How Woody Guthrie Wrote "Shipping Up To Boston" From Beyond The Grave
Plus a bonus St. Patty's Day playlist.
The Dropkick Murphy’s rose to prominence in 2006 with their propulsive drum-n-bagpipe stomper, which was featured brilliantly in the opening roll for Martin Scorsese’s The Departed.
Released the prior year on the The Warrior’s Code, "I’m Shipping Up to Boston" propelled the Boston band to #1 on the Billboard’s “Bubbling Under” chart. This means it fell one slot shy of the Hot 100, an unusual plateau for a single that has sold more than 1 million copies.
The Departed
Woody Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma in 1912. His father was a Klansman and his mother suffered from dementia, a result of the neurodegenerative Huntington’s Disease that would also claim Woody’s life in 1967.
Woody Guthrie wasn’t necessarily Irish, but his life had the underpinnings of a classic Irish tragedy. Still, Guthrie never recorded “Shipping Up to Boston.” It was just one of countless handwritten lyrics that the great American songwriter and activist left behind in his premature death.
Exile on Mermaid Ave.
It was rumored at the time of his death that Guthrie left behind a remarkable trove of unpublished songs, stacked away somewhere in his Coney Island home. Indeed, Bob Dylan stood first in line to inherit the material as one who sat bedside to Guthrie in his final days.
Dylan tells an amusing story in his autobiographical Chronicles, Volume 1, wherein he went to retrieve the songs. Woody’s young son Arlo answered the door. Neither Arlo nor the babysitter could locate the box of unpublished lyrics. Dylan left empty-handed.
Years later, Woody's daughter Nora officially undertook the effort to pair her father's songs with the right artists. She contacted British folk singer Billy Bragg, who in turn invited Wilco to join him.
They met in Ireland (by sheer coincidence as it pertains to this article) to record the Guthrie tunes that would make up 1998's excellent Mermaid Avenue.
Still, “Shipping Up to Boston” remained untouched.
Ken Casey Gets a Call
Fortunately, Nora Guthrie remained committed to expanding her father's legacy. Nora's son was a fan of an Irish punk band from Quincy, Massachusetts called the Dropkick Murphys.
Formed in 1996 around lead singer and bassist Ken Casey, the band has undergone numerous lineup changes. Casey is the only original member to remain in the band throughout its history.
It was thus that in the early 2000s, Nora invited Ken Casey to sift through her father’s archives. Among other things, he spotted the line “I’m a sailor peg, and I lost my leg.”
The whole thing was written on a loose fragment of paper.
At first, the imagery struck Casey as funny. But the reference to Boston remained with him.
Still, he didn’t immediately slate it for recording. He filed it away in his brain, instead putting music to Guthrie’s “Gonna Be a Blackout Tonight” and releasing it on 2003’s Blackout.
Two years later, the Dropkick Murphy’s were in the studio toying with a wordless composition for their upcoming fifth album. The image of the sailor with the wooden leg popped back into Casey’s head.
If Casey was amused by the image at first, the result was no novelty.
“I’m Shipping Up to Boston” is at once menacing and melodic; ferocious and delicious—like what happens when you drop a shot of Jameson and Bailey’s into a half-pint of Guinness.
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Speaking of which, here's a soundtrack for your weekend celebration. Happy St. Patty's Day!