Love That Dirty Water

You gotta admit, the entertainment person for the Red Sox has done a bang up job with the music. Loved John Williams the other night, but my heart belongs to James Taylor. MLB has a nice write up on him, as well as a good story on Megan Kaiser, the music programmer at Fenway.

Fenway has plenty of musical tradition. Some of it makes sense, like the Standell's Dirty Water, which has been played after every win since 1997 (I think that first rip would be a great ringtone). Some doesn't but is fun anyway, like the 8^th inning Sweet Caroline sing a long. There is nothing like sitting in a crowd of 34,000 waiting for the PA to go quiet for the 'bom bom bom…good times never seemed so good, so good so good' part. I love it and I sing it at the top of my lungs every time I go, which isn't often enough. Reminds me of college days way back in the early 70's when we would do the same thing with this song during weekend parties. I also sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game at the top of my lungs during the 7^th inning stretch. I'll probably get hate mail, but I'm not so fond of the God Bless America moment that seems to have become standard after the 6^th inning. It's a nice song, but I feel like we get the patriotism acknowledged from the get go with the Star Spangled Banner, as we should. But that's just me. I guess it gives another performer a chance to sing during the game.

Then there are the songs they play for certain players when they come in. Like Wild Thing for Jonathan Papelbon, coming in from the bull pen to do what he does so well. And his Riverdance performances have got to make you smile. This guy with the deadly stare knows how to stay loose.

Along with Dirty Water, Kaiser plays Three Dog Night's Joy to the World and the Drop Kick Murphys' Tessie after every win. The Drop Kick Murphys played Game 7 of the ALCS, with the step dancers on the warning track. Their rousing rendition of Tessie is the Sox good luck charm. The history goes back to the 1903 World Series, when the Broadway tune was used as a rally song. Down 3-1 to the Pirates in the best of nine series, a group of local crazies who called themselves the Royal Rooters tried to rally their team with every song they could think of. The Pirates apparently were most annoyed by 'Tessie' so the Rooters stuck with it. Must have special power, because Boston went on to win the next 4 games and the series.

Interestingly, the Royal Rooters stopped singing in 1918, and the Sox didn't win another series for 86 years. In 2004, 'Tessie' was back, performed by the local Drop Kick Murphys. The new lyrics were a collaboration among the band, Sox players Johnny (aka the Traitor) Damon, Bronson Arroyo and Lenny DiNardo, the Sox VP of public affairs Charles Steinberg, and a Boston Herald sports writer, Jeff Horrigan. I'd say the new version had the power, as well.

"Boston, you know we love you madly

Hear the crowd roar to your sound

Don't blame us if we ever doubt you

You know we couldn't live without you

Red Sox, you are the only only only"

'Nuf Ced...