Shane MacGowan Irish in London and the United States, and London life in general. These influences are documented in the biography, "Rake at the Gates of Hell: Shane MacGowan in Context". MacGowan has often cited the 19th-century Irish poet James Clarence Mangan and playwright Brendan Behan as influences. Between 1985 and 1987, he co-wrote "Fairytale of New York", which he performed with Kirsty MacColl. In the coming years MacGowan and The Pogues released several albums. In 1997, MacGowan appeared on Lou Reed's "Perfect Day", covered by numerous artists in aid of Children in Need. It was the UK's number one single for
Peace and Love (The Pogues album) as a song title, and Napper Tandy, mentioned in the first line of "Boat Train", and was adapted from a line in the Irish rebel song "The Wearing of the Green". Likewise the MacGowan song "Cotton Fields" draws on the Lead Belly song of the same name. Mark Deming of Allmusic said that "Peace and Love" "isn't as good as the two Pogues albums that preceded it", but felt that "it does make clear that MacGowan was hardly the only talented songwriter in the band". Robert Christgau, on the other hand, believed that "Shane MacGowan will remain the only Pogue