Republicans Vs Thin Lizzy: Get Out Of Town

"I am really upset at Philip's music being used in Mitt Romney's campaign in a political way that Philip would not have approved of. As far as I am concerned, Mitt Romney's opposition to gay marriage and to civil unions for gays makes him anti-gay – which is not something that Philip would have supported. He had some wonderful gay friends, as indeed I do, and they deserve equal treatment in every respect, whether in Ireland or the United States.

"Neither would Philip have supported his policy of taxing the poor and offering tax cuts to the rich, which Paul Ryan is advocating. There is certainly no way that I would want the Lynott name to be associated with any of those ideas.

"There is nothing I can do about it except express my views, but I do want to be clear that I would not want Philip's music to be used in any way that could hurt a single person, and this is the effect of what happened with Paul Ryan using and abusing my son's music in that way. A lot of fans and musicians are very angry about it and I can fully understand why.

"There is a black President of America, which to me – as it would have been to Philip, as a proud, black Irishman – is wonderfully symbolic. I have a lot of time for Barack Obama, so to hear 'The Boys Are Back in Town' being appropriated by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in their campaign against him is deeply upsetting."

Phil Lynott's mum, Philomena, on Thin Lizzy's The Boys Are Back In Town being used to soundtrack the Republican convention. 

Quoted in Hot Press.

You'd think Republicans would have learnt by now that if they try and hijack Rock music, it'll turn round and bite them on the bum.