The original version of the song was released in 2004 on Give ‘Em the Boot IV and was re-recorded for their certified gold selling 2005 album, The Warrior’s Code. The song gained worldwide attention for its use in the 2006 film The Departed, which boosted the band’s popularity.
The song’s lyrics describe a sailor who lost a prosthetic leg climbing the topsail, and is shipping up to Boston to “find my wooden leg.” These were taken from a fragment of paper that Ken Casey found while looking through Woody Guthrie’s archives. The Dropkick Murphys put music to the lyrics as they 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 No. 1 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and sold over 1,044,000 digital copies without ever entering the Hot 100 chart.
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 “hanging out” parts were later replaced with footage from The Departed for a second video tying in to the film. During PresidentJoe Biden‘s April 2023 trip to Ireland, he went onstage for a speech to the song.
