Adam Clayton is a fucking spenk. My “girly stuff” shits on what you do. pic.twitter.com/DrCDdsiKwf

— Nadine Shah (@nadineshah) December 4, 2021

In the actual body of the tweet, Shah also said that “Adam Clayton is a fucking spenk. My “girly stuff” shits on what you do.” The comments on the post seem to be in general agreement, noting certain female bass players who helped bring about some of the best pop music of the last century (notably Carol Kaye of Pet Sounds and Spector fame as well as Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads).

Shah has been particularly concerned with how women are treated in society recently, especially after being sexually assaulted last September, sustaining some scratches and bruising.  Posting and then deleting photos on social media, she reposted them after being verbally assaulted the month after. The singer took to Instagram to say “Call out your mates, don’t defend your friend or husbands of their foul behaviour. Call them out. Tonight I relived the abuse all over again and I wasn’t believed again. It fucking hurts. I’m lucky in that I have access to this platform where I can speak to thousands of you. Thousands of women dont [sic] #belivewomen”.

Here’s me a month ago after being sexually assaulted by four random men in the street. Tonight a man verbally abused me and it brought back all that fear again, so much so I’m gonna leave my new home of Ramsgate. I’m so fucking tired. Leave women the fuck alone! pic.twitter.com/akiOyvDmof — Nadine Shah (@nadineshah) October 3, 2021

Aside from these unfortunate incidents, Shah has also made sexism one of the topics of her latest 2020 album Kitchen Sink, with songs like “Buckfast“ and “Trad“, and has also been seen supporting artist rights as streaming services are accused of underpaying musicians. Back in 2020, she told a government committee looking into the matter that she was still struggling to pay rent, despite her success as an artist.

If you’re interested in watching the documentary where the offending comments were made, or you’re just a big fan of Thin Lizzy, Phil Lynott: Songs For While I’m Away can be seen here today, or any day for the next 11 months whilst it’s still on the iPlayer. As for Nadine, if you’re interested in buying her latest album, or catching up on any upcoming performances, you can look here.

SO looking forward bring our film about the incomparable Philip Lynott to cinemas this Autumn!

Phil Lynott: Songs for While I’m Away Official Trailer- In Cinemas This Autumn – YouTube https://t.co/puCcrSj8j1

— Emer Reynolds (@emerpreynolds) August 20, 2020

Phil Lynott was born to a Guyanan father and an Irish mother in 1949 West Bromwich. Shortly after Phil’s birth, his father left for London, leaving his mother Philomena to raise him alone. After a while, Lynott was sent to live with his grandparents in Dublin due to the racial prejudices he and his mother were experiencing in England.

However, life was not a walk in the park for Lynott in Dublin either. Ireland was very conservative at the time. In the trailer for the documentary, a voiceover tells us ‘you just didn’t see black people in Ireland in the 50’s‘ and ‘there were people saying things to this guy that hurt him to his core‘. Despite this fact, Lynott talked openly about his love for Dublin in interviews, saying: ‘if I don’t get back to Dublin within three months then I really start to suffer from homesickness‘.

Lynott’s ambivalence toward Dublin is expressed in his 1971 song ‘Dublin’, containing the lyrics: ‘How can I leave the town that brings me down// That has no jobs// Is blessed by God// And makes me cry‘. This melancholy song is a good example of how poetic Lynott’s songwriting is, and also how varied – this being a gentle folk song that stands in stark contrast to Thin Lizzy’s famed 1976 album Jailbreak.

The documentary’s title, ‘Songs For While I’m Away‘, was taken from Phil Lynott’s two volumes of poetry of the same name. Speaking on BBC’s Rock Hour in 1979 Lynott explained that one of his reasons for publishing these books was because people had told him: ‘you get classed as an artist if you’re a poet’. Yet when asked if he considers himself one he replied in a soft Irish drawl ‘no, I’d say I’m a song-writer.’ This is why Lynott’s musical legacy remains so interesting and relevant, because it blurs the line between poetry and song-writing.

Though the upcoming documentary will celebrate Lynott as a charismatic front-man, featuring ‘loud and proud the glorious Lizzy performances‘, it will also explore his vulnerable and troubled side that led to a premature death from drug-induced pneumonia at the age of 36. Phil Lynott was more than smash hits ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ and ‘Dancing in the Moonlight‘, and should be remembered as the complex poet that he was. There is no doubt that Reynolds’ documentary will do this with finesse.