CjK Guest Post – Summer Cover #13

It is Phil Lynott fabulous guitar intro that lets you know that this is not going to be a a traditional version of ‘Whiskey in the Jar’. It was however a well known traditional song set in the southern mountains of Ireland, with specific mention of counties Cork and Kerry.  The song is about a Rapparee (Highwayman), who is betrayed by his wife or lover, and is one of the most widely performed traditional Irish songs. The then relatively unknown Irish rock band Thin Lizzy hit the Irish and British pop charts with this version of the  song in 1973, launching a very successful career until Phil died in 1986 aged 36, although still remembered in a statue just off Grafton Street.

Thin Lizzy:

/CjK