U2 have recorded The Pogues’ 1988 song Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah for 20th Century Paddy: The Songs Of Shane MacGowan, with the official lyric video now released ahead of the November tribute album.
by Paul Cashmere
U2 have released their recording of Shane MacGowan’s Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, a song originally recorded by The Pogues, as the latest preview of the forthcoming tribute album 20th Century Paddy: The Songs Of Shane MacGowan. The U2 version is accompanied by an official lyric video, with the full 36-track collection scheduled for release on November 13, 2026 through Rubyworks.
The U2 recording places one of MacGowan’s more direct and upbeat songs into a catalogue-wide tribute assembled by his widow Victoria Mary Clarke in partnership with Rubyworks. The album brings together artists from Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States, including Bruce Springsteen, Hozier and Jessie Buckley, The Libertines, Tom Waits, Primal Scream, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Glen Hansard and The Pogues themselves. U2’s contribution was first announced in May, with the recording now available ahead of the album release.
MacGowan wrote Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah for The Pogues. The song was released as a single in December 1988 and was produced by Steve Lillywhite. It reached No.43 in the UK, narrowly missing the Top 40, while becoming The Pogues’ first single to chart in the United States, reaching No.17 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart.
The song was later included on the 1990 Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah EP, which collected several of the band’s more rock-oriented recordings. The EP also included The Pogues’ versions of The Rolling Stones’ Honky Tonk Women and the traditional Irish song The Limerick Rake.
The original song is notably different from some of MacGowan’s better-known narratives of Irish history, displacement and social hardship. Its lyric centres on a relationship, with the narrator acknowledging that he failed to express his feelings, caused hurt and is asking for forgiveness. The repeated title phrase gives the recording a deliberately simple refrain around a song concerned with regret and reconciliation.
The original promotional video used footage and visual ideas referencing 1960s television programmes including Ready, Steady, Go! and Top of the Pops. Its imagery moved between the innocence associated with early-1960s pop culture and the psychedelic aesthetic of the decade’s later years.
U2’s recording gives the song another interpretation while retaining MacGowan’s composition. The Edge described MacGowan as an artist whose writing brought together Irish folk tradition, political memory, humour and romance. “Shane MacGowan was full of contradictions,” The Edge said. “And that’s where the truth of him lived.”
20th Century Paddy: The Songs Of Shane MacGowan was conceived as a broad examination of MacGowan’s songwriting rather than a single-artist tribute. The title references a project MacGowan himself had envisioned, while the completed album draws from The Pogues catalogue and his wider body of work.
The collection begins with Bruce Springsteen’s A Rainy Night In Soho and moves through songs performed by established international artists, Irish musicians and younger acts. Hozier and Jessie Buckley revisit Fairytale Of New York, The Libertines record Sayonara, Tom Waits performs Summer In Siam and Glen Hansard takes on Bottle Of Smoke.
The Pogues themselves are represented by Gabrielle, while other contributions include Primal Scream’s A Pair Of Brown Eyes, The Jesus And Mary Chain’s I’ll Be Your Handbag, The Murder Capital’s The Song With No Name and David Gray’s The Old Main Drag.
At least 50 percent of the artist royalties from the album will be donated to Dublin Simon Community, continuing MacGowan’s association with the organisation and directing proceeds towards support for people experiencing homelessness.
The album will be released digitally and in physical formats including a 2CD edition and a 3LP Deluxe Bookpack containing a 60-page book of memorabilia and liner notes.
Songlisting
Amble – The Snake With The Eyes Of Garnet
Bob Geldof – St. John Of Gods
Bruce Springsteen – A Rainy Night In Soho
Camille O’Sullivan – You’re The One
Cronin – London You’re A Lady
Damien Dempsey – Sally MacLennane
David Gray – The Old Main Drag
David Keenan – The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn
Dropkick Murphys – The Body Of An American
Garron Noone – White City
Glen Hansard – Bottle Of Smoke
Hozier & Jessie Buckley – Fairytale Of New York
Jimmy Artache – USA
Johnny Mac And The Faithful – Fiesta
Johnny Depp & Imelda May – Haunted
Kate Moss – Lonesome Highway
Kingfishr – The Sunnyside Of The Street
Liam Ó Maonlaí – The Broad Majestic Shannon
Lisa Moorish & Another Day – Rain Street
Lisa O’Neill – Dark Streets Of London
LYRA – Streets Of Sorrow / Birmingham Six
Madra Salach – Turkish Song Of The Damned
Moya Brennan – Mother Mo Chroi
Mundy – Victoria
Picture This – Aisling
Pinch Of Snuff – Donegal Express
Primal Scream – A Pair Of Brown Eyes
Steve Earle – If I Should Fall From Grace With God
The High Kings – Streams Of Whiskey
The Jesus And Mary Chain – I’ll Be Your Handbag
The Libertines – Sayonara
The Murder Capital – The Song With No Name
The Pogues – Gabrielle
Tom Creagh – Paddy Public Enemy No. 1
Tom Waits – Summer In Siam
U2 – Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
20th Century Paddy: The Songs Of Shane MacGowan will be released on November 13, 2026.
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