Thin Lizzy was a strange proposition – a bunch of tough guys led by a mythology-obsessed Irish poet. The public never exactly knew where to place the band. However, time’s the healer, and the group’s relatively short but remarkable discography proves that Thin Lizzy is one of the greatest bands of all time.

Picking the band’s top work isn’t easy to do. I’ll try anyway. These are Thin Lizzy’s 10 best songs.

Thin Lizzy’s 10 Greatest Songs

10. “Wild One”

Phil Lynott was a great poet. although you might not necessarily get this from his band’s singles. You may need to dig deeper to really understand the man.

And although his clever wordplay is rarely evident in all the band’s songs about being a tough guy, you can hear it in “Wild One.” It’s a tune about leaving it all behind for a life on the road. It’s about the risk, the rewards, and the inevitable doom. It’s Thin Lizzy’s story in a nutshell.

9. “Cold Sweat”

For me, Thin Lizzy’s straightforward, gun-ho heavy rock is hit-and-miss. It can go the way of the metal-mush brigade bands of the late 1980s, bands who were practically indistinguishable from each other.

Or, it can sound like music made for the nastiest, most feared gang to ever assemble around a love of bikes and law-breaking. The mighty “Cold Sweat” is, fortunately, of the second variety.

8. “Still In Love With You”

Thin Lizzy worked best when its songwriter, Phil Lynott, worked with great, dramatic concepts. On the surface, “Still In Love With You” is just a song about reminiscing about a past affair. Just under the surface, however, lurks something more profound – the dissolution of a relationship that has torn the author to pieces.

The band was known to extend the tune live, as they do on the classic “Live and Dangerous.” It’s one of the great rock power ballads of all time, featuring some of the mightiest guitar parts.

7. “Waiting for an Alibi”

Thin Lizzy registered quite a few hit singles in its day. And it was not an accident. Nah, even when the hand brakes were off, Phil Lynott could detect a hook and know how to deliver it.

“Waiting for an Alibi” is the catchiest of all the heavy Thin Lizzy songs. The songwriting, in fact, is superb. Lynott sings about doomed, romantic heroes as Scott Gorham and Gary Moore exchange guitar leads.

6. “Don’t Believe a Word”

“Don’t Believe a Word” is something of a sleeper hit. It was a brief two-minute blues rocker off the “Johnny the Fox” album. But later, Gary Moore, not a member of the band at the time of the recording, covered the hell of the tune. Other rock groups around the world have covered it as well.

While it may be a song about not being a trustworthy love interest, the sound of “Don’t Believe a Word” is steeped in Lynott’s love of myth and folklore, which inspired much of the music on this album.

5. “Cowboy Song”

What did Irishmen know of being cowboys? Well, what Lynott didn’t know, he could feel. “Cowboy Song” is really a tune about the lure of trouble and adventure. It’s the story of being in a rock band.

It’s also one of the first times that the definitive two-guitar attack that was such a big part of the band’s trademark sound came into being. I think that this is a real beauty!

4. “Whiskey in the Jar”

Before everyone incorrectly assumed it was a Metallica song, and before a small few knew that it was a classic Celtic folk number, “Whiskey in the Jar” had been taken over by Thin Lizzy.

It’s the band’s first hit single. And it’s Eric Bell‘s Celtic/blues guitar licks that really bring out the magic out of this song about highwaymen fighting against The Man.

3. “Dancing In the Moonlight (It’s Caught Me In Its Spotlight)

Thin Lizzy’s greatest pop moment, “Dancing in the Moonlight”, is the pull of teenage romance set to a great bass riff. Lynott arguably never wrote a hookier, funnier, or more honest song. That’s likely why it is also one of the most heavily covered songs of all the Thin Lizzy produced.

2. “Boys Are Back in Town”

“Boys Are Back in Town” is the definitive American rock sound made, of course, made by a predominantly Irish band. Featuring one of the most iconic guitar riffs of all time and lyrics that feel inspired by U.S. dramas starring Robert de Niro, “Boys Are Back in Town” is the sound of a group that’d found its swagger.

1. “Jailbreak”

Phil Lynott always liked the rebels, be they Celtic deities or rebels who broke the laws. In fact, Lynott fashioned himself and his life in this way.

Thin Lizzy had plenty of songs about being hard as nails and loving it. “Jailbreak” is the best of those, albeit one in which there’s a sense of jeopardy.

“Jailbreak” also happens to be the best song about escape ever written and one of the greatest rock tunes of all time.