Ab major · Camelot 4B · 80 BPM
The Boys Are Back in Town
by Thin Lizzy
- 80
- BPM
- Ab major
- Key
- 4B
- Camelot
- 45
- Danceability
- 24
- Acousticness
Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson shared the twin-guitar lead that Rolling Stone later called crucial to the success of "The Boys Are Back in Town," the 1976 single by Irish hard rock band Thin Lizzy. Written around frontman Phil Lynott, whose "Gaelic soul" drew praise from the same magazine, the song opened the band's Jailbreak album and became its first single that year. The original UK release carried "Emerald" as its B-side, though some territories instead used "Jailbreak".
The song's rise surprised the band. During a 1976 American tour, Jailbreak was not shifting and tickets were not selling, and the track had not even been among the ten songs the band originally chose for the album. Gorham credited two DJs in Louisville, Kentucky, who played it incessantly until nearby stations picked it up, and he believed that without the single kickstarting the album's sales, the band would have been finished. Back in Britain, BBC Radio 1 DJ Tony Blackburn made it his 'Record of the Week', giving it daily plays on his mid-morning show. The single won a 1976 NME Award for Best Single.
In March 1991 the track was remixed and re-released after the success of the "Dedication" single, reaching No. 63 in the UK. A 12" EP added "Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed", "Black Boys on the Corner" and a live version of "Me and the Boys".
The Boys Are Back in Town runs at 80 BPM, the tempo of boom-bap hip-hop, reggae and slow R&B. In classical terms it sits in andante territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 3 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 750 ms. It is in Ab major, Camelot 4B, which shares its notes with F minor and mixes cleanly with Db major and Eb major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.