Sometimes I have to just stop working and reflect on my own path and the choices I have made in my life.
It is hard for me to look back at the launch of my artwork for Philip Lynott and Thin Lizzy on a set of beautiful Irish stamps and not feel immensely proud.
Of course I am proud to see my artwork on an Irish stamp, that in itself is a huge honour for an artist like myself but more importantly, the two stamps honour not just Thin Lizzy, the greatest Irish rock band (move over U2 ☺ love you too) but also and more importantly it honours a great artistic talent.
Philip was more than just a great vocalist, he was a committed writer, poetic lyricist, composer, singer, bassist and compelling frontman for his own band, Thin Lizzy.
He was an icon in his own lifetime and an icon he remains to this day so many years after his demise at a very young age.
The Historic Launch in the GPO
So here I was in the GPO, the most iconic and almost sacred building in Irish history, the same place that the Irish revolutionaries of 1916 had declared Irish independence and an end to 800 years of British rule. In this same building, they made their last stand against the greatest empire in the world.
Many perished in the flames that consumed the GPO and for their rebellion, all the seven signatories of the Irish Proclamation of Independence were executed.
One of those men was Joseph Mary Plunkett and this is where it all begins to come together.
We all were on stage, myself, Thin Lizzy drummer Brian Downey and his band ‘Alive and Dangerous’ ready to rock once I had said my piece, on a stage specially erected for the occasion of this stamp launch.
I chatted with my old friend Brian while I was waiting for my turn to launch the two stamps in this huge historic, vaulted room, all full of Lizzy fans and friends and quite a few Lynott’s too.
It was a lovely relaxed occasion and I said the ‘cúpla fochail’ as required but as I spoke something strange happened, I felt the muse upon me as if Philip was present and, since one of the stamps was of my artwork for Philip’s seminal ‘Irish history’ album ‘Black Rose’ I told once more the story of its creation, as I have many times before:
A Poet Inspired
How Philip was inspired by the poetry of James Clarence Mangan and his wonderful poem ‘Dark Rosaleen’ where the woman of the title is an allegory for Irish nationalism the desire for freedom from English Rule.
For Philip ‘Dark Rosaleen’ in Gaelic became ‘Róisín Dubh’ and in turn that translated as ‘Dark Rose’ which became ‘Black Rose’.
I have never mentioned this ever before but it was always clear to me that the ‘Black Rose’ of the title also referred to Philip himself, as well as his intended reference to Irish nationalism.
The natural translation from ‘Róisín Dubh’ to ‘Dark Rose’ would have been just fine but for me ‘Black Rose’ is just phonetically stronger and much more emotive.
Philip, remember, was a very proud black Irishman and this was his way of expressing that emotion in the title and via my artwork, or so I believe myself.
Back in the sixties, the Black Liberation movements like the Black Panthers (which we both supported) had a great and simple slogan: ‘Black is Beautiful’ and this was the political context for the evolution of the title from ‘Dark Rose’ to ‘Black Rose’. Anyway, for myself, Black Rose and Philip Lynott are one and the same thing and always will be. Even now, today, 40 years later, when I see my Black Rose art I see my old friend Philip Lynott too.
The title song is a hymn to all things Irish and he namechecks quite a few of his heroes in the lyrics but prime spot is Philip himself and his spirit pervades ever sentence and every note on that superb composition.
Visually I represented his ideas with my artistic interpretation of the black rose and spent a great length of time perfecting the artwork from pencil stage to the finished airbrush art.
Blood Upon the Rose
It was at this point we conferred again over the phone, he in London, myself in Dublin and even though Philip loved the artwork slides I couriered over to him, I felt it lacked something so we went back to the source, our shared Irish catholic school education, filled as it was with great poetry and literature.
Out of the blue came a moment of sheer inspiration: I remembered another poem steeped in Irish Nationalism and written by one of the executed leaders of the 1916 revolutionaries Joseph Mary Plunkett, a writer and poet himself and I remembered and repeated that line every school kid of that time learned by heart and it ran:
‘I see his blood upon the rose
and in the stars the glory of his eyes…..’
I remember clearly I said a few words to this effect:
‘So, Philip, I think we need to make that rose a little more dramatic and I know exactly what I’m going to do.
I want it to look like a ‘bloody ‘rose, stained with the blood of our patriot dead, stained with the blood of Christ, a symbol of the Irish blood sacrifice of the men of the 1916 revolution.’
Philip just went ‘Great idea. Love it, do it.’ and that’s how we ended up with what must be one of the most iconic album covers of the era.
All inspired by two Irish poets we both learned about in school when we were no more than teenagers.
Gone But Never Forgotten
So, back to the launch in the GPO and I could feel the presence of the man himself as I told this story of the genesis of the Black Rose album cover and there in the wings was the metaphorical presence of the poet and patriot, Joseph Mary Plunkett, who stood in that same front gallery room and fought tooth and nail for Irish freedom, a freedom he paid for with his life*.
The resonance of that synchronicity was powerful and something I will never forget.
My only regret is the same one I expressed that night: I just wished Philip was there to see his face, with the Black Rose art superimposed on it, hanging as a giant banner above a stage in the historic GPO as his oldest friend, Thin Lizzy drummer Brian Downey and his band belted out ‘The Boys are Back in Town’, ‘The Rocker’ and so many other great songs as the crowd joined in raucously in celebration of a most talented, charismatic, and proud black Irishman.
The second stamp, which I will write about later was an image of Philip derived from a previous portrait of the band that graced the back cover of Black Rose but that’s another story for another day.
Long Live Lizzy.
Jim FitzPatrick. 2019
*NOTE: It is also worth remembering the beautiful lyrics of the song ‘Grace’, written by two other Dubliners, Sean and Frank O’Meara, recorded by Rod Stewart, is based on the love affair and the last letters from Plunkett’s wife Grace Clifford to him before his execution by British firing squad in Kilmainham jail in 1916
Here’s the story of Grace!