"I'm Shipping Up to Boston" is a song with lyrics written by the folk singer Woody Guthrie, music written by A. Barr, K. Casey, M. Kelly, J. Lynch and M. Orrell and performed by the Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys. It appeared on their certified gold selling 2005 album, The Warrior's Code. An earlier recording of it can be found on the Hellcat Records compilation Give 'Em the Boot: Vol. 4. The song gained world-wide attention along with boosting the band's popularity for its use in the 2006 Academy Award-winning Best Picture, The Departed and the soundtrack for the film.

The lyrics from the song were taken from a fragment of paper that Ken Casey found whilst looking through Woody Guthrie's archives.[1] The Dropkick Murphys put music to the lyrics as they also did with the song "Gonna Be A Blackout Tonight" from the 2003 album Blackout.

The single is the band's most successful to date and was certified double platinum. It reached #1 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and sold over 1,044,000 digital copies without ever entering the Hot 100 chart.[2]

The video features the Dropkick Murphys performing the song on the waterfront in East Boston. The band is also seen "hanging out" with hooligans while being chased by Boston police officers. The song's simple lyrics describe a sailor who had lost a prosthetic leg climbing the topsail, and is shipping up to Boston to "find my wooden leg."

Charts [ edit ]

Chart (2007) Peak

position US Bubbling Under Hot 100 (Billboard) 1

Chart (2012) Peak

position Ireland (IRMA) 54

In entertainment [ edit ]

Political appearances [ edit ]

2012 [ edit ]

A small Facebook meme grew up after Wisconsin State Representative and Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly Jeff Fitzgerald reportedly used the song during the 2012 Wisconsin Republican Convention in Green Bay. This usage prompted the band to release the following statement on Facebook:[8]

We just got word that Wisconsin State Rep and Speaker of the State Assembly Jeff Fitzgerald used "Shipping Up to Boston" as his walk-on song yesterday at the Wisconsin GOP Convention in Green Bay. The stupidity and irony of this is laughable. A Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senate candidate – and crony of anti-Union Governor Scott Walker – using a Dropkick Murphys song as an intro is like a white supremacist coming out to gangsta rap! Fitzgerald: if you and your staff can't even figure out your music you might wanna give up on the politics!!!!! We stand beside our Union and Labor brothers and sisters and their families in Wisconsin and all over the U.S!

2015 [ edit ]

In 2015, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker used the song during political events.[9] In response, the official Dropkick Murphys Twitter account posted a tweet declaring that the band "literally hate[d]" Governor Walker and asking him to "stop using [their] music in any way".[10]