Rose Tattoo

Album: Signed & Sealed In Blood (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is the first single to be released from Signed and Sealed in Blood, the eighth studio album by Celtic punk band The Dropkick Murphys. The band started playing this in June 2012 during their European tour. The album title comes from the lyrics of this song.
  • The lyrics are inspired by bassist Ken Casey's own tattoos. "Throughout life - trials, tribulations, dates, times, places, things that are important to you, family, people who have passed away - tattoos on my body document my life and what I've been through, things that have been important to me," he told NPR's Audie Cornish. "You know, they're all a part of the story."
  • The rose tattoo referred to in this song appears on Casey's arm and is a memorial to his grandfather who raised him after his father had died. "He taught me most things that make me who I am today," Casey told NPR. "He was a big union guy in Boston. It's in a visible place for me and I look down and I see it a lot. He was such an inspiring man that it inspires me. Oftentimes, I just catch it out of the corner of my eye and it literally changes my mood when I think of him and what a strong individual he was."
  • The song was re-recorded in May 2013 with Bruce Springsteen on guest vocals as a charity single to benefit the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

Comments: 1

  • Tcn from KansasI am 65 and have no tattoos but this song struck me so much I am going to have it tattooed on my arm.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

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."

Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets

Curt Kirkwood of Meat PuppetsSongwriter Interviews

The (Meat)puppetmaster takes us through songs like "Lake Of Fire" and "Backwater," and talks about performing with Kurt Cobain on MTV Unplugged.

Song Cities

Song CitiesMusic Quiz

Nirvana, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen are among those who wrote songs with cities that show up in this quiz.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.

Tom Waits Lyrics Quiz

Tom Waits Lyrics QuizMusic Quiz

Pool balls, magpies and thorns without roses - how well do you know your Tom Waits lyrics?

Chris Rea

Chris ReaSongwriter Interviews

It took him seven years to recover from his American hit "Fool (If You Think It's Over)," but Chris Rea became one of the top singer-songwriters in his native UK.