The first biography written with the cooperation of the Lynott Estate, Cowboy Song explores the fascinating contradictions between Philip Lynott’s unbridled rock star excesses and the shy, sensitive "orphan" raised in working-class Dublin. The mixed-race child of a Catholic teenager and a Guyanese stowaway, Lynott rose above daunting obstacles and wounding abandonments to lead Thin Lizzy as Ireland’s first rock star. Cowboy Song analyses his unsettled childhood; musical apprenticeship; key alliances with the poets, painters, and folkies of 1960s Dublin; stardom with Thin Lizzy; and drug-induced decline. It examines the unique blend of cultural influences which informed Lynott’s writing, connecting Ireland’s rich reserves of music, myth, and poetry to hard rock, progressive folk, punk, soul, and new wave. The results-including the hits "Whiskey in the Jar, " "The Boys Are Back in Town, " and "Dancing in the Moonlight, " and classic albums Jailbreak and Live and Dangerous-are now part of the rock canon. Including an afterword by Lynott’s former wife Caroline Taraskevics, Cowboy Song is the definitive authorized account of an extraordinary life and career.