Lindsay Lohan has had a Billy Joel lyric tattooed onto her.

The 25-year-old actress got her right hand side rib cage, below her arm, inked with a lyric from the 1989 track "I Go to Extremes" at her favourite Los Angeles tattoo shop, Shamrock Tattoos.

The tattoo, in italic script, reads: "Clear as a crystal, sharp as a knife I feel like I'm in the prime of my life."

Lindsay -- who has been in rehab five times and experienced a string of legal problems -- is said to have chosen the lyric because it represents how she feels about her life.

A source told gossip website TMZ: "It represented where she is in life and everything she's been through -- it signifies that she's focused."

Lindsay has endured legal problems stemming from a 2007 conviction for driving under the influence (DUI), including serving jail time and attending court ordered rehab, and was last year convicted of stealing a necklace from an upmarket jewellery store.

However she is now trying to resurrect her acting career and has recently been linked to gangster film "Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father."

Lindsay also has tattoos including 'Shhh!' on her finger, and a quote from Marilyn Monroe, "Everyone's a star and deserves the right to twinkle."