Phil Lynott was the coolest rock star who ever lived. Fact. Let's examine the evidence...
Apart from the recorded legacy, of which more later, there is his remarkable biography. Misfits often find a home in rock and roll because basically they can't do anything else. But then again, it's easy to imagine Roger Daltrey working as a truck driver, or Noel Gallagher lugging bricks. You can't imagine Phil Lynott ever doing a proper job, though, can you? No matter how much you delve into your fevered imagination, there is no disputing the fact that Phil Lynott was born to be a rock star. The trousers, the hair, the rake thin physique; it's perfect, even before you add the voice and the bass.
And as for the misfit, how about being an illegitimate half caste in a 1950s Dublin which was closer to the 1850s in many ways? Upbringings don't get much tougher than that. The fact that Phil's race was never an issue in Lizzy's fame shows how he overcame prejudice with dignity and authority by virtue of just being the coolest motherfucker that ever walked the earth. You can't argue with the evidence.
Thin Lizzy have never had the credit they deserve from the British press, possibly because of the fact that they weren't British, despite the Observer's Music Monthly voting Jailbreak into their top 100 British albums, conveniently avoiding the fact that only one quarter of the band was actually British (and he was a Scot!)It's a bit like when Seamus Heaney won the Nobel Prize and the mainstream UK media fell over themselves to call him a British poet, despite most of his work being informed by Ireland.
The Irishness of Lizzy is what makes them unique, and why no other bunch of metal meatheads has ever come close to what made them great. Lurking beneath the leather trousers and the rock anthems was a romantic sensibility which manifested itself in the melodic swirl of the harmony guitar lines, the wordplay of Lynott's lyrical flights and the subtle minor/major shifts within his songs.
For an example, listen to Cowboy Song, possibly my favourite Lizzy track ever, combining as it does all three of those traits into one life affirming burst of melodic rock. From the understated opening, with Phil's voice drifting like smoke through a desert campsite, through the ecstatic stampede of Gorham and Robertson's guitar solos, right up to the inarguable declaration that "A cowboy's life is the life for me", Cowboy Song is quite simply one of the greatest rock songs ever written. It's romantic, it's upbeat, but at the same time the inclusion of a sighing D flat Minor chord lends it an ineffable air of sadness as we realise Phil is out there all alone, riding the range from gal to gal, a realisation only slightly tempered by knowing that this is the only way it can be. Phil's still out there somewhere, riding the range for all of us.
I have realised, the older I get, that I fucking love Thin Lizzy for the reasons cited above. While you can only enjoy lots of hard rock with irony filters firmly in place, there is nothing ironic about Thin Lizzy. They are the purest expression of what it means to be in a kick-ass rock and roll band, doing what you think is great, writing songs which are anthems without really trying and speaking with a poetic soul that isn't contrived or pretentious. Phil loved Irish literature, the history of heroes which permeated his celtic heritage, and wasn't afraid to take it onto the world stage without apologising for who he was or where he came from. I can still listen to those records nearly 30 years since I first heard them and love them just as much.
I'm older now than Phil was when he died his tawdry, tragic death, so unbefitting a vagabond such as he. That in itself makes me sad. Maybe he would never again have reached the heights of that great Seventies tryptich of Jailbreak, Johnnie the Fox and Live and Dangerous, but at least he would have been around with a sly wink and a decent tune. Who knows, maybe he would have made a great writer.
I keep thinking of the words which opened Phil's first single..."Glad you could all make it, 'specially you, Skinny Lizzy..."
Indeed I am.
Other Lizzy Related stuff
Scott Gorham Interview
Review of Thin Lizzy's Greatest Hits
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