available online for digital purchase and streaming on all major outlets. Today the official lyric video was released, as well, and it's embedded below for you to watch and listen:
The studio version of "A Rainy Night in Soho" also serves as the first released track from 20th Century Paddy - The Songs of Shane MacGowan, a tribute album to be released on November 13. Springsteen's track will be featured along with other covers/contributions from Amble, Moya Brennan, Cronin, Damien Dempsey, Johnny Depp & Imelda May, Dropkick Murphys, Steve Earle, David Gray, Glen Hansard, The High Kings, Hozier & Jessie Buckley, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Libertines, LYRA, Johnny Mac and The Faithful, Madra Salach, Lisa Moorish & Another Day, Kate Moss, Mundy, The Murder Capital, Garron Noone, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Lisa O’Neill, Camille O’Sullivan, Picture This, Pinch of Snuff, The Pogues, Primal Scream, and Tom Waits. Click here to pre-order 20th Century Paddy - The Songs of Shane MacGowan.
50% of artist royalties from 20th Century Paddy will be donated to Dublin Simon Community, an organization that provide housing and healthcare for those experiencing homelessness, and of which MacGowan was a long-time supporter. “Shane’s empathy for people sleeping rough in Dublin was well known,” said Dublin Simon Community's CEO, Catherine Kenny, to Billboard. “He never hesitated to stop, acknowledge, and share a moment with someone on the street.” MacGowan's final live performance was at Dublin Simon Community's annual Christmas Eve Busk. At every Busk since, Kenny told Billboard, one of his songs has been played in tribute.
With today's release of the official lyric-video for "A Rainy Night in Soho," Shane MacGowan's social-media also has released this statement from Bruce Springsteen, which is a moving expansion of the statement about MacGowan's passing that Springsteen posted on his official website and social-media on December 1, 2023:
"Every once in a while, every once in a great while an artist comes along whose voice seems to speak to history itself. Woody Guthrie, Jimmie Rodgers, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Miles Davis, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Coltrane, Patti Smith, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, John Lydon, Hank Williams, Sinatra. Geniuses all, they were both timeless and the embodiment of their moment in time. Many, unsurprisingly, led difficult lives not easily bound by the shackles of convention. They were natural rebels unable to stifle or heed the impulses that led them to their glory and personal hardships. Great art is by nature lawless. We do not get to choose our obsessions. We do not get to dictate our blessings or our transgressions. It's a little joke the gods play on us. Shane's voice was so real, profane and honest, his writing so flashing, alive and historically rich; its genesis appeared as a mystery to all including, I believe, its creator. The dangerous joy, the glee and courage, the humor in the face of fate, the wild ramble of a life driven towards the artistic heavens and the daily balm of self-obliteration. Shane was all naked bottomless humanity. Threatening to force us to ask ourselves if we were living deeply, authentically. He was raw, hilarious, no apologies and profound. His soul was filled with the transgressive and ecstatic properties of the saints. I don't know who'll be listening to my music in 100 years but I know they'll be listening to Shane's. Though I did not know Shane very well, I spent a lovely afternoon in his presence shortly before he passed. He was not well but he and his wife Victoria proved warm and gracious hosts. As I left, I thanked him for his beautiful work, his music, his songs, his life. I stood in his warmth, kissed him and told him I loved him."
