Navigating Black Irish identity in the music of Phil Lynott

Updated Monday, 14 October 2024

Lauren O’Hagan explores the music of Phil Lynott and how his lyrics helped him make sense of his dual identity as Black and Irish.

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“What’s it like to be Black and Irish?”
“Like a pint of Guinness”

Phil Lynott on stage in Oslo, 1980 Phil Lynott on stage in Oslo, 1980

This now-apocryphal statement, attributed to Phil Lynott – singer and bassist of the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy – captures the complexities of growing up in a country where one’s skin colour doesn’t align with expected identity norms. Lynott’s often playful responses to questions about his heritage masked deeper feelings of insecurity and an ambivalent sense of belonging.

Raised as an illegitimate Black child in the 1950s within a strict Catholic family in Crumlin (a working-class district of Dublin), Lynott lived at the intersection of race and class in a predominantly white and conservative Ireland. While his upbringing instilled in him ‘an acute sense of national and gender identity’ (Smyth, 2005, p. 39), his skin colour and illegitimacy made him the target of racial and social prejudice.

Lynott’s music became a way for him to navigate his dual identity and search for a place where he truly fit. His songs frequently explored the tension between his Irish heritage and his experience as a Black man in a society in which he was seen as an outsider.

Here are six songs that offer an introduction to this theme in Lynott’s music:

1. Sitamoia (1974) – With a title inspired by the Irish folk song ‘Sí Do Mhaimeo’ (The Wealthy Widow), ‘Sitamoia’ blends distinct Irish folk rhythms with West African vocal chants, while its lyrics address racial stereotypes with lines like, ‘Hey mister, can I shine your shoes?’

2. Ode to a Black Man (1980) – Written as a celebration of his Black heroes, Lynott namechecks Stevie Wonder, Martin Luther King and Muhammad Ali, among others. The song also hints at the challenges of growing up in a town where ‘people could never understand a Black man’.

3. Black Boys on the Corner (1972) – Written to confront ‘the prejudices and stereotypes enforced on the black man’ (Bailie, 1997), the song features a defiant warning from Lynott: ‘I need none of your pity.’ Released as a B-side to his cover of the Irish folk classic ‘Whiskey in the Jar’, it highlights the duality of Lynott’s identity.

4. Half-Caste (1980) – With a calypso beat, this song outlines the story of a boy caught between two communities. He is not accepted as Black enough by one group, while seen as too Black by the other (‘the brown boy is born to serve’), echoing the challenges Lynott himself faced in his own quest for acceptance.

5. In the Delta (1981) – Lynott shifts focus to the American South, adopting the perspective of a man ‘working on that chain gang, breakin’ rocks for the Man’. Like ‘Sitamoia’, West African chants mix with Celtic harmonies.

6. Song for Jimi (1980) – A tribute to Lynott’s hero, Jimi Hendrix, who showed him that ‘a Black fella could be the front of a band and be completely respected for what he did’ (The Late Late Show, 1981). Lynott’s lyrics reflect on their bond as ‘brothers’ who are ‘stone free’ – a nod to both Hendrix’s iconic song and their shared freedom from the chains of oppression that weighed on their ancestors.

Lynott passed away in 1986 at just 36 years old. In the years since, he has become a beloved national figure, and his status as both Black and Irish has come to be embraced as a harmonious part of his identity. This was consolidated by Gary Moore’s 1989 tribute song, ‘Blood of Emeralds’, where Lynott is described as ‘the darkest son of Ireland’, underscoring the compatibility of his dual heritage.

Phil Lynott statue on Harry St, Dublin (Tilly Antoine) Phil Lynott statue on Harry St, Dublin

Today, a statue of Lynott stands on Harry Street in Dublin outside the Bruxelles pub. It serves as a lasting tribute to a man who broke down racial barriers and brought Irish rock music to the global stage.

References

For more on this topic:

O’Hagan, L.A. (2021) ‘The Irish Rover: Phil Lynott and the search for identity’, Popular Music and Society, 44(1), pp. 26–48. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/20567790.2019.1653623.

Bailie, S. (1997). The Ballad of the Thin Man. London: Boxtree Ltd.

Bannister, M. (2021) ‘“I’m a Little Black Boy and I Don’t Know My Place”: Phil Lynott and the Black Atlantic’, Rock Music Studies, 9(1), pp. 94–113. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/19401159.2021.1935726.

Smyth, G. (2005) Noisy Island: A Short History of Irish Popular Music. Cork: Cork University Press.

Thompson, G. (2016) Cowboy Song: The Authorised Biography of Philip Lynott. London: Constable.

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Navigating Black Irish identity in the music of Phil Lynott

Navigating Black Irish identity in the music of Phil Lynott

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