Hell's Ditch is the fifth studio album by The Pogues, released in November 1990, and the last to feature frontman Shane MacGowan as a member. Overview Hell's Ditch continued the group's slow departure from Irish music, giving more emphasis to rock and straight folk rock, and forsaking their earlier staples of traditional compositions almost entirely. MacGowan parted with the band after the release of the album, owing to the decline of his reliability as a performer, which was caused by his abuse of alcohol and drugs. Several of the songs on the album have Asian themes, in sound or in content, including "Summer in Siam", "The House of Gods" and "Sayonara". The song "Lorca's Novena" draws on MacGowan's affinity for Spain (particularly Almería, which he had discovered years earlier when filming Straight to Hell), and the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. It tells of the poet's murder by Francisco Franco's Nationalist supporters in the Spanish Civil War, and how his body, never having been recovered, was said to have walked away. "The Wake of the Medusa" is a first-person narrative inspired by Théodore Géricault's painting "The Raft of the Medusa", which had appeared on the cover of the band's second album, Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash. The title track is based largely on the life and writings of French author and playwright Jean Genet, in particular The Miracle of the Rose and Our Lady of the Flowers, with its description of squalid prison life. The album was produced by the Clash's Joe Strummer, who later served as a temporary replacement for MacGowan when the band went on tour. The cover art for the album was designed by Joshua Cheuse, who also designed the cover for the Clash on Broadway box set as well as album covers for Strummer and Big Audio Dynamite. Track listing Standard edition "Sunny Side of the Street" (Shane MacGowan, Jem Finer) – 2:44 "Sayonara" (MacGowan) – 3:07 "The Ghost of a Smile" (MacGowan) – 2:58 "Hell's Ditch" (MacGowan, Finer) – 3:03 "Lorca's Novena" (MacGowan) – 4:40 "Summer in Siam" (MacGowan) – 4:06 "Rain Street" (MacGowan) – 4:00 "Rainbow Man" (Terry Woods) – 2:46 "The Wake of the Medusa" (Finer) – 3:04 "House of the Gods" (MacGowan) – 3:46 "5 Green Queens & Jean" (MacGowan, Finer) – 2:35 "Maidrin Rua" (Traditional) – 1:47 "Six to Go" (Woods) – 2:58 Bonus tracks (2005 reissue) "Whiskey in the Jar"