Thin Lizzy star Phil Lynott’s daughters Cathleen and Sarah recently spoke about the strength they gained from listening to the songs, their father wrote about them before his death.
The rocker passed away from pneumonia and heart failure in 1986, when his daughters were just toddlers. Part of the rock legend’s legacy is leaving behind tracks named after and about both of them.
On the songs, Sarah said, “If I ever need to feel his love, it’s in that song”.
She continued, “It’s nice to have a song written about you. When he is not around to say the things you want him to say. You have that reassurance and love”.
The song in question is called “Sarah”. It was a top 30 Hit by Thin Lizzy. However, Phil’s wife Caroline Taraskevics insisted that he wrote a song about his second daughter Cathleen.
Caroline stated, “I said to Phil, you’re not going to write a song about Sarah, and not one about Cathleen”.
Cathleen joked, “Thanks mum, I thought he wrote the song because he loved me, but I feel it’s about our family life not just about me”.
Lynott The Rock Legend:
Cathleen continued, “For somebody who doesn’t have loads of memories because I was so young, I feel it gives me a snippet of our family life together, that is just me”.
“You remember something and it’s a tiny little moment, if you try to think about me, it just fades out”.
The daughters have agreed to speak on their father’s upcoming doccumentary, “Songs For While I’m Away”, something the director Emer Reynolds is delighted about.
“They are very private people who’ve gradually over time have become more comfortable with celebrating their father in public”.
“I went to see them a couple of times, and they agreed once I explained the celebratory style and tone of the film”.
Emer Reynolds is an Emmy award winning director. She also attended Thin Lizzy’s last ever gig in Dublin’s RDS in 1983. She said she felt a huge responsibility to get this doccumentary just right.
“I was taking on the story of such a much loved Irish icon” she explained.
“I wanted to avoid all the rock doc clichés about the rise and fall”.
U2’s Adam Clayton also features on the doccumentary. He spoke about the difficulties that musicians like Phil Lynott and others can face when they stop having hits.
“There is always a transitional moment with fame where the spotlight moves away from you, it happens to everyone” said the U2 Bass player.
Clayton also felt there was a much more sensitive side to Lynott, rather than simply just this hard-rocking image.
“Especially in the music world that tenderness, that honesty is always hidden by a big noisy band”.
“When we stand up there as big bold rock stars, we need some armour against the world, because it’s hard to stand up there and fully reveal yourself”.
Phil Lynott’s upcoming doccumentary “Songs: For While I’m away” opens in Irish cinemas on December 26. See more here. It includes interviews from Phil’s daughters, Adam Clayton and others.
