Shane MacGowan’s widow urges The Pogues and her 49,000 followers to help get ‘We Tried’ to Christmas No.1 spot
December 20, 2023 by Extinction Rebellion
The recently widowed wife of Shane MacGowan is calling on The Pogues and her 49.000 followers on social media to back activist Louisie Harris’ bid to get her climate song ‘We Tried‘ into this year’s Christmas Number One slot.
Victoria Mary Clarke’s eleventh hour call to action followed Louise’s direct and heartfelt appeal to her earlier this week via a public video on social media (YouTube, Twitter, Instagram). Victoria’s support comes just hours before the bidding for the Christmas Number One spot closes at midnight tomorrow (21 December).
In her appeal to Victoria, Louise said: “I’m asking if you would please consider backing my song, ‘We Tried’, written about the climate crisis and what will happen if we don’t act, for Christmas Number One this year, instead of your husband Shane MacGowan’s song, “Fairytale of New York”.
Her appeal followed Victoria’s decision last week to endorse the campaign to get The Pogues classic, Fairytale of New York, to Christmas Number 1 in the UK.
Louise called on her followers on Twitter and Instagram to tag Victoria in the comments and in their story, “so there’s a chance she actually gets to see this”.
Victoria replied just one hour later to her posts, across platforms. One particular reply came in response to the following comment on Louise’s video appeal:
“@branchytreeart: @victoriamaryclarke Fairytale of New York will be in the charts every Christmas til the end of time, please help shift the focus this year before we lose any more precious time on to the climate crisis and the action that needs to be taken now so that we might have a future thank you x”
Victoria simply replied: “I would love to help” and then took to Twitter immediately, sharing Louise’s music video, retweeting Louise’s call to action to make ‘We Tried’ a climate Christmas No.1, and quote tweeting Louise’s video appeal, tagging none other than The Pogues, Shane MacGowan, various journalists and presenters, as well as the CEO of Johnny Depp’s entertainment company, in2.film.
She said: “This is so beautiful and brave and passionate! Let’s please support this cause!!! @poguesofficial @sunstroke_house @ShaneMacGowan @itsanitarani @timjonze @shattenstone @AoDespair”
Victoria also commented on the YouTube video of Louise’s appeal, saying: “Thank you so much for your passion and your commitment and your courage I am sharing your song ”.
The following morning (20 December) Victoria also shared another of Louise’s Reels to her Instagram story, where Louise says “COME ON WE ARE JUST UNDERNEATH THE POGUES !!!!!!!” and highlights how ‘We Tried’ is sitting just underneath The Pogues at No.5 in the iTunes Single Chart and Digital Sales UK Chart.
‘We Tried’ has now entered the Betting Race for Christmas No.1 for the first time. Odds have already fallen from 490:1 to 14:1, making it 4th favourite to win.
In her most recent post on X, Victoria said: “Please buy this single if you love@ShaneMacGowan because Shane really really loved nature and the trees and the animals and everything about the natural world. He would appreciate anyone who cares about the environment.”
Known for her internationally viral moment crying on a gantry above the M25 as part of a Just Stop Oil protest, Louise wrote ‘We Tried’ deliberately from the currently projected future perspective of irreversible climate catastrophe (“We ran out of time…oh well, we tried”).
The song has already garnered support from musician and producer Brian Eno, who said: “This beautiful and moving song is a powerful weapon. We need to wake up to the cowardly inertia of our governments, to the greedy shortsightedness of business-as-usual, and to the numbing distractions of the media. This song woke me up. I hope it gets centuries of airtime.”
Another supporter is naturalist and TV broadcaster Chris Packham. He commented: “It’s a beautiful song. It’s melodic. It’s ‘catchy’, it’s ’pop’, it’s ’sing-along’. It’s lovely, isn’t it…? No, it isn’t. It’s fucking horrific, terrifying and tragic. Listen to it, hear every desperate note, each lingering plea. Don’t just look at, see the pictures. Read the music, read the room, our planet’s youth in abject distress. This is their voice, their cry, their tears laid bare. So ask yourself: do you want this to be the ultimate anthem for doomed youth, a threnody for their funeral? It’s beautiful, beautiful for its razor sharp honesty, beautiful for its truth, beautiful for its purity of frightened heart. Please listen, please learn, please act”.
Support Louise Harris to get ‘We Tried’ to Christmas Number One slot. The deadline is midnight tomorrow (21 December).
Song here. Video here. Downloadable audio here.
For further information contact: press@extinctionrebellion.co.uk