Tom Dunne's Music & Me: A visit to Philomena Lynott and the thrill of leafing through Phil's record collection 

Phil Lynott's mother was a great character, and it was quite an experience to spend time with her in their old house in Sutton 
Tom Dunne's Music & Me: A visit to Philomena Lynott and the thrill of leafing through Phil's record collection 

The late Philomena Lynott with the statue of her her son, Phil Lynott, in Dublin. Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews

I didn’t know Phil, but I did know his mother. That might sound like a line from the Fast Show’s Swiss Toni, and it isn’t, but it is a crumb that has kept me going on many a dark night. I did see the man himself on Grafton Street: a seven foot tall, stick thin, superstar with - it seemed - a super trooper shining on him from a cloud. It was him, or an actual god!

Meeting Philomena you could see where he got it from. She was a tonic, a live wire, full of devilment and fun. Showing me Thin Lizzy photos I spotted one of a back stage party in LA, Phil with his arm around a beautiful girl.

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