Pogues mainstream? "Sunnyside of the Street" featured in Cadillac commercial

Another of my favorite bands is The Pogues. Their Rum Sodomy & the Lash is one of the greatest albums ever recorded. Hell's Ditch is pretty good too, and the lead off track of that album is "Sunnyside of the Street," which is soundtrack of a new Cadillac commercial.

On the surface, it's a good choice by the luxury car maker, the melody is cheerful and infectious.

But digging deeper, it's an odd choice by Cadillac. Here are some snippets of lyrics from Sunnyside of the Street":

Seen the carnival at Rome
Had the women I had the booze
All I can remember now
Is little kids without no shoes
So I saw that train
And I got on it
With a heartful of hate
And a lust for vomit
Now I'm walking on the sunnyside of the street

And...

Been in a palace, been in a jail
I just don't want to be reborn a snail

Some more...

As my mother wept it was then I swore
To take my life as I would a whore

The lead singer of The Pogues is Shane MacGowan, who once boasted in an interview that he "hadn't been sober since he was 15."

Let's hope he's not driving.

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