The band put out a series of EPs and was signed by Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong's label Hellcat Records. In 1998, the Dropkick Murphys released their first full-length album, Do Or Die. Lead singer Mike McColgan, who left the band later that year, was replaced by The Bruisers lead singer Al Barr. In 1999, they released their followup album, The Gang's All Here. In 2001, they released their third album, Sing Loud, Sing Proud. The album showcased the group’s developing sound and included collaborations with The Pogues' frontman Shane MacGowan and Cock Sparrer's Colin McFaull. It also marked a significant lineup change for the band. Original guitarist Rick Barton was replaced by former The Ducky Boys' guitarists James Lynch and Marc Orrell; instruments were added and played by new members Ryan Foltz and Spicy McHaggis.
The Dropkick Murphys' next album, Blackout, was released in 2003. The new album included the radio hit "Walk Away," as well as the songs "Fields of Athenry" and "The Dirty Glass." The latter features female vocals by Stephanie Dougherty (Deadly Sins). Around the same time, the band released a re-working of the Boston Red Sox anthem "Tessie," which then became the official song of the team's 2004 World Series run. "Tessie" was also used throughout the major motion picture Fever Pitch and was included on the EA Sports MVP Baseball 2005 soundtrack. In 2005, the Dropkick Murphys released Singles Collection Volume 2, featuring covers, B-sides, and other material that didn't make it onto previous albums, and the band contributed a recording of "We Got the Power" to Rock Against Bush, Volume 2.
The Dropkick Murphys' fifth studio album, The Warrior's Code, was released on June 21, 2005. It features the singles "Sunshine Highway," "The Walking Dead," "The Warrior's Code," as well as the bonus track "Tessie." It also includes a song that was inspired by a Woody Guthrie poem, which the group named "I'm Shipping Up to Boston." The song was featured in Martin Scorsese's 2006 film The Departed. Scorsese mentioned the band in an interview after winning his first Oscar.
The Dropkick Murphys released their sixth studio album, The Meanest of Times, on September 18, 2007. It was their first release not on the Hellcat Records label but instead on the label Born & Bred.
In early 2008, Marc Orrell left the band. Thereupon Tim Brennan, who had been playing mandolin, accordion, banjo, tin whistle, and guitar for the band since 2004, replaced Orrell on lead guitar. Tim's previous musical duties were taken over by Jeff DaRosa, former member of The Vigilante and Pinkerton Thugs.
In September of 2022, This Machine Still Kills Fascists was released. It's an acoustic album with unused words and lyrics written by Woody Guthrie, selected and given to the band to use by Guthrie's daughter Nora. It did not feature Al Barr, who was on hiatus for family matters.
The band will release their twelfth album, Okemah Rising, on May 12, 2023. The album was recorded during the same sessions for This Machine Still Kills Facists and like that album will feature songs using the unused lyrics by Woody Guthrie. The album was preceded by the singles "I Know How it Feels" on March 1, 2023, and "Gotta Get to Peekskill" (featuring Violent Femmes) on March 30, 2023.
Studio albums
Do or Die (1998)
The Gang's All Here (1999)
Sing Loud, Sing Proud! (2001)
Blackout (2003)
The Warrior's Code (2005)
The Meanest of Times (2007)
Going Out in Style (2011)
Signed and Sealed in Blood (2013)
11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory (2017)
Turn Up That Dial (2021)
This Machine Still Kills Fascists (2022)
Okemah Rising (2023)
Johnny
Dropkick Murphys Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Hurroo Hurroo
When on the road to sweet Athy,
Hurroo Hurroo
When on the road to sweet Athy
A stick in the hand, a drop in the eye
A doleful damsel I heard cry
"Johnny, I hardly knew ya"
Where are the eyes that looked so mild,
Hurroo Hurroo
Where are the eyes that looked so mild,
Hurroo Hurroo
Where are the eyes that looked so mild
When my poor heart you first beguiled
Why did ya run from me and the child
Johnny, I hardly knew ya
We had guns and drums and drums and guns,
Hurroo Hurroo
We had guns and drums and drums and guns,
Hurroo Hurroo
We had guns and drums and drums and guns
The enemy never slew ya
Johnny, I hardly knew ya
Where are the legs with which you run,
Hurroo Hurroo
Where are the legs with which you run,
Hurroo Hurroo
Where are the legs with which you run,
When first you went to carry a gun
Indeed your dancing days are done
Johnny, I hardly knew ya
We had guns and drums and drums and guns,
Hurroo Hurroo
We had guns and drums and drums and guns,
Hurroo Hurroo
We had guns and drums and drums and guns
The enemy never slew ya
Johnny, I hardly knew ya
You hadn't an arm, you hadn't a leg,
Hurroo Hurroo
You hadn't an arm, you hadn't a leg,
Hurroo Hurroo
You hadn't an arm, you hadn't a leg
You're a spinless, boneless, chickenless egg
You'll have to be put with the bowl to beg
Johnny, I hardly knew ya
We had guns and drums and drums and guns,
Hurroo Hurroo
We had guns and drums and drums and guns,
Hurroo Hurroo
We had guns and drums and drums and guns
The enemy never slew ya
Johnny, I hardly knew ya
I'm happy for to see ya home,
Hurroo Hurroo
I'm happy for to see ya home,
Hurroo Hurroo
I'm happy for to see ya home
From the isle of Ceylon
Johnny, I hardly knew ya
We had guns and drums and drums and guns,
Hurroo Hurroo
We had guns and drums and drums and guns,
Hurroo Hurroo
We had guns and drums and drums and guns
The enemy never slew ya
Johnny, I hardly knew ya
"Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya" is a traditional Irish song that has been given new life by the Boston-based punk band Dropkick Murphys. The song paints a picture of a woman who is lamenting the loss of her lover, who has returned from war severely injured and unrecognizable to her. The song speaks to the horrors of war and the toll it takes on those who fight it.
The lyrics describe a woman on the road to Athy. She hears a doleful damsel crying for Johnny, whom she barely recognizes after he returns from war. The woman wonders where the eyes that first beguiled her have gone and why Johnny has run off with their child. She recalls the days when they had guns and drums and the enemy never slew Johnny. She wonders where the legs with which he ran to carry a gun are and notes that his dancing days are done. The final stanza describes Johnny's return home from Ceylon without limbs or vitality, with the implication that he'll have to beg to survive.
The song decries the waste of human life that war causes and highlights the human toll that it takes. Anyone who goes to war is irrevocably changed, and those left behind are left to pick up the pieces. The bittersweet refrain of "Johnny I hardly knew ya" speaks to the cruel irony that a person can go to war and come back so changed that they're unrecognizable to those who love them.
Line by Line Meaning
When on the road to sweet Athy,
Hurroo Hurroo
When on the road to sweet Athy,
Hurroo Hurroo
When on the road to sweet Athy
A stick in the hand, a drop in the eye
A doleful damsel I heard cry
"Johnny, I hardly knew ya"
As I was on a sweet journey to Athy, I saw a woman in distress with a stick in her hand and tears in her eyes lamenting about how much Johnny has changed that she barely knows him now.
Where are the eyes that looked so mild,
Hurroo Hurroo
Where are the eyes that looked so mild,
Hurroo Hurroo
Where are the eyes that looked so mild
When my poor heart you first beguiled
Why did ya run from me and the child
Johnny, I hardly knew ya
The woman remembers how sweet and kind Johnny once was, and how he won her heart, but she can't understand why he ran away from her and their child, that she barely recognizes him anymore.
We had guns and drums and drums and guns,
Hurroo Hurroo
We had guns and drums and drums and guns,
Hurroo Hurroo
We had guns and drums and drums and guns
The enemy never slew ya
Johnny, I hardly knew ya
The woman remembers when Johnny left to fight in the war, how much excitement there was with drums and guns, but now she barely recognizes him since he came back safe, though not completely unscathed.
Where are the legs with which you run,
Hurroo Hurroo
Where are the legs with which you run,
Hurroo Hurroo
Where are the legs with which you run,
When first you went to carry a gun
Indeed your dancing days are done
Johnny, I hardly knew ya
The woman remarks on how Johnny's old and new selves are so different that she barely recognizes him anymore. His legs which once carried him to dance, now carry him to war, and his dancing days may be forever over.
You hadn't an arm, you hadn't a leg,
Hurroo Hurroo
You hadn't an arm, you hadn't a leg,
Hurroo Hurroo
You hadn't an arm, you hadn't a leg
You're a spinless, boneless, chickenless egg
You'll have to be put with the bowl to beg
Johnny, I hardly knew ya
The woman encounters Johnny again after the war, but he is missing limbs and has become miserable and lost his spirit. She hardly recognizes him as the person she knew and calls him a weak and helpless man.
I'm happy for to see ya home,
Hurroo Hurroo
I'm happy for to see ya home,
Hurroo Hurroo
I'm happy for to see ya home
From the isle of Ceylon
Johnny, I hardly knew ya
Even though Johnny has changed so much, the woman is still happy to see him back home from his travels to the Isle of Ceylon, although she can barely recognize him now.
Lyrics © Round Hill Music Big Loud Songs, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: AL BARR, TIM BRENNAN, KEN CASEY, MATT KELLY, JAMES LYNCH, MARC ORRELL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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