Click here to add to Spotify playlist!When the Boston Red Sox need a late-in-the-game lift, they turn to one song: The Dropkick Murphys pugilistic 2005 track "Im Shipping Up to Boston," a reworking of lyrics lifted from Woody Guthries archive that showcases the bands Celtic-punk brawn and lead singer Ken Caseys strangled yawp. Whether or not the tune results in a team victory, it unfailingly livens up the Fenway Park crowd, who lustily yell "I lost my leg!" along with Casey while fiddles whirl and drums crash.The Murphys—who began as a dare back in 1996, according to Casey—have been embraced by not just the Red Sox, but by other New England-based sports teams. It’s a testament to the way they perfectly encapsulate an ideal of Boston: Think punk rock sing-alongs in memorabilia-festooned bars where the jukebox can veer from Rancid to Tommy Makem in the blink of an eye. Their blend of punks fighting spirit and traditional Irish folks storytelling fits in nicely with their hometowns cradle-of-revolution status and large population affiliated with the Emerald Isle—not to mention its passion for sports. Their annual run of St. Patricks Day shows in Boston—which in 2017 includes four small-venue gigs and a headlining stint at Boston Universitys hockey arena—illustrates just how well-suited the band and their hometown are to one another."What we run on is the fire in our bellies," Casey told The Boston Globe in 1999, before the band was about to embark on its first Warped Tour. "If its more about music and less about the passion, thats when no one wants to listen to you anymore." 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory, the bands most recent album from 2017, shows that the fire in their bellies still burns. Some lyrics depict people affected by the opioid epidemic that has claimed many of the band members friends and loved ones, while a stirring cover of the old Rodgers & Hammerstein chestnut "Youll Never Walk Alone" joins their versions of "Amazing Grace" and the Irish famine ballad "Fields of Athenry" as songs that bridge the gap between the Fleadh Cheoil and the sweaty bar with gusto.
