MattA75's Full Review: Tessie [EP] by Dropkick Murphys
The last time the Boston Red Sox won a World Series title was 1918. The story goes that Babe Ruth put a curse on the franchise after being sold to the New York Yankees, and because of said curse, Red Sox fans have had to suffer through Bob Gibson, Bucky Dent, Bill Buckner, and Grady Little (please note that Aaron Boone never hits his home run if Grady Little isn't such a damn tool).
But back in the early 1900s, the Red Sox won World Championships quite regularly. They won the first Series in 1903, backed by a group of fans who would sing a song called Tessie. This group of fans, dubbed "Royal Rooters," was led by "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, John F Kennedy's grandfather. The tradition of singing Tessie in order to taunt the opposing team lasted through 1918, when the Sox captured their last title.
When spring training started this year, the Red Sox PR man, Charles Steinberg, talked to Boston Herald baseball beat man Jeff Horrigan about the song. Horrigan suggested the Dropkick Murphys, and soon, Horrigan was having discussions with Ken Casey, bassist and vocalist for the group, about the song. While the original Tessie just wouldn't do, according to Casey, the new Tessie, co-written by Horrigan and the band, will hopefully bring the same luck to the team that the original song used to.
Opening with a old time ballpark piano melody, Casey begins singing about the Royal Rooters while also paying tribute to some of the stars from the 1903 team, like Cy Young. The song's rhythm is very much like much of the Murphys catalog, driven by marching type drums. The guitars are more in the background, and the band uses their traditional Irish instruments to great effect in this song as well. But it isn't just the Murphys and Horrigan who got involved. Red Sox players Johnny Damon, Bronson Arroyo, and Lenny Dinardo all supplied backing vocals on the inspiring chorus.
There is a second version of Tessie here as well, which is driven by a Fenway Park style organ and some great bagpipe and acoustic guitar work.
The band fleshes out the EP with three other tracks. The Fields of Athenry was featured on the band's last full length release, Blackout. The song is a perfect example of the band's mix of punk elements with Irish folk instruments, with the end result falling somewhere in between the two, thanks to the churning guitars and high pitched bagpipes.
Nut Rocker is a bit of a throwaway, another version of the Boston Bruins theme song from their old channel 38 days.
I'm not quite sure where The Burden comes from (it's not on any of their albums), but it's a great little acoustic number, with this coming from a WBCN radio performance. The song is just Ken Casey and lead vocalist Al Barr with simple acoustic guitar accompaniment.
The Tessie EP (also featuring the song's video) is a worthwhile investment for any Dropkick Murphys fan, and can be found at just about any Boston record shop, or online at www.dropkickmurphys.com. It runs in between 3 and 5 bucks, and all proceeds benefit the Red Sox Foundation charity.
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