Along the way, the author offers a rich depiction of the development and construction of an Irish rock star had a vision of a particular sound and the conflicts that occurred when that vision jarred with those around him. With simple, yet elegiac prose (and the occasional Celtic turn of phrase like “feyness”, “craic”, “tatterdemalion”, and “bodhran”), Thomson covers the breadth of Lynott’s life from childhood and adolescence to his brief tenure as an adult. According to Bob Geldof, “He was totally Irish, in every sense. However, it was Irish nationalism and pride that formed the bedrock of his identity. Growing up of mixed-race parentage in the ’50s gave him not necessarily a chip on his shoulder, but more an excuse to be different. Lynott’s complicated childhood sets the stage for his rise to prominence and it’s impossible not to buy in to Thomson’s suggestion, that everyone knew that Lynott was going to be someone. That Bruce Springsteen’s early songwriting was compared to Lynott’s is ample evidence of how influential this bad really was. In that almost 15-year span, they developed a sound that was Irish and global, soft and hard, controlled and disorganized, and oftentimes more American than those artists in North America they were trying to emulate. From 1970 to 1983, they opened for and toured with dozens of bands including the Faces, Journey, Rainbow, David Bowe, Queen, Graham Parker, Blue Öyster Cult, Canned Heat, Uriah Heep, Bachman Turner Overdrive, and Bob Seger. Cowboy Song is the story of Lynott, but also of the band, who would become Ireland’s first, great musical export. Through five years of research, Thomson not only culled past works, but interviewed all the studio personnel, every member of Thin Lizzy, and a rich set of people who were available to give perspective on every aspect of Lynott’s life in Ireland, England, and elsewhere. This is a fan’s biography - almost 400 pages of the best liner notes you’ve ever seen, but written objectively and with the highest level of journalistic integrity.
Much has been written about Thin Lizzy and Lynott since his drug-related death in 1986, but as journalist Graeme Thomson puts it, “Very few artists, particularly those who never quite made it to the top of the ladder or, conversely, are not endowed with the enduring cool of cult status, have enjoyed such a potent afterlife.”Ĭowboy Song: The Authorized Biography of Thin Lizzy’s Philip Lynott is not, of course, the first biography of Thin Lizzy and/or Lynott, but like Thomson’s gorgeous 2010 work on Kate Bush ( Under the Ivy), it is profoundly well-researched. Over 30 years since Lynott’s demise, Thin Lizzy’s influence is felt all over music, and even by artists who don’t even realize they are wading in his shadow. But I am convinced that the most influential of the underrated artists is still Thin Lizzy, and their signature sound was from an unlikely instrument - their lead singer and bassist, Philip Lynott. Every discussion of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame omissions should reference artists like William Bell, Delaney and Bonnie, Harry Nilsson, the Cars, Badfinger, Warren Zevon, Iron Maiden, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
There are so many musical artists to whom we give the moniker “underrated”. And lastly, I loved the soundtrack to the 1999 film Detroit Rock City, which included an unlikely cover of “The Boys Are Back in Town” by Everclear, as well as Thin Lizzy’’s original version of “Jailbreak”. Then there was Metallica’s cover of “Whiskey in the Jar”, off 1998’s Garage, Inc., which I am sure was the gateway to Thin Lizzy for millions of other people too.
I fell in love with their version and even after I heard the original, I still found myself going back to the Pumpkins’ treatment.
Sometime around 1997, I heard the Smashing Pumpkins’ cover of Lizzy’s “Dancing in the Moonlight” as a B-side to “Disarm”. Like most Generation-X rockphiles who discovered the ‘70s while in college in the ‘90s, my first exposure to Thin Lizzy came by way of several awesome covers. I am convinced that the most influential of the underrated artists is still Thin Lizzy, and their signature sound was from an unlikely instrument - their lead singer and bassist, Philip Lynott.
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