Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Tessie (a baseball history lesson)

Whether you've heard the song "Tessie" by the Dropkick Murphys and wondered why it's become an anthem of sorts for the Red Sox or whether you've never heard the story of the Royal Rooters (and their original Tessie chant) of the early Boston Red Sox (ne Americans), the connection to the Kennedys or Nuff Ced McGreevy, I thought I'd throw together some links and the lyrics; and I hope you enjoy this trip down old baseball history as much as I do.
Four of us waited out a rain delay in the modern McGreevy's a couple of years ago. 
Unfortunately there is no embed link available for the video but the link is below as well as the lyrics.
http://youtu.be/jR4tTQVjHUI
                              
Tessie is the Royal Rooters rally cry

Tessie is the tune they always sung
Tessie echoed April through October nights
After serenading Stahl, Dineen and Young
Tessie is a maiden with the sparkling eyes
Tessie is a maiden with the love
She doesn't know the meaning of her sight
She's got a comment full of love

And sometimes when the game is on the line
Tessie always carried them away
Up the road from Third Base to Huntington
The boys will always sing and sway

Two! Three! Four!

Tessie, 'Nuff Ced McGreevy shouted
We're not here to mess around
Boston, you know we love you madly
Hear the crowd roar to your sound
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Tessie, you are the only, only, only

The Rooters showed up at the Grounds one day
They found their seats had all been sold
McGreevy led the charge into the park
Stormed the gates and put the game on hold
The Rooters gave the other team a dreadful fright
Boston's tenth man could not be wrong
Up from Third Base to Huntington
They sang another victory song

Two! Three! Four!

Tessie, 'Nuff Ced McGreevy shouted
We're not here to mess around
Boston, you know we love you madly
Hear the crowd roar to your sound
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Tessie, you are the only, only, only

The Rooters gave the other team a dreadful fright
Boston's tenth man could not be wrong
Up from Third Base to Huntington
They sang another victory song

Two! Three! Four!

Tessie, 'Nuff Ced McGreevy shouted
We're not here to mess around
Boston, you know we love you madly
Hear the crowd roar to your sound
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Tessie, you are the only, only, only

Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Boston, you are the only, only, only
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Red Sox you are the only, only, only
 
This link is for the story of Tessie and this one for The Royal Rooters.  One of my favorite parts of the story is how the Royal Rooters would change the lyrics to "Tessie" to fit the moment, such as this stanza towards Honus Wagner during the 1903 World Series.  "Honus, why do you hit so badly? Take a back seat and sit down.  Honus, at bat you look so sadly. Hey, why don't you get out of town?" 
Another great part of the story is that the Dropkick Murphys decided they wanted to re-release "Tessie" in an effort to bring back the spirit of the Royal Rooters to Fenway Park.  That was in 2004 and we all know what happened later that year.


2 comments:

Shel said...

This is very cool! Don't you just love history. Thank you for sharing!

fitts129 said...

Awesome history lesson here! Can't call yourself a legit Sox Fan if you don't know the history. Thanks, Zeb!