Listen to Rum Sodomy & The Lash (Expanded Edition) by The Pogues on Deezer. With music streaming on Deezer you can discover more than 56 million tracks, create your own playlists, and share your favourite tracks with your friends. Rum Sodomy & the Lash, their second album, captured the Pogues at their most emotionally raw. MacGowan switches from tearful lament to bitter growl with almost unparalleled ease—his heart is on. The earlier association with The Pogues led to Major 5 landing the support slot on the band’s ‘Rum, Sodemy and the Lash’ tour during November and December 1985. This led to the band appearing on. The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn by The Pogues Track #1 From Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash. “Rum Sodomy & the Lash”, which emerged in the middle of the decade, represents the creative peak of the Pogues, which hinged on the talent of the band’s musicians and the genius of Shane MacGowan. The title of genius is a bedraggled laurel at this stage, but it rests easy on MacGowan’s head.

A review of their album 'Rum, Sodomy and The Lash'

Review Snapshot:
The Pogues' 1985 classic is re-issued and it reaffirms the seminal status of this band and the astronomical effect they had on the music and ethos of the time. Without a shadow of a doubt we're reminded of one of the greatest events of the 80s.
The Cluas Verdict: 8 out of 10.
Full Review:
Winston Churchill's description of the British naval tradition being nothing but 'Rum, Sodomy and The Lash' gave this seminal work of brilliance its title. Voted the 445th best album of All Time by Rolling Stone, and 93rd Greatest British album ever by Q, The Pogues 1985 classic sees re-issue with anecdotal liner notes, 6 extra tracks, and a poem by Mr. Tom Waits.

Upon the HMS Belfast where the launch party was held for The Pogues' second album, the journos fought over the drinks, one writer ending up in the Thames, and the band played in Nelson-era navy uniforms, MacGowan in an admirable admiral's hat which never resurfaced after the gig? The album sleeve depicted an adaptation of Jean-Louis-Andr?Th?dore G?icault's 'The Raft of The Medusa' in which the faces have been replaced by those of the group, the production was handled (par excellence) by Elvis Costello and the songs stood out as some of the greatest pieces of quirky, folky music committed to tape. All this added up to 'Rum, Sodomy and The Lash', The Pogues' crowning wonder, a joy to listen to as much today as it was then, indestructible in the face of time.

Exploding with 'The Sickbed of Cuchulainn' this feast of gorgeous 'Celtic punk' gets underway without even a flinch of hesitation. It's brash, it's unabashed, unadulterated, in your face, and particularly good listening. The strength from the off doesn't wane one bit, it just keeps on kicking it out, the combination of MacGowan and O'Riordan's voices sounding certainly sublime.

The traditional numbers, such as 'I'm A Man You Don't Meet Everyday' and 'Jesse James', alongside the classic originals like 'Wild Cats of Kilkenny', 'A Pair of Brown Eyes' and 'Dirty Old Town' are perfect combinations and the set-up, running order and production of this album make it just one of the greatest and most enjoyable plates of music to be served in modern times.

A record that will never cease to delight, always a pleasure to hear and highly, highly recommended if you're not familiar with it already.
Daniel Bristow

Check out the CLUAS review of The Pogues live in Dublin in December 2001.

Many books of quotations include a caustic quote attributed to Winston Churchill (1874-1965) in which he supposedly called British naval tradition nothing but “rum, sodomy, and the lash.” (Sometimes given as “rum, buggery and the lash,” using the old British slang term “buggery” to refer to homosexual sex.)

The earliest source commonly cited for this quip is the diary of former British diplomat, politician and author Harold Nicolson (1886-1968).

In a diary entry dated August 17, 1950, Nicolson recorded some anecdotes about Churchill.

One involves a version of the “rum, sodomy, and the lash” quote.

But the version Nicolson wrote about that day included “prayers” in the litany. His diary entry says:

…when Winston was at the Admiralty, the Board objected to some suggestion of his on the grounds that it would not be in accord with naval tradition. ‘Naval tradition? Naval tradition?’ said Winston. ‘Monstrous. Nothing but rum, sodomy, prayers and the lash.’

This is why some books of quotations give the alleged Churchill quote as “rum, sodomy, prayers and the lash.” The source commonly cited for the shorter version of the naval tradition quip is a book of reminiscences by former British Vice-Admiral Peter Gretton (1912-1992). According to an anecdote in Sir Peter Gretton, Former Naval Person: Winston Churchill and the Royal Navy (1968), Churchill said it shortly after he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911.

With his new authority, Churchill had ordered the British fleet to convert from coal to oil and was mothballing older ships in favor of smaller, faster ones.

A disgruntled Admiral indignantly told Churchill he was scuttling the tradition of the Royal Navy. Gretton wrote that Churchill answered:

“Don’t talk to me about naval tradition. It’s nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.”

Despite these oft-cited anecdotes, it appears that Winston Churchill never said any version of the naval tradition quote.

According to a post on the website of the Churchill Centre and Museum in London, Churchill told his personal assistant Anthony Montague-Browne that he never uttered such words.

Montague-Browne confirmed this to Richard Langworth, one of the most respected Churchill biographers.

In his great book about Churchill quotations and misquotes, Churchill by Himself: The Definitive Collection of Quotations, Langworth says that Montague-Browne personally told him that he had asked Churchill about the quote.

According to Montague-Browne, Churchill responded: “I never said it. I wish I had.”

Langworth notes that “rum, sodomy and the lash” is similar to “rum, bum and bacca” — a catchphrase from an old saying about the, er, pastimes of British sailors, dating back to the 1800s:

The Pogues Rum Sodemy And The Lash Slbum Cover

“Ashore it’s wine, women and song; aboard it’s rum, bum and concertina.” (Bum = a man’s rear end; bacca = tobacco.)

At any rate, it seems that attributing a quotation about rum, sodomy and the lash to Winston Churchill is nothing but an old British naval tradition.

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The Pogues Rum Sodemy And The Lash

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Pogues Rum Sodemy And Lash

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