The Pogues, fronted by an English-born, Irish rogue by the name of Shane MacGowan, made traditional Irish music and instrumentation hip by playing it with a distinctively punk attitude and imbuing the lyrics with a poets sensibility.  On this episode, we look at the band’s third and most well-known album, If I Should Fall From Grace With God. The record was made with a new line-up, slightly expanding the group’s size and sound. Produced by Steve Lillywhite, this album contains possibly the Pogues most well know song (at least internationally) the duet with Kirtsy MacColl (who also happened to be married to Steve Lillywhite). “Fairytale of New York” is a song of regret and hope and a song that has become one of the most beloved Christmas songs in the UK and Ireland.  The rest of the album is just as great and is filled with music that is fun and frantic, jolly and melancholy, subversive and political. If I Should Fall From Grace With God will make you want to laugh, dance, cry and fight all at the same time.