Music
29 Jul 25

On this day in 1977: Thin Lizzy released 'Dancing in the Moonlight (It's Caught Me in Its Spotlight)'

On July 29, 1977, Thin Lizzy released 'Dancing In The Moonlight (It's Caught Me In Its Spotlight)' – a "delicious evocation of life as a teenager, coming of age in Dublin during the 1960s," as Hot Press editor Niall Stokes once described it. The single went on to feature on the band's acclaimed eighth album, Bad Reputation, which they produced with the legendary Tony Visconti, and released that September. To mark 'Dancing in the Moonlight's anniversary, we're sharing some special reflections on the track...

Bono:

“We were 16 when we formed the band, and we were trying to learn other people’s songs – and we weren’t very good at it. Occasionally one would speak to us. 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.

“They were such good songs to murder. ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’, we murdered that one. We still play that one in soundcheck. ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’, we play that one in soundcheck too, that’s so beautiful. So Van Morrison...

"...People always refer to [the line in ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’] ‘chocolate stains on my pants’. There’s a lot of reference to the cinema in his lyrics and going to the cinema. I think that actually formed his view of the world, the way he talks about the Stella in ‘Shades Of A Blue Orphanage’. And, yeah, a poetic spirit through and through.”

David Kitt

On covering 'Dancing In The Moonlight':

“That one took a bit of time. That’s the third version of it. It started to develop its own atmosphere and then I realised that the best thing was to pull the vocal right back. To me it’s like you’re singing it to yourself on that walk home, there’s much more solitude in the song. The lyrics are just incredible, it’s one evocative image after the next.

"People forget that side of Phil Lynott. They see the guy in the leather pants playing the bass but they forget how great he was at writing lyrics. I think that’s why I’ve always identified with him. There was this real loner at the heart of it all.”

Bill Graham:

"There may have been many Phil Lynotts but any Dubliner must always come back to one memory that will forever celebrate and redeem him. The sight of Lynott and Thin Lizzy that 1977 night in Dalymount Park when he and his band were momentarily kings of the city and we all left beneath the blessing of the floodlights, internally singing 'Dancing in the Moonlight'..."