Thin Lizzy’s ‘Whiskey In A Jar’ History Chronicled

The lengthy history of Thin Lizzy’s “Whiskey In the Jar” has been chronicled back to the mid-1600s. The article, courtesy of the A.V. Club, discovers that the song dates back to 1650, when a highwayman named Patrick Flemming was executed for his crimes, which included numerous murders. By the 1680s, his story wound up in a folk song.More »

By on March 19, 2015

The lengthy history of Thin Lizzy’s “Whiskey In the Jar” has been chronicled back to the mid-1600s. The article, courtesy of the A.V. Club, discovers that the song dates back to 1650, when a highwayman named Patrick Flemming was executed for his crimes, which included numerous murders. By the 1680s, his story wound up in a folk song called “Patrick Flemmen He Was a Valiant Souldier.” Over the years, as part of the folk process, it took on new verses and more characters to the point where there is no “definitive” version of the song. Guitarist Eric Bell notes that Thin Lizzy’s recording of “Whiskey in the Jar” wasn’t part of the plan. According to him, the band had been rehearsing their own material in a London pub, and “were going to pack up and Philip [Lynott] put down the bass and picked up the other six-string guitar, and he just started messing about with various stupid songs. About 20 minutes later, he started singing “Whiskey in the Jar” as one of those stupid songs. Me and [drummer] Brian Downey, at this point we were extremely bored, and we started playing along with him a little bit.” As they were playing, their manager Ted Carroll walked in and liked what he was hearing and suggested they record the song. Copyright(c) 2015 RTTNews.com. All Rights ReservedLess «