This song is a little different from their prior music before this one. I love the soul/rock feel of this song. MacGowan’s vocals are spot on also. The video is really cool as you see them progressing from a beat group to a psychedelic one.
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah” was the title track to the band’s 1988 EP, which featured rock and R&B rather than Irish folk. This track adds a touch of blue-eyed soul with its Memphis-style horn section. It became the Pogues’ first single to chart in the U.S. The song peaked at #17 on the Billboard Alternative Charts, #43 in the UK, #19 in New Zealand, and #1 in Ireland. Sorry, my Canadian friends…I could not find that chart position.
Despite seemingly being a hit material single, “Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah” stalled in the U.K. In America, it was the first Pogues song to make any charts at all, making it all the way to #17 on the rock charts and #36 on the club charts. Since it wasn’t on any of their studio albums and has only intermittently shown up on their best-ofs… I’m curious how many Pogues fans forgot this song even existed.
The Pogues were formed in Ireland in 1982 by Shane MacGowan. They reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left because of drinking problems and was replaced for a time with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before breaking up in 1996.
They reformed with MacGowan in 2001 and were still together and playing. The band was awarded the lifetime achievement award at the annual Meteor Ireland Music Awards in February 2006. On November 30, 2023, Shane MacGowan passed away.
The video is a lot of fun. It was based on the Top of the Pops and Ready, Steady, Go pop shows of the 1960s.
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
I loved you baby since we were at schoolI didn’t show it, I was a foolWhen you were burning I was cold as iceAnd baby now I realiseOh, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Woo-ooh-ooh-oohWoo-ooh-ooh-ooh
I gave you misery, I gave you liesAnd if I hurt you, I apologizeAs long as I look into those deep green eyesSwear I’d put my finger to the eyesOh, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Woo-ooh-ooh-oohWoo-ooh-ooh-ooh
Woo-ooh-ooh-oohWoo-ooh-ooh-ooh
Now all that I can do is hope and prayThat you’ll forgive me before it’s too lateThere’s only one thing I can say to youYou know I’ll fuck you, you know it’s trueOh, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Woo-ooh-ooh-oohWoo-ooh-ooh-ooh
Woo-ooh-ooh-oohWoo-ooh-ooh-ooh
When I talk to GodHe know I understandHe says, “Stick by me and I’ll be your body now”Gonna tell you what I think of youI might not give the antidote you want me toOh well, oh well, oh well, oh well
I’ve got a big machine with plenty magazinesI’ve got a new machine now with plenty magazinesI’ve got a big machine now with plenty magazinesI’ve got a new machine with plenty magazines
So, stick it up, stick it up, stick it up, stick it upStick it up, stick it up, stick it up, stick it up, stick it up, stick it up, stick it up
And she saidYeah, yeah, yeah, yeahAnd we saidYeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
And we saidYeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)And we saidYeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
When I talk to GodHe know I understandHe says, “Stick by me and I’ll be your body now”Gonna tell you what I think of youI might not give the antidote you want me to
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
…
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This is much better than the Irish folk songs. It is difficult to watch Shane MacGowan singing because of his very bad teeth.
Yeah Yeah those teeth were distracting!
I think he played for the Irish National hockey team.
That is hilarious.
I think the teeth are all there, just not much of them. Maybe a lifetime of sugar…or he could blame his parents for the genes.
Man that must of caused him some pain. I guess the liquor helped.
I think they got the sound they were looking for, I have no recollection of the song, so maybe it didn’t even chart in Canada. Maybe if it was titled Yeah Eh Yeah Eh …would have worked here!
I could not find it in Canada… there were albums that charted after this one but I couldn’t find this one.
There is not a searchable data base that I can find for Canadian Charts outside the top 20. So if it’s not on Wiki which is fairly reliable as you know, it probably didn’t chart here.
This is the one I go to Randy….but they are moving it.
https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/search.aspx
Thanks Max, I did try using this awhile back but I found it’s pretty cumbersome to mess around with those images.
Oh I hate that you have to look through the pdf files…
Is so time consuming! You have to really want that info to dig in there. You can at least get top 20 by week on Hits of All Decades, and other national charts. Though the site doesn’t seem stable but I think it’s safe, no problem for me in the past 6 years of using it.
I have come to the conclusion….Canada doesn’t have a good way to look everything up. I talked to a programmer not long ago about this…he was going to use that site I sent as a base to build something….but he couldn’t with that site for some reason.
If I knew html programming….we would build one…but I have no clue.
It’s true the government data bases are useless most of the time. Small country less resources maybe the issue, but if you say it’s pretty basic stuff then one wonders.
I know enough to be dangerous…its just where I can get the data…that is the thing. I could do it if I had the info. I could put it in an order in a database. Thats a project I would love to do.
You are a multi talented one now aren’t you!
LOL…if you ever find where he could get that…tell me and I would love to try. It would be nice to have a place to go and find the chart position easy!
it certainly would!
Wow, I never would have guessed that song is by The Pogues. I love the soul vibe – that driving drums groove and the horns want to make you move! I also generally dig the Celtic punk they usually did.
This is a different one to me also… I love the sound they captured….it’s very sixties in a way.
It’s really cool, and I had no idea The Pogues ventured beyond their signature Celtic punk.
Oh that EP they also do Honky Tonk Women.
OK, you’re really making me curious! 🙂
I’m up dancing around pissed out of my head (maybe a few years ago). Just kidding. Love this tune. That sax doesnt hurt. Fun stuff. Good one Max.
They captured a sound perfectly…that sixties soul with a touch of garage band.
They were such a good band. So much more to them than the tags that were hung on their music.
This showed me they were more than just Irish folk songs…or in that vain.
I told you I caught them live. It was crazy but great crazy.
Wow, a new one to me. Not a bad retro rock sound and a very fun, creative video. But I wouldn’t have guessed it was the Pogues. I reckon Randy’s right, probably didn’t even chart in Canada… I heard ‘If I should fall from Grace of God’ a fair bit in the ’80s, and the Christmas one, and occasionally one or two others, but this I don’t remember hearing at all. And further what you said, I’m frustrated because as you say the archived RPM charts are supposed to be being moved and most of the time now I can’t access any of them which is a real drag.
It is a great song…I love the sound they got out of it.
Dave…I have enough IT friends where we could actually build something but I need the source charts…that is the hardest part.
Not what I would think of as a Pogues song, but it works well. Sounds very up-beat. But wow, Shane’s choppers were a disaster zone. Bet he never bedded a Dental Hygienist, unless she was blind drunk.
And you couldn’t count that last option out!
Yeah, he could perhaps rely on a bit of drunken charm to dazzle the ladies, but not ever his smile.
Good track Max but the dude needed some serious dentist work back than…
LOL
Wow, wouldn’t have guessed this was the Pogues, apart from MacGowan’s distinctive vocals… I need to explore them some more.
This was a surprise for me also…it didn’t sound like them at all.
sings with gravel
wears his grill like armor
birds fly the floor
It fits!