- Music
- 26 Sep 12
Philip Lynott's 'The Boys Are Back In Town' is still being used as intro music at Republican Party rallies...
The Mitt Romney campaign has defied the wishes of the Philip Lynott estate and Thin Lizzy by continuing to use 'The Boys Are Back In Town' as intro music during the Presidential campaign.
The track, a major hit all over the world for the band in 1976, was used last night at a Presidential rally in Ohio, with the Presidential candidate himself, Mitt Romney, making his entrance to the strains of Thin Lizzy. The track can be heard very audibly on a YouTube clip (see below) posted online by the US journalist John Michael Spinelli and spotted by @storyful's @AineKerr.
In continuing to use – or rather abuse – the music, the Republican Party is openly defying the wishes of both the members of Thin Lizzy and the Thin Lizzy estate. Last week, in an an exclusive story on the issue, Hot Press revealed that Caroline Lynott, wife of the late Dublin rocker, was planning to issue a Cease and Desist order to prevent further use of the music by the Romney campaign. Caroline insisted that her duty was not to allow the use of Philip Lynott's music in any way that he would not have approved.
"Absolutely in no way would Philip have supported Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan," she said, "and he would have been so happy about Obama becoming US President.
Advertisement
And she added: "As far as I am able, I want to try to ensure that Philip's legacy remains true to him as an individual. I am powerless over much of what goes on, but where I have a say, I do what I believe Philip would have done."
Scott Gorham, guitarist with Thin Lizzy – who played on the track and is one of the two surviving members of the classic Thin Lizzy line-up from the '70s currently with the band – also expressed his unhappiness with the fact that the track was being misused in this way. "Mitt Romney is not a politician I would vote for," he told Hot Press.