Phil Lynott would’ve turned 75 recently and so naturally the media is full of think pieces about the legacy of Crumlin’s finest bass player, reminiscence and reappraisal of his solo material and the finest moments of Thin Lizzy’s career and sorrow about what might have been and all the songs the world was denied thanks to his early demise.

It’s only right to stop and mark the great man on such an occasion. Simply put, Phil Lynott is the closest we’ve ever come to having our own Elvis (sorry Joe Dolan) and songs such as Old Town and The Boys Are Back In Town will always reside in the upper echelons of Irish songwriting.

Ireland has always struggled with nostalgia and there’s no doubt that Phil’s tragic passing gave us permission as a nation to bypass our collective misgivings when it comes to giving people their flowers (as the kids would say).

And boy did we run with it; it feels like hardly a week goes by without some sort of deep dive into Lynott or Lizzy appearing in one Irish publication or another, but 38 years on from Lynott’s death I think it’s fair to ask, is there really anything left to say about Phil Lynott that hasn’t already been said?

By all means, celebrate the impending 50th anniversary of ‘Jailbreak’ with all the pomp and ceremony you can muster – it deserves it – but do we really need to prioritise its 48th anniversary or the 17th or 29th anniversary of a U2 album for that matter ahead of other Irish albums turning 20, 30, 40 or 50 around the same time? Don’t they deserve their turn on the cover of the Sunday Magazine for a change? The Vibe for Philo will always be strong in Ireland, but it’s time to let other people into the nostalgia club for their victory lap, be it posthumous or otherwise. Ireland has produced some spectacular music over the years. Let’s start spreading the flowers around, shall we.