Pete Doherty sings Pogues song on TV in tribute to Ukraine

Virgin Radio

26 Feb 2023, 15:06

The performance came on the one-year anniversary of Putin’s invasion.

Pete Doherty appeared on Channel 4 comedy talk show The Last Leg on Friday night (February 24th).

The Libertines co-frontman performed The Pogues’ 1985 classic 'Dirty Old Town', changing one of the lyrics to “brudne stare misto”, which is Ukrainian for “dirty old town”.

At the end of the song the 43 year old shouted “slava Ukraini!”, which translates as “glory to Ukraine”.

The TV appearance fell as the one-year anniversary of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine came to pass. The singer was appearing to promote his forthcoming UK and Ireland solo tour, as well as his memoir, A Likely Lad, which he spoke to our Chris Evans about, late last year.

During Doherty’s appearance on the show, he told a story about hosting two Russian artists at his London home.

“When they were in London I put them up,” he said.

“They locked me in their flat and that was part of their installation but they didn’t tell me. It was terrifying.

“It was in this big brutalist style flat and there were no windows. I couldn’t get out. They filmed it all and transmitted it to the gallery.

“That was their installation, me freaking out in the flat. It got really good reviews though.”

Though written by the Salford born folk singer Ewan MacColl in 1949, 'Dirty Old Town' is best known as being part of The Pogues repertoire, appearing on the band's 1985 album, Rum Sodomy & the Lash.

The song was written about the city where MacColl was born and brought up. Originally composed for an interlude to cover a scene change in his 1949 play Landscape with Chimneys, it later became a standard.

The song was also a hit for The Dubliners in 1968.