Don’t Believe A Word – Thin Lizzy

We’ve run the computer simulations, crunched the numbers, tested the data. There can be no doubt. Philip Parris Lynott is the coolest Irish man ever.  Tall, handsome, a sublime lyricist, vocalist and bassist, with a cheeky Dublin strut and a poet’s soul, we are all agreed he is the Irish high priest of Rock and Roll.

Possibly a lot of you know the band Thin Lizzy. The Boys are back in town is the go-to soundtrack for every movie montage and fight scene. Whiskey in the Jar is used in many a movie with an Irish background.

But there was so much more to this band, and Philo, then this. They could write a barnstorming 70s rocker like Boys, Chinatown or Jailbreak. There was also the sensitive poet who wrote Sarah, Still In Love With You or Parisienne Walkways. There was the man searching for his identity with Emerald or Ode to a Black Man.  His solo classic Old Town is Dublin’s unofficial anthem.

My choice today however is Don’t Believe A Word. A perfect combination of Lynott’s nuanced lyrics with a scorching guitar riff.

Lizzy super-fan Bono said this about it in legendary Irish rock journal Hot Press

"I remember us trying to work out ‘Don’t Believe A Word’ and I couldn’t understand exactly what he meant. ‘Don’t believe me when I tell ya/Not a word of this is true/Don’t believe me when I tell ya/I’m in love with you’ – just a great lyric device. We tried playing that, just murdered that one."

Originally written as a ballad , most fans agree the faster track is the superior version. Why ?  You’d have to talk to song exploder for that, we just want to point you in the direction of a few tunes that we hope you enjoy. We don’t want to over-analyse the process and forget why we wrote this blog. .
Besides, we can’t top this comment from YouTube

“Alright boys, we’d like a perfect rock song with some meaningful words and a great guitar solo and…er….by the way you have to fit it all in in 2 mins and 20 secs – fecking brilliant!”


​- Collie