GARY MOORE Reminisces About 'Parisienne Walkways'

May 24, 2007, 16 years ago

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The following report is courtesy of Flicky Harrison from thisisswindon.co.uk:

Legendary blues guitarist GARY MOORE wrote his famous 1979 rock anthem 'Parisienne Walkways' in the back of a van.

"We were coming back from Belgium. It was an instrumental, just melody and guitar sequence until I played it to Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy frontman who died in 1986).

"It was 7.30pm at night and he had still not got out of bed. Phil said It sounds French to me' and went on to write the lyrics.

"The song starts with the line: I remember Paris in 49. The Champs Elysee, Saint Michel, and old Beaujolais wine. And it is about his own birth year, 1949,'' said Gary.

The two musicians found their paths intertwined on a regular basis both before and during Thin Lizzy's reign of fame.

Gary was just 15 when he left school and spent his time sitting in the park on a Sunday afternoon playing guitar.

"This local band kidnapped me because their own guitarist had a car crash and couldn't continue to play.

"I told them I had to ask my dad and he said: How much they paying and instantly became my manager.'' The band, called SKID ROW, played all over Dublin and that's where Gary first met Phil - he was the singer.

Gary revealed that although he and Phil sparked off each other they were a bit like brothers and grated on each other after a while. So they didn't worked together for long periods of time.

Despite this, Gary became a member of Thin Lizzy replacing first Eric Bell, then Brian Robertson in 1977 and finally joining them again for the Black Rose tour of 1978.

"Phil would write songs about all the band members and about me it was the song Romeo. But it was all the drug thing with Phil that I wasn't into,'' said Gary.

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