The search was half of the fun on this week’s prompt. Memorizing musician’s and songwriter’s birthdays is not my area of expertise, so I went through the days in wikipedia until I hit on Phil. A few years or so ago, when I was listening to Spotify’s Release Radar, I came across a song by Thin Lizzy that I didn’t know, nor particularly care for, but I favorited it and put it on a playlist. Every time it rolled around it became more likeable, until it has become a song I really like. It shows me a side of Thin Lizzy I wasn’t familiar with, a softer side. First, here is a little information on Phil. I would encourage you to check out wikipedia for a lot more information on him and his musical history.
Philip “Phil” Parris Lynott, (b. 8/20/49 — d. 1/4/86) was an Irish musician who was the co-founder, lead vocalist, bassist, and primary songwriter of the hard rock band Thin Lizzy. He was noted for his distinctive pick-based style on the bass and for his imaginative lyrics, including working-class tales and numerous characters drawn from personal influences and Celtic culture.
Lynott was born in the West Midlands of England and grew up in Dublin with his grandparents. He remained close to his mother, Philomena, throughout his life. He fronted several bands as a lead vocalist, including Skid Row alongside Gary Moore, before learning the bass guitar and forming Thin Lizzy in 1969. After initial success with, “Whiskey in the Jar,” the band had several hits in the mid-1970s, such as “The Boys Are Back in Town,” “Jailbreak,” and “Waiting for an Alibi.” The band became a popular live attraction, combining Lynott’s vocal and songwriting skills with dual lead guitars. Towards the end of the 1970s, Lynott embarked upon a solo career and published two books of poetry. After Thin Lizzy disbanded, he assembled and fronted the band Grand Slam.
During the 1980s, Lynott increasingly suffered from drug addiction, particularly to heroin. He and Moore had one more chart success with “Out in the Fields” in 1985, before Lynott died of septicemia-induced pneumonia and heart failure early the following year. He remains a popular figure in rock music, and a statue in his memory was erected in Dublin in 2005.
“A Song for While I’m Away” is the 8th and last cut on Vagabonds of the Western World, which was Irish hard rock band, Thin Lizzy’s, third studio album, released in 1973. It was the band’s last album with original guitarist Eric Bell, as well as as a trio, and the first to feature the artwork of Jim Fitzpatrick, whose work would appear on many subsequent albums by the band.
Personnel:
Phillip Lynott – vocals, bass guitar, associate producer
Eric Bell – guitars, vocals
Brian Downey – drums, percussion
Fiachra Trench — string arrangement
Strings: Tony Harris – viola; Ian MacKinnon – violin; Don McVay – viola; Alan Merrick – violin; Paul Mosby – cor anglais, oboe; Peter Oxar – violin; Peter Poole – violin; Godfrey Salmon – violin; Alan Sloan – violin; Quentin Williams – cello
Source: wikipedia
While looking for the YouTube of the song, I found a full documentary on Phil Lynott! I am pleased to share it with you:
I see another doc, “Phil Lynott: Songs While I’m Away” was released about 4 years ago.
Jim Adams is the host of Song Lyric Sunday. This week Jim wants us to share music from a musician or songwriter who was born in August.
Tao-Talk 
Great post Lisa – Thin Lizzy a great Irish rock band and Lynott was a brilliant singer song writer- I hadn’t heard this track before it’s very special. And I’ll be looking at the documentary later đź©·
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Excellent post Lisa. Love me some Thin Lizzy. Growing up a rock guy in the eighties Phil’s absence was felt pretty deeply in the scene. I’ve been to Dublin to see his statue, listened to many of their albums and was very used to seeing and hearing him on the BBC as a kid. Lovely links to the documentaries too. Their softer stuff was really lovely because Phil was such a big hearted romantic.
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A great choice, and a lovely song – so prescient of him, sadly. I am a big fan of Thin Lizzy, and saw them twice in concert: they were amazing!
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Brill!~~~
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I’m pleased with your wonderful selection today. Thin Lizzy is so much more than The Boys Are Back In Town which was a staple in my youth.
I love documentaries too! Thanks for sharing.
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The boys are back in town 🎶🎶🎶
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This is great, Lisa. Excellent choice going with Phil. Thanks for the doc vid which I’ll try to catch later today.
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Thanks for sharing this, Lisa as I had no idea that Thin Lizzy did love songs. I learned a lot about this group from your post, and I enjoyed reading what you wrote about them, as I only know a few of their songs and I did not know their history or the name of anyone who played in the band.
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Great choice and resource again Li.
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Great choice. They released five albums before the one that finally made them big. Which of course was ‘Jailbreak’.
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Once I realized there’s more to Thin Lizzy’s picture than the great “Whiskey in the Jar,” which was instant love, I quickly started digging many of their other songs I heard. While I believe I pretty much touched each of their albums when exploring them in greater depth some six years ago, I don’t recall “Songs for While I’m Away.”
I think it’s fair to say with its lush orchestral arrangement, it’s not your typical hard-charging Thin Lizzy song. That said, I really dig it. To my ears, it has a bit of a Moody Blues vibe.
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Excellent choice, Lisa. Not as familiar with the band’s entire catalog, but it was refreshing to hear what definitely was a different vibe for me here. I should take a run through their entire body of work and see what other gems need unearthed.
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Lisa .. Phil Lynott and thin Lizzy are heros of mine ..their music is varied and so memorable.. there always something special about groups for Ireland that draws me in. đź’śđź’śđź’ś
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Lisa, this is a lovely song pick today from Thin Lizzie. I remember the daughter of a British comedian, Leslie Crowther, married Phil Lynott in 1980 when I was still living in the UK. They had two daughters I belive and then he died not long after. So sad.
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This is great Lisa! I love Phil and always have. It’s hard to pick a bad song by him. I loved this vocals and songwriting most of all….and he was a great bass player…it was his singing and inflections that I really liked.
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I don’t think anyone has musicians birthdays memorized! Ive never gone this far back into Thin Lizzy but have been enjoying some of their other records lately.
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