If you heard Thin Lizzy‘s ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ during the Republican National Convention last week and thought it was sort of a strange choice for a first-time presidential nominee, you aren’t alone. In fact, the mother of deceased frontman Phil Lynott has taken issue with presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s use of the song.

“As far as I am concerned, Mitt Romney’s opposition to gay marriage and to civil unions for gays makes him anti-gay – which is not something that Philip would have supported,” said Philomena Lynott during a recent interview. “Neither would Philip have supported his policy of taxing the poor and offering tax cuts to the rich, which (vice-presidential candidate) Paul Ryan is advocating. There is certainly no way that I would want the Lynott name to be associated with any of those ideas.”

That being said, Lynott knows there isn’t much that can be done about it now. Still, she added, “I do want to be clear that I would not want Philip’s music to be used in any way that could hurt a single person, and this is the effect of what happened with Paul Ryan using and abusing my son’s music in that way. A lot of fans and musicians are very angry about it and I can fully understand why.”

And of course, while Lynott isn’t an American voter, she still knows who she’s backing in this race. “There is a black president of America, which to me – as it would have been to Philip, as a proud, black Irishman – is wonderfully symbolic,” she pointed out. “I have a lot of time for Barack Obama, so to hear ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ being appropriated by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in their campaign against him is deeply upsetting.”

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