100 Greatest Songs of the 70’s #35 Thin Lizzy – The Boys Are Back in Town

Released: 1976

It’s a ritual as old as organised society itself; heroes return from their courageous acts, all of them eager to slake their thirst and tell their stories, back slapping, laugh making, tall-taling. By the late 20th century however this fading bastion of masculinity had been for many been reduced to hitting the pubs and clubs of grimy, backward Britain every Friday, wages clutched in hand and with the only perils needing to be vanquished those which came from the boredom of a dead end job.

The Boys Are Back in Town was rescue of another kind for Thin Lizzy, who by 1975 were desperately in need of a hit to launch their career-defining sixth album Jailbreak. One Friday night on the road in Manchester the band’s co-manager Chris O’ Donnell spotted it; the crowd were nearly all male and seeking a release from their everyday lives. For singer Phil Lynott in his mind’s eye there was also the warm glow of the entourage hitting Dublin again and all the associated mayhem that swirled around them whenever they returned from England. Now, they had their idea.

It helped that what Lynott and the group did offstage wasn’t an act; supposedly members of their crew were hired as much for an ability to fight as string a guitar. Without his obvious charisma however The Boys Are Back in Town might have been just another song. Lead singers provide that elevation anyway sometimes, although it’s doubtful that it could’ve traded on that alone without Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham’s hugely distinctive twin leads. It proved to be the turning point the band had craved, but as ever – even in warrior tales – things didn’t end up the way they anticipated.