How Woody Guthrie Gave the Dropkick Murphys Their Biggest Hit of All Time

Without Woody Guthrie, there would be no Bob Dylan. Most people know that. However, what most people don’t know is that without Woody Guthrie, Boston punk band The Dropkick Murphys wouldn’t have their biggest all-time hit, “I’m Shipping Up To Boston”. Like Guthrie, The Dropkick Murphys are known for their politically subversive lyrics and dedication to the working class. That being said, the band found their biggest hit in an unexpected place, and that place was the Woody Guthrie Archives.

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When The Dropkick Murphys were starting out, they were just another punk band from Boston. They played at local bars and ultimately received their big break when they were selected as the opener for Mighty Mighty Bosstones in 1997. However, the band had yet to garner a big hit, and they couldn’t have done it without Woody Guthrie and a half-baked set of lyrics.

The Dropkick Murphys Had the Music, but They Needed the Lyrics

Before the Murphys had found the lyrics to “I’m Shipping Up To Boston”, they had already established the music. Lead singer Ken Casey told Louder Sound that “[James Lynch] had come up with the riff and it was so powerful, but I was just labouring to find a lyric that worked with it.” Though after laboring and laboring, Guthrie’s daughter, Nora Guthrie, invited the group to the Woody Guthrie Archives. After that visit, Casey labored no more.

Concerning his time in the archives, Casey recalled his experience looking through Guthrie’s lyrics.

“So I’m going through these lyrics, which are deep, political, rebellious, heartfelt,” he said. “All of a sudden I stumble on ‘I’m Shipping Up To Boston’, which is only five lines long. I was just, like: ‘What the f— is this?’ It was so out of left field. Within seconds I said: ‘My God – that’s the lyric.’ The words fell right into our instrumental. And the Guthrie estate were ecstatic, because it was giving life to a song that would otherwise have just sat in a folder somewhere.”

Following the visit, Casey and the Dropkick Murphys released the song in 2005. Roughly a year later, the Martin Scorsese film The Departed made the song widely popular. Furthermore, the song peaked at no. 14 on the Billboard Rock Songs chart after the 2013 Boston bombing.

From beyond the grave, Woody Guthrie helped the Dropkick Murphys score their claim to fame. He also gave the city of Boston its unofficial cultural anthem.

Photo by Paul Bergen