Sally
MacLennane
(Shane MacGowan)
"Well Jimmy played harmonica in the
pub where I was born
He played it from the night time to the peaceful early
morn
He soothed the souls of psychos and the men who had the
horn
And they all looked very happy in the
morning"
Okay, this one might be a reach and
it's more of one those "interpretation" issues rather than
an identification issue, which is what you'll mostly find on
The Parting Glass. But... given the title of this release,
and the lyrical bent of "Old Main
Drag" it's probably worth
considering the nature of the "harmonica" Jimmy played
(thanks to Mark for raising the question). Obviously, it
could be the instrument, which is also known as a "mouth
organ," and which you play by blowing or sucking air through
it. Given that reality, it's not surprising that the term
also came to refer to the male sex organ. If this read is
right, then it certainly could be one way to "soothe the
souls" of both the psychos and the horny men in the bar, and
also might account for the happy expressions come the
morning after.
Where the elephant man broke
strong men's necks
When he had too many powers...
In A Drink with Shane MacGowan
(2001, Grove Press, ISBN 0-821-3790-3, p. 42), Shane
relates the following: "The
Elephant man in that song was a real bloke, who used to come
in the pub in Dagenham [Shane's Uncle's place, where he
worked for a while] and he was a huge bloke and he used
to get into terrible fights and he'd crunch people and one
night he got into a fight with another huge bastard and he
won the fight, but he got a broken neck in the process. And
he went around with a cast around his neck for the next six
months, which is why they called him the elephant man. The
elephant man broke strong men's necks when he's has too many
Powers. Powers whiskey obviously."
Thanks to Tom for passing that
along.
 The
original "Elephant
Man," (a.k.a. Joseph Merrick), was
born on 5 August 1862 in Leicester. He suffered from severe
physical abnormalities and attributed them to the fact that
while in utero, his pregnant mother was trampled by an
escaped elephant during a visit to a local fair. He
eventually ended up a circus side show attraction and died
in 1890 due to complications from his deformity (apparently
the weight of his huge skull broke his neck and he died
during his sleep). His life was the subject of both a play
and movie called "The Elephant Man."
In the lyric booklet accompanying
the cd, the line is rendered as above (i.e., as
"powers"), but in the "Poguetry" collection of lyrics
(Faber & Faber, ISBN 0-571-14198-6) it is "Powers." As
we see in the above quote from Shane, the book version is
probably the correct one as "Powers" no doubt refers to John
Powers Irish Whisky rather than to any supernatural gifts of
the elephant man.
I'm working on this reference to
try to square away the chronology, but I did find a
recipe
for a "Sally MacLennane Stout" for you
home brewers out there, so that "learning to love the
virtues of sweet Sally MacLennane" may be a reference to
this particular type of stout, alleged to be sweeter than
Guinness.
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"I'd like to think of me
returning when I can
To the greatest little boozer and to Sally
MacLennane..."
"Boozer" refers to a pub in
general, not to any individuals in the pub. Given Shane's
fondness for using either historical or literary references
for his characters, I thought Sally Mac would be no
exception, but so far (2004) I haven't been able to find any
references to this charmer.
"I played the pump and took
the hump and watered whiskey down
I talked of whores and horses to the men who drank the
brown..."
Daniel writes that "the pump" is
another name for the tap used for pouring a pint. While "to
hump" would be American slang for fornication or Aussie
slang for carrying a load or working hard, "the hump" is
slang for depression or a bad mood; although I suspect the
former (depression) works better in this context. So to take
the hump would, I think, mean to get through the bad times.
To "drink the brown" probably
refers to a traditional english bitter (as in Newcastle
Brown; thanks again Daniel).
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