1000 SONGS - DAY 124: SONG #154

Day 124: A Song that Makes You Sad

Dirty Old Town is a song written by Ewan MacColl that has been interpreted by many a singer. For me, it is associated with the melancholical mood, therefore I dug it to be listed among the songs that make me sad, although this is not the right word. I came to know the song when I was just a little boy, because there is a fine version of it on Rod Stewart's first album "An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down". Whatever you might think of Rod - maybe you know him only for his "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy-Disco-Era" - this is an extraordinarily fine album (featuring, among others, Ron "good looking" Wood), and his version of the classic really is appreciable:

In a post on that song, one has to include the original recording by the one who wrote it:

Maybe it is for The Pogues and their lead singer Shane McGowan that a load of people know that tune today, so here is a version from the days when they all were pretty young (I apologise for the guiness commercial at the start):

Next one is a rendition of the song by a slightly older Shane accompanied by two old men on the guitar (embedding not allowed, watch it on utube):

DIRTY OLD TOWN

Kirsty MacColl, the daughter of Ewan, died in a tragic accident in 2000 . I do not know whether there is a version of DOT done by her (I guess there are some live versions of the song by the Pogues featuring her). Anyway, there is a song she has recorded together with the Pogues and Shane about Christmas Evening (drawing near, my friends, drawing near, as I write this), Fairytale of New York, here it is, as the bonus track of this here post: