Thin Lizzy, 1st Record "THIN LIZZY" 1970

Subject: Thin Lizzy, 1st Record "THIN LIZZY" 1970 Mon May 26, 2008 9:00 pm

Anyone hip to the 1st Thin Lizzy Record, from 1970?

This ain’t “Jailbreak” or Live & Dangerous” but it is my favorite Thin Lizzy record, the one I return to over and over.

Never before and never again did Lynott ever do anything even close to this record. Poetic, sparse, eloquent, and SO Irish. Here is where a star was truly born….

The first track, “The Friendly Ranger at Clontarf Castle” finds Phil (Lynott) at his most poetic and reflective mood ever committed to tape. Lovely and easy, it segues seamlessly into “Honesty is My Only Excuse” which has a vocal reminiscent of Hendrix at his finest, especially the scat on the breakdown.

Track 3 is my all time favorite Thin Lizzy track “Diddy Levine” The long twisting tale of a woman, and her fatherless daughter, how she raises her, and the child grows up.

Diddy Levine: by Phil Lynott

In the later forties
When diddy levine lived with eunice king
He gave her the ring that she wore

Janice the smiling daughter
Who came from a marriage way before
But eunice was the father that she always saw

Though they never never never never told her
She always knew the score
You see kids were so much wiser after the wars ((great line))

But diddy hadn't have enough
She had to get some more
On a ration piece of paper, she wrote "eunice, I'm not sure"

And with her child in her arms
She went looking for a fling
Besides, she didn't like the name mrs. king

The first time that she heard damper dan
Was on the radio
Crooning at a volume that was way, way down low

Diddy was surprised to hear that damper's name was dan
Soon after he was a calling
And he asked, begged and pleaded for her hand

Damper's heart was dampened
When diddy answered no, no, no, no, no
But if she changed her mind, she said dan, I'll let you know

With her child in her arms
She went looking for man
Besides, she didn't like the name damper dan

Janice the smiling daughter grew up to be a teenage queen
Through all of her mother's lovers
She kept the name levine

Behind the picture house she first made her scene
With a boy called allister
Who was dating a friend called celine

And celine wasn't mad when janice came in between
But allister got scared when he heard
And he joined the usa marines

Inheritance, you see, runs through every family
Who is to say what is to be is any better
Over and over it goes, goodness and badness winds blow

Over and over, over and over
Over and over and over and over and over and over and over
The good and the bad winds blow.

The music, in particular Eric Bell’s guitar playing is lovely, and Phil is really siging in a style he never used before or since. His vocal performance on this song is comparible to Hendrix on “Up From the Skies” or “Belly Button Window” which is very unique in the Hendrix canon. “Diddy Levine” is a masterpiece. And, Thin Lizzy never did anything like it again.

“Look What the Wind Blew In” just rocks, flat out, a real sign of things to come.

“Eire” was the very first in a long line of Lynott penned “Classics of Ireland” such as “Emerald”.

“Return of the Farmers Son” is much like what Lizzy would do in the future.

“Clifton Grange Hotel” is about a showbiz hotel Phil’s mom ran for ages in Manchester. Great song.

“Saga of an Aging Orphan” an autobiographical song about Lynott whose Mom had to go to England to work nd he was raised in Dublin, as a black child in the 50’s & 60’s, in Ireland. That is why the manis a bad ass, and never took shit off anyone. But, this song is basically an acosutic lament to a lost childhood. Lovely stuff.

“Remembering Part 1 & Part 2” is Phil really writing his heart out. I guess on this reocrd you really see Phil Lynott as a lyricist. Both Part 1 & 2 just rock, but the lyrics, wow! Eric Bell really shines. Both these songs are just magic.

“Dublin” at 2:27 this song is Phil’s “Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory” or Big Star’s “Kanga-Roo”

“Dublin” by Phil Lynott

After our affair
I swore that I'd leave Dublin
And in that line I'd left behind
The years, the tears, the memories and you

In Dublin

At the Keys friends come and say farewell
We'd laugh and joke and smoke
And later on the boat
I'd cry over you

How can I leave the town that brings me down
That has no jobs
Is blessed by God
And makes me cry

In Dublin

And at sea with flowing hair
I'd think of Dublin
Of Grafton Street and Derby Square
And those for whom I really care and you

In Dublin

Last, but not at all least is “Things Ain’t Working Out Down At The Farm”
Lizzy’s first really full blown rocker, with Phil singing in the style that soon the world would know him for.

Never before and never again, this record is a real must for anyone who would like to see a star just beginning to shine.

I would trade anyone 10 to 1 for a live show, or session outtakes from this record…. A standing offer.