#of their previous album (despite solid sales) had left the band a little jittery. at this point it might have made sense to go back to

[mariocki]

Infinite list of favourite lyrics: 213/?

Thin Lizzy - Dancing in the Moonlight (It's Caught Me in It's Spotlight) (1977)

"When I passed you

In the doorway,

Well, you took me with a glance;

I should've took that last bus home

But I asked you for a dance.

Now we go steady

To the pictures -

I always get chocolate stains on my pants -

And my father, he's going crazy,

He says I'm living in a trance;

But I'm dancing in the moonlight,

It's caught me in its spotlight..."

#favourite lyrics #thin lizzy #dancing in the moonlight #dancing in the moonlight (it's caught me in it's spotlight) #phil lynott #1977 #bad reputation #ok right off the bat i have to say: yes that title is grammatically incorrect (with an it's where an its should be) #but that's how the title appears on every single release and on the album label and back cover. and being a pedant‚ it's the title as #written that I'll use. anyway. had to clear that up. #not to be confused with the King Harvest song (later covered by Toploader)‚ Dancing was Thin Lizzy's only single release of 77 and the sole #single from Bad Reputation. the band were going through something of a minor crisis; they'd become known as a fourpiece with two guitarists #providing duelling solos‚ but Brian Robertson was effectively out of the band following a hand injury and disagreements with frontman #Lynott; he appeared on a couple of tracks for the album but was denied a place on the cover photo and soon parted ways with the boys for #good. Lynott had also spent much of the previous year seriously ill with hepatitis‚ and cancelled tours and the lukewarm critical reception #of their previous album (despite solid sales) had left the band a little jittery. at this point it might have made sense to go back to #their heavy rock roots with Irish folk trappings‚ the sound which had first won them a devoted audience; how typically like Phil L then to #head in the entirely opposite direction. building on one of the all time greatest bass lines (courtesy of Phil himself)‚ Dancing #is pure American juvenalia‚ a bluesy funk tale of adolescent love and awkward first dates. it's also a genuinely sweet love song #with a central refrain that's as beautiful as it is deceptively simplistic. when established rock bands write about teen love #there seems to be a tendency toward sneering irony‚ or bitter reflection; Lynott is content to sing earnestly and openly of pure‚ heartfelt #first love. I've always been taken with the casual aside about chocolate stains; it's nothing‚ an apparently meaningless detail which is #nonetheless sung with out any ounce of embarrassment or regret or mockery. it's delivered instead like a fond shared memory between lovers #although the band had been around for all of the 70s‚ Phil was still only in his 20s and i think it's that youthful optimism which both #shines out and makes this song stand apart from thematically similar tracks by their contemporaries. in a little less than a decade Phil #would be dead‚ but his music lives on and although this was by no means the band's biggest hit‚ it's the one i go to when i feel like #revisiting them