4-15-13

Album: 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory (2017)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song is about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. The tragedy hit the Boston-based band hard and frontman Ken Casey knew he needed to write a song about the incident, but wasn't immediately sure how do it.

    "Part of it was too soon, part of it was, like, it has to be perfect," he explained to ABC Radio. "Don't wanna be too somber to kinda drag people back into what we all went through, but not obviously make it like a heavy rock song. From a musical and a lyrical aspect, [we] just wanted it to...do justice to everybody."

    Once the band felt ready to tackle the heart-breaking event, the song came together quickly and ended up being one of Casey's favorite tracks on 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory.

    "It's almost like I feel like there's a monkey off our back, like, 'Oh, we were able to that!'" Casey said. "'Cause I feel like if we didn't, I would've always felt like we were kinda cowering away from it."
  • The Dropkick Murphys re-recorded their song "Rose Tattoo" in May 2013 with Bruce Springsteen on guest vocals as a charity single to benefit the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Wedding Bell Blues

Wedding Bell BluesSong Writing

When a song describes a wedding, it's rarely something to celebrate - with one big exception.

Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee JonesSongwriter Interviews

Rickie Lee Jones on songwriting, social media, and how she's handling Trump.

Sarah Brightman

Sarah BrightmanSongwriter Interviews

One of the most popular classical vocalists in the land is lining up a trip to space, which is the inspiration for many of her songs.

Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers

Bill Medley of The Righteous BrothersSongwriter Interviews

Medley looks back on "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" - his huge hits from the '60s that were later revived in movies.

Bill Withers

Bill WithersSongwriter Interviews

Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."

The Police

The PoliceFact or Fiction

Do their first three albums have French titles? Is "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" really meaningless? See if you can tell in this Fact or Fiction.