The Pogues: A Rainy Night In Soho

"This is Shane MacGowan before the shambling drunk routine took over completely," says Tom Conoboy.

In the comments below there is a debate about whether the song is about whisky, as Conoboy argues, or about romantic love as its surface suggests.

The truth, surely, is that it is both at once. Poems and songs can do that. It's why people write them rather than essays.