Music. It can be pretty much anything from euphoric to celebratory, sad to poignant and all steps in between. Moments, memories, loose threads, a snatch in time from months, years, decades ago can be recalled in the blink of an eye yet most of us struggle to recall what we did two weeks ago. That’s the power of music, it captures feelings, emotions, the zeitgeist like nothing else.   

I once again had the pleasure of seeing The Men They Couldn’t Hang play live in Glasgow, always a special show. As the big man mentioned to me, this was the twelfth time we’d seen them together. A chance then to reminisce, have a few beers and to hopefully experience some new musical moments. Part way through, Tom Spencer introduced the track Salutations, written by their late singer Stefan Cush about his local pub. Cush may have been taken from us far too soon in 2021 but his spirit lives on, in that room tonight and through our TMTCH memories. 

It was also only twenty-four hours since the death of The Pogues singer Shane MacGowan. Of course, TMTCH and The Pogues go way back, Cush having been a roadie for The Pogues, TMTCH’s first gig was at the same festival where both bands played and debut album Night Of A Thousand Candles was part-produced by Philip Chevron. Loose threads, weaving their way into those memories again. A beautiful cover of A Rainy Night In Soho was both touching and moving. Tears? Yes, a few were shed and I know I wasn’t the only one. Music – that’s what it can do. 

I was talking to two pals in the run up to and at the gig about their late brother, Kieran, who died in 2019. Our friendship was forged on a love of The Men They Couldn’t Hang. Seeing them at Stirling University when we were fiteen or sixteen. Going to see The Pogues at the Barras and travelling to their Finsbury Park gig in London when we were seventeen. The exuberance of youth, laughing, drinking, flirting, dancing, fearless, not one jot given, this was our time, our moment, We were invincible. Or so we thought.  A chance then to reminisce some more, we knew Kieran would have loved this. A glass was raised, a prayer, the memories coming flooding back and a smile. Music, it’s always the music.