The Pogues 'Turkish Song of the Damned' live 1986

This Shane MacGowan song was actually inspired by the band 'The Damned' - the title coming first after a magazine used the phrase to describe a Damned song! Shane wrote lyrics to fit the title, the band came up with Eastern sounding music - as they related below.

Filmed live in Lille, France, broadcast December 17 1986, before the song was issued on 'If I Should Fall From Grace With God' in January 1988.

Wikipedia quotes the band:- "The title for "Turkish Song of the Damned" actually came first and inspired the song's storyline and the music's Middle Eastern influence, rather than the other way round, as Chevron revealed to the NME: "We were in Germany and this magazine had an article about The Damned – the B-side of one of their singles is called 'The Turkey Song' [the B-side of their 1979 single "I Just Can't Be Happy Today"] but the mag called it 'The Turkish Song of the Damned' – it was too good a title to overlook".

MacGowan explained the lyrics as being a mixture of pirate and ghost story "about a guy on a Turkish island who deserted a sinking ship with all the money and all his mates went down – I'm not totally sure about this – he's haunted and he's dancing around with all this Turkish music in his brain ... Then his best mate comes back, and all the crew, to drag him back down to hell or wherever they are." The song ends with a rendition of the traditional Irish jig "The Lark in the Morning"."

Lyrics:
I come, old friend, from Hell tonight, across the rotting sea
Nor the nails of the cross, nor the blood of Christ can bring you hope this eve
The dead have come to claim a debt from thee
They stand outside your door fourscore and three

Did you keep a watch for the dead man's wind?
Did you see the woman with the comb in her hand?
Wailing away on the wall on the strand
As you danced to the Turkish song of the damned

You remember when the ship went down, you left me on the deck
The captain's corpse jumped up and threw his arms around my neck
For all these years I've had him on my back
This debt cannot be paid with all your jack

Did you keep a watch for the dead man's wind?
Did you see the woman with the comb in her hand?
Wailing away on the wall on the strand
As you danced to the Turkish song of the damned

Did you keep a watch for the dead man's wind?
Did you see the woman with the comb in her hand?
Wailing away on the wall on the strand
As you danced to the Turkish song of the damned

As I sit and talk to you, I see your face go white
This shadow hanging over me is no trick of the light
The specter on my back will soon be free
The dead have come to claim a debt from me

Did you keep a watch for the dead man's wind?
Did you see the woman with the comb in her hand?
Wailing away on the wall on the strand
As you danced to the Turkish song of the damned

Did you keep a watch for the dead man's wind?
Did you see the woman with the comb in her hand?
Wailing away on the wall on the strand
As you danced to the Turkish song of the damned

Did you keep a watch for the dead man's wind?
Did you see the woman with the comb in her hand?
Wailing away on the wall on the strand
As you danced to the Turkish song of the damned


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