''The Snake'' is the first

solo album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

Shane MacGowan Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan (born 25 December 1957) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Celtic punk band the Pogues. He was also a member of the Nipple Erectors and Shane MacGow ...

with backing band The Popes. Released in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

by ZTT Records. Guests on the album include Johnny Depp and members of

The Dubliners The Dubliners were an Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personnel over their fifty-ye ...

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or som ...

and

The Pogues The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse" ...

. An expanded edition was released in 1995 with a revised running order and added three additional tracks: the traditional songs "Nancy Whiskey" and "

Roddy McCorley Roddy McCorley (died 28 February 1800) was an Irish nationalist from the civil parish of Duneane, County Antrim, Ireland. Following the publication of the Ethna Carbery poem bearing his name in 1902, where he is associated with events around the B ...

", which had been released as b-sides the previous year, as well as a duet with Sinéad O'Connor - a new recoding of the

Pogues The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse". ...

song "

Haunted Haunted or The Haunted may refer to: Books * ''Haunted'' (Armstrong novel), by Kelley Armstrong, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Cabot novel), by Meg Cabot, 2004 * ''Haunted'' (Palahniuk novel), by Chuck Palahniuk, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Angel novel), a 200 ...

". The song would later also appear on the soundtrack for the romantic comedy film

Two If by Sea ''Two If by Sea'' (also known in the United Kingdom as ''Stolen Hearts'') is a 1996 American romantic comedy film directed by Bill Bennett, and starring Sandra Bullock and Denis Leary. The screenplay, written by Leary and Mike Armstrong, is based ...

. A third edition, first released on vinyl in 1995, adds another duet, " You're the One", this time with

Clannad Clannad () is an Irish band formed in 1970 in Gweedore, County Donegal by siblings Ciarán, Pól, and Moya Brennan and their twin uncles Noel and Pádraig Duggan. They have adopted various musical styles throughout their history, including ...

Máire Brennan Moya Brennan (born Máire Philomena Ní Bhraonáin on 4 August 1952), also known as Máire Brennan, is an Irish folk singer, songwriter, harpist, and philanthropist. She is the sister of the musical artist known as Enya. She began performing pr ...

, from the soundtrack to the film '' Circle of Friends''. A fourth, further-expanded release appeared as a limited edition CD remaster in Japan only in 2009, adding the 1997 b-side "A Man Called Horse" as a bonus track. Like a number of songs recorded by MacGowan's previous band,

, traditional tunes are sometimes used as a base for a new song (for example, the melody for "The Song With No Name" is based on "The Homes of Donegal").

Track listings

''All songs composed by Shane MacGowan; except where noted''

Original Edition

''Released by

ZTT ZTT Records is a British record label founded in 1983 by record producer Trevor Horn, Horn's wife and businesswoman Jill Sinclair, and ''NME, New Musical Express'' (NME) journalist Paul Morley. The label's name was also stylised as ZANG TUMB TUUM ...

in 1994 on CD and cassette in 1994 in Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan, and on vinyl in Europe only. Re-released on vinyl in Europe in 2016 by Music On Vinyl/

WEA The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as either being closely related to the Miami Tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami. Today, the descendants of the ...

.'' # "The Church Of The Holy Spook" # "That Woman's Got Me Drinking" # "The Song with No Name" # "Aisling" # "I'll Be Your Handbag" # "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" (

Gerry Rafferty Gerald Rafferty (16 April 1947– 4 January 2011) was a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was a founding member of Stealers Wheel, whose biggest hit was "Stuck in the Middle with You" in 1973. His solo hits in th ...

) # "A Mexican Funeral In Paris" # "The Snake with Eyes of Garnet" # "Donegal Express" # "Victoria" # " The Rising of the Moon" (Traditional, arranged S. MacGowan) # "Bring Down the Lamp"

First Expanded Release

''Released in 1995 on CD and cassette in the US by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

, in Europe by

, and in Poland by

Warner Music Poland Warner Music Poland Sp. z o.o., is a Polish subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it was founded in 1994 in Warsaw. The label's CEO is Piotr Kabaj. The label started with a catalog of Polish national record label Polton which was bought from Starst ...

'' # "The Church Of The Holy Spook" # "Nancy Whiskey" (Traditional) # "The Song with No Name" # "Aisling" # "

" (Traditional) # "Victoria" # "That Woman's Got Me Drinking" # "A Mexican Funeral In Paris" # " The Rising of the Moon" (Traditional, arranged S. MacGowan) # "The Snake with Eyes of Garnet" # "

" # "I'll Be Your Handbag" # "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" (

) # "Bring Down the Lamp" # "Donegal Express"

Second Expanded Release

''Released by

in 1995 on vinyl in France & Germany only, and on CD in Europe in 1998'' # "The Church Of The Holy Spook" # "Nancy Whiskey" (Traditional) # "The Song with No Name" # "Aisling" # "

" (Traditional) # "Victoria" # "That Woman's Got Me Drinking" # " You're the One" (Shane MacGowan,

Michael Kamen Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer (especially of film scores), orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter, and session musician. Biography Early life Michael Arnold Kamen was born ...

) # "A Mexican Funeral In Paris" # " The Rising of the Moon" (Traditional; arranged by Shane MacGowan) # "The Snake with Eyes of Garnet" # "

" # "I'll Be Your Handbag" # "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" (

) # "Bring Down the Lamp" # "Donegal Express"

Third Expanded Release

Released by

in 2009 as a limited edition remastered CD in Japan only. # "The Church Of The Holy Spook" # "Nancy Whiskey" (Traditional) # "The Song with No Name" # "Aisling" # "

" (Traditional) # "Victoria" # "That Woman's Got Me Drinking" # " You're the One" (Shane MacGowan,

) # "A Mexican Funeral In Paris" # " The Rising of the Moon" (Traditional; arranged by Shane MacGowan) # "The Snake with Eyes of Garnet" # "

" # "I'll Be Your Handbag" # "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" (

) # "Bring Down the Lamp" # "Donegal Express" # "A Man Called Horse' onus Track

Personnel

;The Popes *Paul McGuinness - guitar, vocals *Bernie "The Undertaker" France - bass, vocals *Danny Pope - drums, percussion *Tom "The Beast" McManamon, aka "Tom McAnimal" -

tenor banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

*Kieran "Mo" O'Hagan - guitar, vocals *Colm O'Maonlai - whistles with: * Barney McKenna - tenor banjo *

John Sheahan John Sheahan (born 19 May 1939) is an Irish musician and composer. He joined The Dubliners in 1964 and played with them until 2012 when The Dubliners' name was retired following the death of founding member Barney McKenna. Early years and m ...

- fiddle, whistle * Brian Robertson - guitar *Siobhan Sheahan - Irish harp *

Spider Stacy Peter Richard "Spider" Stacy (born 14 December 1958, Eastbourne) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is best known for playing tin whistle and sometimes singing for The Pogues. Early life Stacy left school at 16 after fa ...

- whistle * Jem Finer - 5-string banjo *Tomas Lynch -

uillean pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the elbow"), from their ...

*Rick Trevan - tenor saxophone *

Dick Cuthell Dick Cuthell is a British musician and record producer. He plays flugelhorn, cornet, and trumpet, amongst a range of other brass instruments, including tenor horn and valve trombone. Cuthell is best known for his work with The SpecialsStrong, ...

- trumpet *Sarah Jane Tuff - alto saxophone *Paul Taylor - trombone * Johnny Depp - "guitar weird noises" ("That Woman's Got Me Drinking") *

- vocals on "You're The One" * Sinéad O'Connor - vocals on "Haunted" * Ron Kavana - guitar on "Haunted" (uncredited)Ron Kavana, interview printed in liner notes of Kavana's 1999 live album "Alien Alert", published by Proper Records ;Technical *Produced by Dave Jordan and Shane MacGowan *Mixed by Steve Brown *Engineered by Niall Flynn, Steve Musters, Darren Westbrook and Richard Rainy *Recorded at Sarm East, Windmill Lane, Marcus, Raezor. *Mixed at Raezor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snake, The 1994 debut albums Shane MacGowan and The Popes albums ZTT Records albums