Thursday August 25, 2022 “Cowboy Song” Thin Lizzy
Truth be told, he says, suggesting that all that has passed may not be true, this week’s list was built around two songs, Monday’s “El Paso” and today’s “Cowboy Song” because anytime I can find an excuse to play a Thin Lizzy song I’m going for it. BTW everything that has passed on song of the day was the truth, always.
"Cowboy Song" is described in a biography about Thin Lizzy band founder, the late Phil Lynott as "a cross between Clint Eastwood and Rudolph Valentino, with a bit of (soccer player) George Best thrown in for good measure. Philip strode into the sunset of his own imagination and always, of course, lived to fight another day."...even when he didn’t.
Part of the signature Thin Lizzy sound was the double lead guitars that played in sync with one another. Legend suggests that this was come upon quite accidentally when guitarist "Brian Robertson was doing a take and the engineer left the delay on his guitar, a millisecond, so he was harmonizing with himself," and the sound stuck.
One of those early twin Thin Lizzy guitarists was Gary Moore who would go on to be…well Gary Moore.
Never the toast of critics, Thin Lizzy toured relentlessly, building an unassailable reputation as a terrific live band and their big break wouldn’t come until their sixth album Jailbreak which included the anthemic top twenty song “The Boys Are Back” which ironically none of the band members saw as a strong song and it almost didn’t make it on to the album.
Stay safe and well…and for those unfamiliar with this tune let me just say that this is definitely not a ballad even as it starts out sounding like it might be.