Half Caste Lyrics

"Half Caste" was the B Side of “Rosalie”, and was released on the Vertigo label in May 1975. The song is Reggae based, unusually for a Phil Lynott composition, and explores or appears to explore the world of the half-caste, who is alienated from both white and black. As Lynott was half-caste himself the obvious conclusion is that this song was based on personal experience, but by 1998 there were no less than three dedicated biographies of Lynott, including one of him and Thin Lizzy, and another by his mother, and none of them paints such a picture. If anyone suffered any alienation it was his mother, which was understandable, as when he was born, 1949, mere illegitimacy was a big stigma, especially for a young woman from a Catholic background. Lynott grew up in Manchester and Dublin, where he was always the token black, readily accepted by his peers, and moved hardly if at all in “black circles”, musical or otherwise.