Tessie chords by Dropkick Murphys

"Tessie" is both the Red Sox Anthem and also the title of a newer song by the Dropkick Murphys. The original "Tessie" was from the 1902 Broadway musical The Silver Slipper. The newer song, written in 2004, recounts how the singing of the original "Tessie" by the Royal Rooters fan club helped the Boston Americans win the first World Series in 1903. In 2004, the Boston-area celtic punk group Dropkick Murphys recorded a cover of "Tessie," released on an EP of the same name. The Murphys said it was their intent to "bring back the spirit of the Rooters and to put the Red Sox back on top." The goal of the Murphys was realized when later that year the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years. The song is also featured as the bonus track on their June, 2005 release, "The Warrior's Code" with a lead-in from the WEEI broadcast of the final play in the 2004 World Series: "Swing and a ground ball, stabbed by Foulke. He has it. He underhands to first. And the Boston Red Sox are the World Champions. For the first time in 86 years, the Red Sox have won baseball's world championship. Can you believe it?" -Joe Castiglione The second "Tessie" — which featured backing vocals from Red Sox players Johnny Damon, Bronson Arroyo, and Lenny DiNardo, Red Sox Vice President of Public Affairs Dr. Charles Steinberg; and Boston Herald sportswriter Jeff Horrigan (who co-wrote the new lyrics with the Murphys) — has become a theme song for the Red Sox and tells the story of the Royal Rooters singing the original "Tessie". The song is featured in the soundtrack to the 2005 movie, Fever Pitch, and is the song used in the closing credits to the VHS and DVD review of the 2004 World Series, a video that was produced by Major League Baseball Productions. The video game MVP Baseball 2005 features the song. In addition to the straight version of "Tessie," the EP includes "The Fields of Athenry," "Nut Rocker" (the very first instrumental rock version of The Nutcracker's overture, which later inspired The Ventures' similar work named 'Nutty', which itself is closely identified with the Boston Bruins pro ice hockey team, which is the second oldest major pro sports franchise in Boston, behind the Red Sox), "The Burden" as performed live on WBCN, "Tessie (Old Timey Baseball Version)" in which the song is accompanied primarily by a ballpark organ, as well as a music video for "Tessie." Proceeds from the sale of the EP went to benefit the Red Sox Foundation. "Tessie" is the second of three songs played after every Red Sox win at Fenway Park, the first being "Dirty Water" by The Standells. The third is "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night. Trot Nixon used "Tessie" as his at-bat intro music when he played for the Red Sox and still uses it today. The Dropkicks tell this version of the story in the liner notes for The Warrior's Code: We recorded this song in June 2004 and after giving it to the Red Sox told anyone that would listen that this song would guarantee a World Series victory. Obviously no one listened to us or took us seriously. We were three outs away from elimination in game 4 at the hands of the Yankees and receiving death threats from friends, family, & strangers telling us to stay away from the Red Sox and any other Boston sports team and get out of town. Luckily for us things turned around for the Red Sox and the rest is history. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.