Loud and Clear
The Boys are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy (Blast from the Past Thursday)
Ear Bites returned last night from a whirlwind three days in Vermont, hence the slight delay on this post. I suppose the song of the day could be altered to fit the situation — instead of “guess who just got back today” it could be “guess who just got back Wednesday”…. I digress. I had a great time these past couple days, but perhaps my most unique experience came on Monday. I researched the best places to eat dinner in the area, and then realized it was St. Patrick’s Day, so we ended up at the third choice. As we walked into this place, we were immediately given a trivia card and told we had arrived just in time. The next couple hours were some of the strangest yet coolest I’ve ever had, as I ended up playing St. Patrick’s Day trivia with a room full of strangers. We got second to last, thank you very much — and I’m willing to bet that we clinched that spot almost exclusively due to the “guess that song” section. The very first track played? None other than the lovely Irishmen Thin Lizzy and their terrific tune “The Boys are Back in Town”!
It’s recognizable right from the top, those power chords soaring above the second guitar’s furious strums. The bass is low enough to serve as a great base (no pun intended), and the drums are right on point. I’m a big fan of conversational songs, and this one is no different. I like to imagine a whole cast of characters speaking throughout — a gossiping neighbor leaning over the fence, a reporter looking for a headline, a regular at the bar down the street. If you really think about it, this mirrors the appeal of the song. It’s hard to find a place where people won’t sing along to the chorus, where you don’t hear an “oh yeah!” whispered around when it begins to play.
This exact thing happened at trivia. While they deliberately played the parts that did not reveal the name of the song, a steady chorus of “the boys are back/the boys are back” could be heard loud and clear. “The Boys are Back In Town” is a track that’s sung with a smile, a heavy-hitter that has a deep nostalgia within it that never fails to bring people together… even on St. Patrick’s Day!
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