WORDS.

From raps about rats to The War of the Worlds.

Phil Lynott was best known for his time in Irish rock band Thin Lizzy between 1969 and 1983, as well as a short outing as a solo artist in the early 80s, but there are many interesting music projects he had a hand in before his tragic passing in 1986. While known to the masses as a rocker, Lynott actually dabbled in a huge variety of genres, willingly embracing new styles and technologies as they became popular, choosing not to typecast himself.

Today, we're going to take a closer look at ten songs Lynott took part in that the average Joe may not have heard before, but should definitely give a listen.

Huge shoutout to Peter Nielsen of Thin Lizzy Guide for curating a list of little-known recordings featuring Lynott that inspired me to write this. You can check out that list here.

█ 1. Funky Junction – “Rising Sun” (1973)

I assume anyone who's not lived under a rock in the past sixty-odd years knows of “The House of the Rising Sun”, a traditional folk song famously recorded by The Animals in 1964, but to make sense of this version requires a fair amount of backstory.

Thin Lizzy were a three-piece at the time, having released two relatively unsuccessful albums by mid-1972. Desperately needing some money, they agreed to take part in a project orchestrated by German businessman Leo Muller, in which they would record a Deep Purple tribute album titled Funky Junction Play a Tribute to Deep Purple. As Lynott wasn't the best Ian Gillan soundalike, he was relegated to bass guitar duties only, and Benny White from a little-known band called Elmer Fudd sang on the album.

Now that I've explained it, there'll likely be one question on your mind: Why did they record a song for a Deep Purple tribute album that Deep Purple themselves never performed? And I don't have a good answer for that. Filler material perhaps? In fact, only five of the nine songs on the album were actually Deep Purple tracks. “Rising Sun” is the pick of the bunch for me, though. You can never go wrong with a bluesy instrumental cover of a timeless classic.

█ 2. Jeff Wayne – “The Spirit of Man” (1978)

In 1975, composer Jeff Wayne acquired the rights to create a musical adaptation of H. G. Wells' science fiction novel The War of the Worlds. In the following three years, he wrote and produced the 94-minute snappily-titled rock opera Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, casting some big names to narrate and sing parts, including Richard Burton, David Essex, Justin Hayward, and of course, one Philip Lynott, who plays the role of Parson Nathaniel (known as “the curate” in the novel).

Parson's big moment on the album is “The Spirit of Man”, an 11-minute duet with his wife Beth (played by Julie Covington). I'm not sure if he was directed to do so, or if it came naturally to him, but Lynott really hams it up to eleven, which, considering he's portraying a man driven mad by the horrors he's seen, works incredibly well.

As an aside, I'm of the opinion that his performance on this track inspired him to write “Don't Let Him Slip Away”, a Thin Lizzy demo recorded in 1982, with there being a lot of parallels between the two songs.

█ 3. Gary Moore – “Fanatical Fascists” (1978)

Gary Moore first met Phil Lynott in 1968 when they were both part of a band called Skid Row (no, not that one). From then on until Lynott's passing, their paths crossed numerous times, with Moore briefly replacing original Thin Lizzy guitarist Eric Bell in 1973, briefly replacing Lizzy's Brian Robertson in 1977, joining the band permanently in 1978, quitting in 1979, and finally recording a couple of songs together in 1985. And while there are a whole host of songs featuring the two of them I could mention here (“Parisienne Walkways”, “Out in the Fields”, “Military Man” et al.), I've elected to pick the lesser-known “Fanatical Fascists” from Moore's debut solo album, Back on the Streets.

Lynott wrote the song and contributed bass guitar and backing vocals. Originally slated to be a Lizzy song, it's one of the few times Lynott is overtly political in his writing, though some of the lyrics are a bit corny, with Moore singing about “Fanatical fascists with Italian moustaches”.

Rather strangely, Lynott lifted one of the riffs from this song and re-used it in Thin Lizzy's “With Love” a year later.

█ 4. The Greedies – “A Merry Jingle” (1979)

Phil Lynott was keeping a close eye on the punk scene emerging in the late 70s, and struck up a friendship with a little band you may be aware of: the Sex Pistols. This culminated in a project called The Greedies in 1978.

Originally known as The Greedy Bastards, because they were naughty boys who swore a lot, the band consisted of members of Thin Lizzy and the Sex Pistols. They played a handful of shows, which must have made one hell of a din, considering they had two drummers, two bassists, and so on. Eventually, they all staggered into the studio to record one song, “A Merry Jingle”, a punky medley of the festive standards “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and “Jingle Bells”. They also performed a slightly tweaked version on Will Kenny Everett Make It to 1980? on New Year's Eve 1979, imaginatively changing all mentions of “Christmas” to “New Year”.

It's not a spectacular song by any means, there are no crazy chops or what have you, but it's a whole lot of fun, and that's all it needs to be. Just a bunch of guys having a blast, doing what they love. And in doing so, they created something I thought was impossible: a decent Christmas song.

█ 5. Mark Nauseef – “Chemistry” (1981)

American Mark Nauseef is another man who had a bit of history with Thin Lizzy, being a stand-in drummer for two international tours while Brian Downey took a break from playing. This short stint included arguably the most famous Lizzy gig, at the Sydney Opera House in 1978, which, if you haven't watched before, I suggest you do so immediately.

A few years after that performance, Nauseef was experimenting with different genres, taking influences from rock, jazz, and even gamelan. His solo album Personal Note is a barnstorming listen from beginning to end, but we're going to focus on the track “Chemistry”, as it's the only one to feature Lynott.

I'm not entirely sure about this, but I think his performance is largely improvised here. Either way, it gels with the music effectively, his vocals occasionally layering on top of each other while chaos ensues in the background. He always had a slightly offbeat way of singing, and this song showcases it like no other, even going so far as to start full-on jazz scatting towards the end. This is just another example of Philo broadening his musical horizons, and I would love to have heard more of this style from him.

█ 6. Auto Da Fé – “Man of Mine” (1983)

Auto Da Fé were an Irish/Dutch band formed in 1980 by former Steeleye Span singer Gay Woods. Lynott overheard them recording while he was working on his solo records, and, seeing similarities between his music and theirs, offered to produce a number of singles for them. “Man of Mine” is my pick of the bunch, a dark new wave track in which Lynott provides backing vocals, which peak during the middle section, snarling phrases like “Oh yeah!” and “Check it out!”, followed by some ethereal oohing and aahing.

A music video was also recorded for this song, which includes some bizarre artistic choices, including a man playing cricket for ten whole seconds (that's longer than you think). This is followed by a couple embracing, before a shot of Lynott's silhouette standing in a doorway, and a dramatic zoom in on his face. A few seconds later, he's skulking around a house and stroking his chin in a very "Look mum, I'm acting!" way. It's all so wonderfully silly.

█ 7. The Rockers – “We Are the Boys” (1983)

An incredibly short-lived supergroup of sorts, The Rockers came together in 1983, consisting of Lynott on bass, Roy Wood (Wizzard) on guitar, Chas Hodges (Chas & Dave) on piano, and John Coghlan (Status Quo) on drums, with Lynott, Wood, and Hodges sharing vocal duties. They released only one single, “We Are the Boys (Who Make All the Noise)”, and, in all fairness, they do make quite a racket. The song is primarily a medley of rock 'n' roll standards, including “Great Balls of Fire”, “Johnny B. Goode”, and “Chantilly Lace”.

The most well-known performance of this song was on Tiswas' adult spin-off, Saturday Stayback, with ELO's Bev Bevan replacing Coghlan on drums. This version features a terrifying man only credited as “Man in Pyjamas” (I can't find his real name anywhere, although I think it may be Bernard Wrigley) interrupting the song to have a rant about underpants.

I suppose kids just wouldn't get that sort of humour.

█ 8. Clann Éadair – “A Tribute To Sandy Denny” (1984)

Seven-piece Irish traditional group Clann Éadair were formed in 1978. Phil Lynott first heard them playing in a pub in Howth, Dublin, and he was so impressed by them that, soon after, he agreed to sing in and produce a song written by the band about Sandy Denny. Denny was a prominent folk singer, best known for her work in Fairport Convention, who tragically passed away in 1978.

The video I've selected is taken from an episode of Gay Byrne's The Late Late Show in 1984. It's such a beautiful and fitting piece of music written by Snowy McLoughlin, with a soft-spoken and heartfelt performance from Lynott, more akin to his vocals in Thin Lizzy songs such as “Dublin” and “Sweet Marie”, rather than the aggressive swagger he sang songs like “Jailbreak” with.

If you enjoy the video above, I recommend checking out Thin Lizzy's first two albums, Thin Lizzy and Shades of a Blue Orphanage. They're a lot more folky than you'd perhaps expect, and Philo's mellow vocals are much more prominent.

█ 9. Robin George – “Showdown” (1985)

While there's no relation to Thin Lizzy's 1974 song of the same name, this is still a banger in its own regard. Robin George was a rising star in 1985, having a minor hit in “Heartline” and even featuring on the cover of Kerrang, which I assume was a pretty big deal back when people actually read magazines. Lynott only contributes bass to “Showdown”, but there were far more interesting things happening behind the scenes, with George and Lynott building up a strong working relationship during the year.

I imagine there was a bit of an “I'll scratch your back” situation going on here, with George playing on Phil Lynott's single “Nineteen”, as well as appearing with Lynott during the Irishman's final television appearance on Razzmatazz in December 1985. According to George, after that show, Lynott asked both him and Brian Downey to reform Thin Lizzy in some shape or form. These plans would never come to fruition, however, as Lynott collapsed at home just days later, and passed away on 4 January 1986 after a ten-day stay in hospital.

█ 10. Freddie White – “Silas Rat” (1986)