Killer on the Loose

Album: Chinatown (1980)
Charted: 10
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  • Some people they call me Jack
    Some people they call me insane
    I'm looking for somebody
    And I don't even know her name
    I might be looking for you
    Wherever you may be
    For there is something I've got to do to you honey
    And it's between you and me
    Now you might think it's fun
    Or maybe it's a joke
    But you've got plenty of reason to worry honey
    'Cause you wouldn't stand a hope

    There's a killer on the loose again
    A killer on the loose
    There's a killer on the loose again
    A lady killer on the loose

    Now I'm not trying to be nasty
    Or I'm not trying to make you scared
    But there's a killer on the loose
    Or haven't you heard
    He'll be walking around this town
    Just about midnight
    Yes, that's Chinatown
    That's right
    That's right

    Now you might think I'm messing
    Or he don't exist
    But honey I'm confessing
    I'm a mad sexual rapist

    There's a killer on the loose again
    A killer on the loose
    There's a killer on the loose again
    A ladykiller on the loose

    "I'll be standing in the shadows of love
    Waiting for you
    Don't unzip your zipper
    'Cause you know I'm Jack the Ripper
    Now don't wail, don't"

    There's a killer on the loose again
    Standing in the shadows
    A killer on the loose
    There's a killer on the loose again
    Coming to get you
    A lady killer on the loose
    There's a killer on the loose again
    Standing in the shadows of love

    A killer on the loose
    There's a killer on the loose again
    A lady killer on the loose
    There's a killer on the loose again
    Standing in the shadow
    A killer on the loose, of love
    There's a killer on the loose again
    Oh
    A lady killer on the loose
    You better watch out
    There's a killer on the loose again
    A killer on the loose
    Play that back
    Check it back
    There's a killer on the loose Writer/s: PHILIP PARRIS LYNOTT
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 3

  • Nick from Ireland Thin Lizzy had no number ones in the UK but they had 2 in Ireland and also Killer on the Loose went to number five in Ireland, hardly bigger in the UK than Ireland at the time. I can’t remember gimmicks or shenanigans that were employed by Lizzy as claimed in the first paragraph.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn this day in 1980 {December 5th} a video of Thin Lizzy's "Killer On The Loose" was aired on the NBC-TV late-night musical variety program, 'The Midnight Special'...
    Two months earlier on October 5th, 1980 "Killer On The Loose" peaked at #10 {for 1 week} on the United Kingdom's Official Top 75 Singles chart, and it spent ten weeks on the Top 75...
    Between 1972 and 1991 the Irish band had eighteen records on the U.K. singles chart, four made the Top 10...
    Besides the above "Killer On The Loose", their three other Top 10 records were "Whiskey In The Jar" {#6 in 1972}, "The Boys Are Back In Town" {#8 in 1976}, and "Waiting For An Alibi" {#9 in 1979}...
    The band's lead vocalist and bassist Phil Lynott passed away at the young age of 36 on January 4th, 1986 {septicaemia}...
    May he R.I.P.
  • Zebedyzak from UkPhil Lynott apparently denied that he wrote this song with the intention of courting controversy, but.... maybe he did after all. Whether he intended it to be controversial or not, the song was certainly not released in 1979. I don't know what freak copy you have in your own collection that says 1979 on the label, but it was in fact released in September 1980, just a few weeks before the album "Chinatown" on which it appears.

    As for "Don't Play Around", I hadn't thought about that one being especially provocative. It was not included on the LP.
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