{"id":5398,"date":"2021-02-07T21:29:40","date_gmt":"2021-02-07T21:29:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ipamusic.co.uk\/?p=5398"},"modified":"2021-02-07T21:29:43","modified_gmt":"2021-02-07T21:29:43","slug":"r-i-p-cush-a-tribute-to-the-men-they-couldnt-hang-singer-stefan-cush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipamusic.co.uk\/?p=5398","title":{"rendered":"R.I.P. Cush: A tribute to The Men They Couldn’t Hang singer Stefan Cush"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was with a particularly heavy heart that I learned on Friday evening of the death of Stefan Cush<\/strong>, co-vocalist with The Men They Couldn’t Hang<\/a><\/strong>, at the age of 60.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The band posted the sad news on their social media accounts, saying: “With unbearable sadness we have to let you all know that our brother, friend, inspiration, life of the party and soul of the band Stefan Cush died of a sudden heart attack on Thursday. We are beyond devastated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our love goes out to his family. We will say more when we can. We loved him. Did the band play the last post and chorus? Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest? God bless you Mr C.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a simple but heartfelt tribute, and the news stunned me, much more than the untimely deaths of other musical heroes like Joe Strummer, Lemmy and David Bowie – all taken far too soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stefan Cush of The Men They Couldn’t Hang. Pic: Gary Welford.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It’s not like I knew Cush, a founder member of the band in 1984; nor had I met him or even spoken to him. It was that his\/TMTCH’s music spoke to me, and had a profound effect on me, as a young man, and all the way into middle age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their songs provided food for thought, stirred my emotions, informed my politics, and filled in the gaps where school history lessons had failed me: Ghosts of Cable Street<\/strong>, for example, told how Oswald Mosley’s fascists were beaten down by the ordinary people of London’s East End in the 1930s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TMTCH’s debut single was a cover of Scottish folk singer Eric Bogle’s The Green Fields Of France<\/strong>, and although numerous artists, including several of my favourites, have done their own version, I reckon theirs is the definitive take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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