His girlfriend, Victoria Mary Clarke, was once called to his house to find blood gushing from his mouth after he had tried to eat volume three of The Beach Boys' greatest hits.
"[Shane] had become convinced that the third world war was taking place and that he, as the leader of the Irish republic, was holding a summit meeting in his kitchen between the heads of state of the world superpowers, Russia, China, America and Ireland," she wrote in the London-based Guardian. "In order to demonstrate the cultural inferiority of the US, he was eating a Beach Boys album." "SHANE IN SHANE"
In 2001 MacGowan rejoined the Pogues and the band continues to tour to this day. Several members have stopped drinking, but one has not. "Shane is Shane and he does what he wants, but he is essentially a fairly calm person, contrary to impressions," says Stacy. "Like anyone who drinks, sometimes he drinks too much, [but] he's older and wiser now, that's the cliche."
O'Boyle agrees. "Shane is just Shane and he's a very down-to-earth person; it's not his style to show off. He is a very unique talent and a gentle soul."
MacGowan himself, however, is well aware of the mythology that envelops him. "In Irish pubs where they still sing, Fairytale has become as much a standard as Danny Boy or The Fields of Athenry," he wrote on a Guardian blog last Christmas. "So I'm like the writers of all those traditional standards, except I'm not anonymous. Or dead."
And despite the drink and the drugs, the fallouts and the punch-ups, MacGowan's music looks likely to endure.
"He might be a drunk and a bum but Shane MacGowan still has that most precious of musical things - a unique and special legacy," says McNicholas. "With that in your top pocket you can drink yourself off your bar stool every night as far as I'm concerned."
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