Boxing Days Are Here Again as the Summer Elbows Throw

The pinnacle of battling-Mick punk polka, Dropkick Murphys' The Warrior's Code furnishes beats for every beating. The title track is an anthem to boxing—"Another murderous right, another left hook from Hell-l-l-l!"—and Vince Lombardi, "A quitter never wins!!!" (Arrrghh!) For "I'm Shipping Up to Boston," the Murphys turn lyrics attributed to Woody Guthrie into a soused metal jig for throwing your elbow gaily into the orbit of a stranger, preferably someone shorter than you, in the moshpit. There are two punch-outs for the dead: "The Last Letter Home," a thrash for a drunken brawl at the interment of an Iraq war vet, and "Your Spirit's Alive," for a fight in honor of a dead pal. Finally, "Tessie" is the Paddy from Boston boogie to play when you're getting pumped to scrap for glory and victory at Fenway Park.

photo: Paul Harries

Punch-drunk

Details

Dropkick Murphys
The Warrior's Code
Hellcat

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• Dropkick Murphys
• Woody Guthrie
• Vince Lombardi
• Green Fields
• Brendan Behan

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Bagpipes and accordions are stupidly glued on, but they're mixed so they don't interfere with the righteous prole men in sports bars sing-alongs and rallying music for fists ending where noses begin. Dropkick Murphys' talent resides in the sinews of their wrists so those who sell beer to partly downtrodden 21-year-old boys should love it. For others, it's at best jubilant shite except for two traditionals, Brendan Behan's prison song, "The Auld Triangle," and the dolorous anti-war "The Green Fields of France." By substituting stateliness and grace in the latter for the cant of the Vans Warped tour, the record is almost redeemed.