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NPR explains it all, Massachusetts music edition

By adamg on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 10:19am

If you missed the DNC last night, each state's delegation was introduced with a song. Ours was, well, let NPR explain it:

Massachusetts: I’m Shipping Up to Boston - Dropkick Murphys

The American Celtic band was formed in Quincy, Mass. The song itself describes a sailor with a missing leg, who is going to Boston in search of a wooden prosthetic.

Imagine if they'd used Queen of Suffolk County instead.

H/t Karyn Regal.

Neighborhoods: 
Boston
Topics: 
Politics
Free tagging: 
Dropkick Murphys


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Comments

By John Costello on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 10:33am.

At least they didn't play Sweet Caroline and link it to the Kennedys.

By SamWack on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 4:44pm.

The Ramones were from Forest Hills, NY. They went to the same high school as Simon & Garfunkel. Joe Strummer's dad was an officer in the British Foreign Service, and a MBE. Some are born into the void, others have the void thrust upon them.

By John Costello on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 10:27pm.

I am sure the Dropkicks are all really, really nice guys but they aren't from D Street like where their publicity photos place them.

One thing about growing up in Dot (and it is touched upon in The Departed), don't pretend to slum. We didn't like it because at the end of the day, you got to go back to your single family house and yard. We didn't.

By tachometer on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 12:58pm.

Punk is an ethos, not a socioeconomic demographic.

By SwirlyGrrl on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 8:38pm.

Most of the greatest US bands were from greater trailer courts and exurbs and suburbs throughout the US.

God I miss hurling myself into a good mosh pit.

By anon on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 10:36am.

Is anyone else sick of how Boston = that song? C'mon! There are so many bands from here, there's gotta be something else they can use.

By schneidz on Sat, 08/24/2024 - 7:59pm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLwbzGyC6t4&t=240s

By Pete X on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 10:42am.

I woulda gone for "Road Runner"

By tachometer on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 12:19pm.

I'm still a bit salty that the bill proposing that failed.

By anon emus on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 10:54am.

Ugh. At least it wasn't Sweet Caroline, Dirty Water, or (ugh) Dream On.

By xyz on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 10:58am.

Anyone else get the feeling that this list of factoids was written by ChatGPT? It reads like that.

By BostonDog on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 12:18pm.

Basically someone who had never heard the song before but did a quick Google search and read the Wikipedia page about the band.

IMHO, lousy song selection.

By jmeltzer on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 11:02am.

What else could it be.

By Brotherhood of Massachusetts... on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 11:11am.

THE BEE GEES!

By Hunter on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 11:24am.

are Australian! Come on, folks!

By John Costello on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 11:55am.

Actually Isle of Man born to English parents.

Took the incentive to move to Australia (like two of my aunts) after forming a group in England.

The doc put out during Covid was great.

By BostonDog on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 12:24pm.

Before writing the song. Reportedly they just liked the way it sounded.

But I'd take that song over the Shippin' Up. I'd like to never, ever, hear that song again.

By Hunter on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 11:12am.

were from California.

Roadrunner is the quintessential Boston song.

By adamg on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 11:26am.

The version that mentions Roslindale and Mattapan, because otherwise it's really more an ode to driving around the western suburbs (128, of course, and the Stop & Shop Richman mentions is the one on Rte. 9 in Natick).

By anon emus on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 11:44am.

Don't forget the live version which takes a loop around Boston before heading out to AMHERST! AND SOUTH GREENFIELD!

There really isn't a more Massachusetts song than Roadrunner.

Well
I can see Boston now
I can see the Prudential tower
With the little red lights blinking on in the dark
I'm by Quincy now
I can see Deer island
I can see
Whole Boston harbour from where I am
out on the rocks by Cohasset
In the night

By Frelmont on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 12:46am.

Waves Roll into Boston. -‘Helicopter Helicopter’

Hey now

I’m not gonna pack it in

I’m dreaming of worlds of the future.

By anon on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 11:35am.

How about "Massachusetts" by Massachusetts resident Arlo Guthrie? Jonathan Richman hasn't been a Massachusetts resident since the mid-70s and the Standells never were. Guthrie's song is the "official folk song" of the commonwealth, although there is nothing particularly "folk" about it. It's just a good song.

By Lanny Budd on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 11:51am.

The Devil Came Up to Boston - Adam Ezra Group

By Frelmont on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 12:17pm.

Boston!!!

‘More than a feeling’ -(Maybe problematic given the lack of pressers, interviews and Socratic debate (doesn’t have to be with Drumpf- just give us something.)

‘Rock & Roll Band’

‘Don’t Look Back’

By SwirlyGrrl on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 8:30pm.

I know that old guys always think their music was the best music ever, but, no.

By Frelmont on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 10:06pm.

There’s no music finer than the R&B, soul and hip-hop that Harvard radio played in the late nineties.

By Frelmont on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 10:28pm.

Yeah, but ‘cher right though: I am hung up and enthralled by really, really good, rich soulful music and don’t have the energy to separate the wheat from the chaff amongst the new stuff, bit if it’s good, I listen. Tidal is helping me find tons of music I missed along the way. Please let me share:

https://youtu.be/RbsoBI0zHHM

By Scratchie on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 1:45pm.

Everyone knows rock attained perfection in 1974. It's a scientific fact!

IMAGE(https://preview.redd.it/6dyiy8srbbr01.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=eefa14c3648c35ea064daf1404f4268aec1c5775)

By Frelmont on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 10:03pm.

“(Maybe problematic given the lack of pressers, interviews and Socratic debate (doesn’t have to be with Drumpf- just give us something.)”

I gotta tone that shit down. My wife’s like “what’s wrong with you” when I said something critical the other night as we’ve been watching the convention. I gotta put my issues with this process aside. VP Harris is a fine candidate. I’ve always been on board with the issues enumerated this far. Walking the dog I’m thinking “There’s nothing wrong with affirming hope,” and now watching President Clinton speaking Presidentially I realize I must put duty ahead of cynicism.

Don McClean made some comments and maybe hope will dispel apathy and give direction.

By tachometer on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 12:21pm.

I'd still go with Roadrunner because it's stood the test of time, but Ezra is a great artist, performer, and from what I can tell is just a genuinely good guy.

By Frelmont on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 1:29pm.

….I like Hippie Johnny,

But I’m straight

And I want to take his place

(He’s always stoned
He’s never straight)

By Frelmont on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 1:57pm.

I feel awkward blasting ‘I’m Straight’ in my car, because people who don’t know may get the wrong idea.

By tachometer on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 4:40pm.

I used to go to a bar that had a well curated CD jukebox. A friend of mine that I'd meet there sometimes had a great technique of making the place a bit more "sedate" when happy hour was too cheery for his taste. He'd load the jukebox with a full set of "downer" songs and the most effective seemed to be Hospital on the Modern Lovers disc in the jukebox.

By Frelmont on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 10:35pm.

Listened to Hospital and, yeah so chill.

By Hunter on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 12:11pm.

would also be a good choice

By BostonDog on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 12:29pm.

That would be a classy choice if Jonathan Richman was unavailable.

Although it really should be Alice's Restaurant for a song that reflects the absurdity of the state.

By mg on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 12:53pm.

Thank you for introducing me to a song I wish I'd known sooner - reflects my feelings every time I return.

By Don't Panic on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 1:20am.

It just might beat "Roadrunner" if it ever comes to an actual vote.

By blues_lead on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 1:10pm.

All 18 minutes (and 27 seconds).

By jmeltzer on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 2:41pm.

"Alice" is the one. But only the chorus and not all those bits in between :-)

By jmeltzer on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 3:12pm.

Anita O'Day really had a voice.

By W.C. Plains on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 12:31pm.

Road Runner definitely is top dog in terms of Boston songs and Richman is a legit local. But why don't we ever give any love to The Cars? They were great!

By jmeltzer on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 2:42pm.

Now, that's Bahston.

By jmeltzer on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 2:43pm.

the Queen of Disco and Mission Hill, Donna Summer!

By SwirlyGrrl on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 8:39pm.

so you'd better treat her right!

By Frelmont on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 9:12pm.

Alright!

By handmaid on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 1:10pm.

There was a piece about all of the songs having been from the list of many songs Trump has appropriated without paying royalties and fees, and then explaining that the DNC did get all the permissions and thus again, one more way, it's different here.

As to which Mass bands were chosen, keep in mind this was to lock in the under 30 vote.

Personally I would have loved if they honored Steve Tyler by using the Aerosmith/Run D.M.C version of Walk this Way. But even Run DMC is too old for 30 year olds or under to identify with.

By Scratchie on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 2:20pm.

"B-Train To Allston" or GTFO

By peter on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 2:24pm.

they even filmed the video on location:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvUMV1N7eGM

By Don't Panic on Mon, 08/26/2024 - 12:34am.

The F-Bomb and the reference to oral sex offended my Watch and Ward Society proclivities.

By jmeltzer on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 3:05pm.

They got American Woman - the Lenny Kravitz version.

American Woman! Of all songs!

Not only are the lyrics highly inappropriate for a woman candidate, but ... is Lenny Kravitz even from Montana?

And if the DNC needed a Montana song, there's an obvious one. What kind of dental floss were they smoking? Really, now.

By tachometer on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 6:55pm.

I'm having a hard time understanding why their delegation couldn't have traveled by pygmy pony to get there.

By SwirlyGrrl on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 8:32pm.

Did the DJ realize how confederate that song is? Yikes.

By Frelmont on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 12:52am.

‘Sweet Home Alabama’ isn’t confederate. Neil Young was wrong to paint everyone with the same brush and he apologized for it. It’s a “sins of the father” problem.

By lbb on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 10:47am.

You say that "Sweet Home Alabama" isn't confederate, and yet Lynyrd Skynyrd posed in front of a confederate flag. So...it's complicated.

By Scratchie on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 12:29pm.

"'Sweet Home Alabama'? Good song! Does it need to be played? No! Are we good on it? Yes!"

- Pat Finnerty

By Frelmont on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 4:55pm.

I think in the context of the album and song it’s an artistic expression rather than lifting the battle flag of the vanquished Confederacy. Anyone waving that flag today is almost by definition a pariah. While it’s true there is still circumstantial/situational situations where people may rightly feel menaced by individuals displaying/waving/ threatening with the Confederate flag we probably give people too little credit for having mental and emotional fortitude, strength and sense not to have a negative psycho emotional response to it. I do see there may be a threat to the ego as we vie for cultural dominance, or whatever when there’s an expectation to drive such a symbol from anyone’s view.

By SwirlyGrrl on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 8:40pm.

Okay.

By cybah on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 6:48pm.

I made a re-edit of a TV movie a while back and I included "Sweet Home Alabama" in the re-edit. (the re-edit just added a modern soundtrack to the movie).

I removed that song after they did that and replaced it with "Let Your Love Flow" by the Bellamy Brothers. Fuck them racists.

But after listening to "Sweet Home Alabama" many many times over and over again while editing the movie, I determined the song is a early 70s backlash song about the mentality of the people in the American South and how they don't like gov't telling them what to do. Lots of references to 1970s politics.. Vietnam, Nixon and such.

I always felt like Lynyrd Skynyrd was a 'southern rock band' and catered to that audience. After that photo was posted, this cemented it.

By Frelmont on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 10:05pm.

I hope it’s not racism, but rather an imperfect? complicated? human? need for identity and belonging, survival and validation. People are complicated, damaged and imperfect and capable of change, making amends and being forgiven. Art transcends.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/lynyrd-skynyrd-inside-t...

By Kaz on Wed, 08/21/2024 - 3:37pm.

We need to lean into that 80's tourism jingle "The Spirit of Massachusetts" and have a pop artist from around here with some current clout, like Meghan Trainor, record a full-length rendition of it.

As repopularized by Family Guy:

By Frelmont on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 10:11pm.

Best place song ever?

https://youtu.be/rKaMVVe_aSI

By Don't Panic on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 12:44am.

Roadrunner Once. Roadrunner twice.. This should be the Massachusetts song it's so nice. Radio ON!

By blues_lead on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 9:26am.
  1. It needs to be Massachusetts connected (clearly). Bee Gees fails this.
  2. It needs to be well-known. Roadrunner doesn't cut it. I've lived in Massachusetts all my life except college, and I had never heard it until the push for a state rock song.
  3. It needs to be distinctive. Roadrunner counts here, but a lot of the others don't cut it. You don't want it to sound like the songs right before and after.
  4. Most Important: It needs to by hype. Roadrunner isn't hype, nor are most other songs mentioned here. (Also not my preferred Massachusetts band, Modest Mouse). Shipping up to Boston goes hard.

The best walk-on songs (Turn Down for What) had all these in spades. The worst were missing some, but especially the hype (Mr Brightside wtf).

By BostonDog on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 12:55pm.

Unimportant, design-by-committee stipulations that are bureaucratic only for the sake of bureaucracy.

By blues_lead on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 2:12pm.

This was my assessment of what all delegate groups played, and what went well vs what fell flat.

By cybah on Thu, 08/22/2024 - 1:12pm.

I mean if we are throwing out songs...

Why not Reba McEntire's "Whoever's in New England" also.

♪ You've been spending alot of time in Massachusetts...♪

(I gotta give her credit for being able to put the word Massachusetts into a song)

By lbb on Fri, 08/23/2024 - 11:04am.

...I want to nominate Betty Carter, "New England".

And in the fall a familiar story is retold by the red and gold trees
Not King Solomon in all his glory was as fabulous as one of these

By schneidz on Sat, 08/24/2024 - 7:55pm.

'never trust a big butt in a smile !'.

By Hyde Park on Mon, 08/26/2024 - 7:36pm.

the Dropkick Murphys only Boston song. "Fairmount Hill" does the trick