Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Always Liked These Guys, Now I Like Them Even More

I have been a fan of the Dropkick Murphys since day one... the band carries on the fine tradition of Celtic punk started by the Pogues, one of my favorite bands. It seems like conservatives have lost their shit regarding the Dropkick Murphys because the band expressed its displeasure at Scott Walker using a song of theirs without permission, as Republicans often do, despite their expressed respect for property rights. Scott Walker's use of the band's music is especially galling because the band has always supported unions, even featuring the union anthem Which Side Are You On? on their album Sing Loud, Sing Proud. How could the band tolerate the anti-union, anti-worker Walker?

One of my favorite numbers by the band is their high-energy take on one of my favorite songs, Pete St John's "transportation ballad" The Fields of Athenry:





Longtime readers will recall my utter disgust with John McCain when he took a hardline anti-immigration stance in his latest (and hopefully last) Senate reelection campaign... at a pro-immigration reform rally in 2006, we serenaded that nasty old coot with a heartfelt a cappella rendition of The Fields of Athenry. Screw Walker, screw McCain, screw the entire GOP.

How about another video? The Rocky Road to Dublin is another of my favorite trad songs:





The song has traditionally been sung at breakneck pace- it was punk back in the 19th century.

5 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Hurrah for the Dropkicks!

The one conservative principle they actually stick to?

Kiss up. Punch down.
~

Rev. paleotectonics said...

One on my wish list, never seems to be money and time at the same time...

I proudly called myself a union radical, and these guys have done more than a few great pro-working-man songs.

(Some of the Woody era union songs are just so fun and righteous - http://youtu.be/6mCgbyvb9uw)

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

The one conservative principle they actually stick to?
Kiss up. Punch down.


Oh hell yeah, "even the liberal Washington Post" adheres to this model.

I proudly called myself a union radical, and these guys have done more than a few great pro-working-man songs.

Oh, yeah. You can tell these guys never forgot their roots.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Saw 'em at Summerfest a few years back. Packed, it was.

Funniest part was the 9 year old kid on the table next to us with a red, white, and blue mohawk singing along with "Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced"

Syrbal/Labrys said...

Those delightful musicians are certainly free to dropkick McCain -- he calling antiwar protestors "scum" this week! Back to the old "ours is not to question why, ours is but to do or die" refrain for him? Fuck THAT noise.