Rum, Sodomy and the Lash--Pogues | The Story Behind the Album Cover Art

Send us Fan MailIt’s one thing to borrow a painting for your album cover. It’s another to borrow one that includes severed limbs, drowned sailors, and maybe the best metaphor for life in a punk-folk band. For Rum, Sodomy & the Lash, The Pogues went big—like, 16-foot-wide French Romantic big. But behind that choice was a woman named Marsha Farquhar, an art historian, artist, and original spark behind one of the most unforgettable covers of the 1980s.In this episode, we chase the Medusa from colonial scandal to Winston Churchill, trace a cover credit that never came, and ask: what do punk and painting have in common when the raft starts to sink? Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We’d love to hear from you at [email protected], or check out our Spotify Song List with a track from each album we’ve covered: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2NrDU39yE9CJcHU6YJT8jj?si=Y1JAE4LWTDmKEDE9QGlB2A&pi=ly2xwE-ERRu-2