Well, I had the riff down. Phil came up and he says, ‘We need to do an off-time thing with this.’ He started to work with [drummer] Brian Downey on that, and that’s when they came up with this strange timing that you don’t usually associate with Thin Lizzy. I listened to that and went, ‘Man, that is...
[Verse 1]
You've got a bad reputation
That's the word out on the town
It gives a certain fascination
But it can only bring you down
[Chorus]
You better turn yourself around
Turn yourself around
Turn it upside down
Turn yourself around
[Verse 2]
You had bad breaks
Well, that's tough luck
You play too hard, too much
You rough stuff
You're too sly, so cold
That bad reputation has made you old
[Instrumental Break]
[Chorus]
Turn yourself around
Turn yourself around
Turn it upside down
Turn yourself around
[Instrumental Outro/Guitar Solo]
Bad Reputation was written by Brian Downey & Phil Lynott & Scott Gorham.
Bad Reputation was produced by Thin Lizzy & Tony Visconti.
Thin Lizzy released Bad Reputation on Fri Jul 29 1977.