‘It was an honor’: Jason Kelce pays tribute to Shane MacGowan, the late Pogues singer
The late singer’s final social media post was about the Kelce Brothers’ “Fairytale” from the Eagles' Christmas album which was released today.
On Nov. 16, two weeks before his death, Shane MacGowan, the brilliant lyricist and singer who fronted the Irish band the Pogues, posted for the final time on social media.
“Tell them I am knocked out,” wrote MacGowan, along with a thumbs-up emoji, on X, formerly known as Twitter.
McGowan, who died at 65 on Thursday of pneumonia in a London hospital, was referring to Jason and Travis Kelce’s “Fairytale of Philadelphia,” the reworking of the Pogues’ Christmas classic “Fairytale of New York,” from 1988, which MacGowan wrote with Jem Finer, and sang as duet with Kirsty MacColl.
He reposted a clip from Entertainment Tonight of Travis Kelce singing the Philly-ized “Fairytale,” which is included on the Eagles’ A Philly Special Christmas Special album, which came out Friday.
Now, Eagles center Jason Kelce has written a tribute to MacGowan explaining how the Philly Specials came to cover “Fairytale of New York,” and his reaction to MacGowan giving the Kelce brothers props.
“Shane’s prowess as a singer, songwriter, and poet was truly a gift to this world. He could make you feel what he was saying, attached his soul to his music,” Jason Kelce said in a statement to the New York Times that he also shared on X.
“ ‘Fairytale of New York’ has long been one of my favorite songs (not just Christmas songs), as it gets to the roots of love, anger, resentment, sacrifice and ultimately companionship,” he wrote.
“It was an honor for my brother and I to take a stab at such a beautiful song in a different angle, and his acknowledgement of it is beyond surreal,” he concluded.