Song Of The Week: 6/17/12

Song: "Tessie"

Artist: Dropkick Murphys

Album: "The Warrior's Code"

Year: 2005



"Tessie" is a song that was re-worked by the Dropkick Murphys and turned into a battle cry for the eventual 2004 World Series Champions, the Boston Red Sox. From 1996 till the present day, the Dropkick Murphys have been major players in the punk rock/celtic punk/oi scenes. From the very beginning, the band was embraced by their hometown Boston, MA fans. By the time 2005's "The Warrior's Code" dropped, the Murphys began gaining fans across the country and the globe for that matter. Without getting into too much of the history of the band which I did in my last blog, i'll go into the story of how "Tessie" became the anthem for a Boston sports team that was trully loved by their fanbase, but always seemed to leave them heartbroken, that is until 2004! The original version of "Tessie" appeared in a 1902 Broadway musical called "The Silver Slipper". This version of the song was basically about a woman singing to her parakeet. In 1903, the Boston Americans (who would eventually change their name to the Red Sox) were down one game to three against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series. A group of local fans who called themselves the Royal Rooters would get together at the 3rd Base Saloon, which was owned by Michael T. McGreevy, and they would sing "Tessie", albeit with different lyrics, as a rallying cry for the Boston Americans. In fact, the Royal Rooters would even travel to Pittsburgh for the games and antagonize the Pirate players by singing "Tessie". At the time, the World Series was a best of nine and the Americans wound up winning games five, six, seven and eight to become World Series Champions. The Rally Rooters continued singing "Tessie" at Red Sox games but for whatever reason stopped after the 1918 season. Call it a curse or whatever but the Red Sox would go on one of the longest droughts between World Series wins of any team, other than the Chicago Cubs. In 2004, the Dropkick Murphys decided to re-work "Tessie" with lyrics that described how the Rally Rooters would make the song the ultimate rallying cry for the Boston Red Sox. As the song reappeared, so did the magic. Down three games to none against the hated rival New York Yankess, the Red Sox miraculously stormed back to take the series and eventually go on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals for their first championship in eighty-six years. "Tessie" would also be featured in the Jimmy Fallon/Drew Barrymore movie "Fever Pitch" which revolved around a Red Sox crazed fan and how he struggled to keep his fandom and his personal relationships seperate. "The Warrior's Code" would also give the Murphys a boost when their song "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" was used as the theme song to the Martin Scorsese hit film "The Departed" starring Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio. Always a band to wear their hometown on their sleeve, the title track of "The Warrior's Code" was a dedication to Lowell, MA boxing legend Micky Ward. In 2008, Dropkick Murphys singer/bassist Ken Casey re-established and re-opened McGreevy's 3rd Base Saloon which is located at 911 Boylston St. in Boston, MA. Currently, after the band finished up their annual St. Patrick's Day concerts in Boston, the band began working on what will be their eighth studio album which they hope to have out by September of 2012.