Travel is people. You may go abroad to see the famous sites, but
what you remember best are the people you meet. Among them, like
unexpected treasure, are a few memorable contacts that will make
your travels unique, special, and delightful. "People" is devoted to some
of those you may come in contact with during your Home at First travels.

MARCH, 2003

BY RON FAHNESTOCK

        It was another age—a fleeting moment in time. But 25 years of hindsight has elevated the age to ageless, the time to timeless, and the moment to momentous. On October 20, 1977, I interviewed Irishman Phil Lynott before photographing him and his rock band Thin Lizzy at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia. At that moment, Thin Lizzy was at the apex of their popularity, but the seeds of turmoil that would destroy the band and kill the "Elvis of Ireland" were already planted.

IRELAND’S ELVIS
        Philip Parris Lynott and Thin Lizzy are regarded as the first Irish rock band to score big internationally. The band’s version of the Irish folk anthem "Whiskey in the Jar" put the band on the map—although not on the American map—in 1973. Over the ensuing years, incessant touring honed the band’s live performance, while Phil’s songwriting led to the creation of a "lovable outlaw" mystique—reminiscent of James Dean, and Clint Eastwood—that attracted huge audiences of young people of both genders.

    When Thin Lizzy’s line-up was built around the power chords and melodic harmonies of its two dynamic, pretty-boy guitarists—Scotland’s hard-living Brian (Robbo) Robertson, and California’s beach boy blond Scott Gorham—the band’s signature sound and powerful stage presence were cemented. 1976’s Jailbreak offered a new twist: a "concept album" where the music reinforced the band’s stage persona. The album’s title song and it’s anthematic hit "The Boys are Back in Town" were short autobiographical vignettes of the everything-to-excess Thin Lizzy image—public and private—hard drinking, hard fighting, and hard loving.

        Phil Lynott wrote about what he knew. What Phil knew was growing up male in a tough Dublin neighborhood. If that experience was already well covered by every Irish playwright and urban musician since Sean O’Casey, Phil had something new to add. Phil Lynott was black.

        Phil Lynott was born in Birmingham, England on August 20, 1949, the son of a Brazilian father and an Irish mother. His black father abandoned his wife and child three weeks after Phil’s birth. Phil was raised by his grandmother in a working class Catholic neighborhood of Dublin. Lower class street life in urban Ireland is notoriously hard on young white men. It was especially hard for Phil Lynott, whose response to the challenge of the streets exacerbated by racism was to create a reputation as a tough street fighter.

THIN LIZZY
        When he eventually formed Thin Lizzy, Phil adapted his tough reputation to a stage persona, and wrote charismatically about his life in his songs through the emotions of his lyrics and the power of his music. 1973’s "The Rocker" shows Phil’s metamorphosis from street tough to rock ‘n roll musician, as he channeled his life on the streets of Dublin into the energy of his music.

        Typically, Phil’s songs speak to Irish themes of masculinity. They display both restlessness and toughness. They are street-wise but neither cynical nor existential. Following a great Irish tradition, Phil Lynott’s music is romantic. Phil writes of love ("Romeo and the Lonely Girl"), of loyalty ("Jailbreak" and "The Boys Are Back in Town") and freedom ("The Cowboy Song"), and all the images are as wild, as romantic, and as hopeful as the movies of another Irishman, John Ford. On stage, Phil and the band exuded a sense of danger—that something unexpected may happen at any moment—that commanded the attention of audiences. But Phil was no ruffian to interview. He was mild-mannered, soft-spoken, and chose his words with the care of a poet.

LEAVING A MARK
        It’s easy to see the influence Phil and Thin Lizzy have had on the great Irish band of the ‘80’s, U2. (It’s hard for me to listen to Bono and not think "Thinner Lizzy".) Thin Lizzy paved the way for U2 and other electric bands from Ireland. Without Phil’s success, the music industry would have been less willing to gamble on the successful Irish pop and rock acts of the last quarter century: Sinead O'Connor, The Cranberries, The Pogues, and The Corrs.

        Ireland’s late, honored music critic—and author of two books about U2—Bill Graham, recognized the influence of Lynott/Lizzy: "…it is no exaggeration to say he was our Elvis Presley, the man who validated rock for a generation of Irishmen and women. (Phil Lynott) was our first star in an intimate way. Philip Lynott also represented both our values and aspirations. Our values (are shown in Phil’s) tolerance, his mischievous good-humour, his genuine efforts at accessibility and cagey playfulness. And our aspirations (are shown) in (Phil’s) style and class and the fact that he was the most masculinely sexual of any Irish star before or since. Yes, he was our Elvis."

        On January 4 1986, Philip died of the physical deterioration brought on by the ravages of drug abuse—including heroin addiction—at the age of 36. Ten years before his death, and a short time before I met him, Phil wrote a fitting epitaph for himself in a poem/song called "Honesty Is No Excuse": "I took my life in my own hands and I abused it."

        The Seventies now seem a peculiar, isolated time: a renaissance decade swept with a flourishing of artist movements, and a time when popular music greatly influenced Western culture. Thin Lizzy was then not among those influential bands of the time, when "good bands were plentiful and many were taken for granted." Ironically, Phil Lynott’s Thin Lizzy—whose influence in Ireland paved the way for the successful Irish musicians of the last two decades—may now gain some important recognition it deserves.

RECOGNITION
        Recognition comes in funny ways sometimes. Almost 25 years to the day after I interviewed Phil Lynott Ireland issued a set of four commemorative postage stamps honoring "Irish Rock Legend"s: Van Morrison, Bono & U2, Rory Gallagher, and Phil Lynott. The postal web site description of the 41¢ stamp’s honoree is a cautious tribute at best: "Phil Lynott was the prime mover in Thin Lizzy, who were one of Ireland’s first successful rock exports. He was a noted melodic songwriter though this was often obscured by the brash sound of Lizzy. Phil Lynott died on 4th January 1986 aged only 34 (sic). The stamp portrays Phil in a macho pose that will be well recognized by fans everywhere."

        Meanwhile, Phil and the band are memorialized by the private Roisin Dubh ("Black Rose") Trust, "set up (in 1994) to commemorate the artistic life of Philip Parris Lynott with dignity and style." Since then almost 30 concerts—often called "Vibes for Phil"—commemorating Phil/Lizzy have been held in Ireland, England, Scandinavia and the US.

        There are at least 3 commemorative sites for Phil Lynott in and around Dublin:

1. The Irish Music Hall of Fame on Middle Abbey Street, in central Dublin just off O’Connell Street displays Lynott’s bass guitar and other memorabilia, and shows a video of the band.

2. A plaque dedicated to Phil Lynott is mounted on a wall in Dublin’s cultural center, Temple Bar, near the landmark Ha’penny Bridge.

3. A life-size effigy of Phil Lynott is a fixture at Dublin’s National Wax Museum at Parnell Square.

        Fans also make pilgrimages to Phil Lynott’s grave at St. Fintan’s cemetery in Sutton, County Dublin (in the northeastern outskirts of Dublin about 8 miles from the city center).

MONUMENTAL
        There may be yet another monument to in the future. Two years ago the Irish Sun newspaper reported in an article by Richie Taylor, titled, "Put Up A Statue Of Phil In Dublin":

        "The mother of tragic Thin Lizzy star Phil Lynott wants a statue of her son erected in Dublin. Philomena Lynott believes Phil—who died 15 years ago from a drug-related death—should be honoured for services to the arts. Philomena said: ‘I loved Phil but not his lifestyle. Drugs are a killer and I don’t want any other mother to suffer like I have.’"

        Phil Lynott was Ireland’s James Dean—living fast, reaching the stars, and dying young. Phil Lynott was also Ireland’s Elvis Presley—a soft-spoken young man from an impoverished background with a special musical gift that influenced many musicians to come. That the demons of his youth and the lifestyle of his adulthood led to a premature death is tragic, but not surprising. Sean O’Casey would have recognized the story.

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