Tessie

昨天是 Red Sox 的 opener，這是整個城市的大事，講到 Red Sox，就不能不提 Tessie 這首很傳奇的歌。

一百多年前，在1903年的世界大賽中，Red Sox (當時叫做朝聖者隊 Pilgrims) 在九戰五勝的賽制中 1:4 落後 Pittsburgh Pirates，這表示剩下的四場比賽他們必須全部拿下才可以贏得隊史上第一個世界冠軍。本來在比賽中熱情愛爾蘭裔移民所組成的紅襪隊加油團體 Royal Rooters 會請樂隊在觀眾席幫紅襪加油，但當打完第五場錢就用光了，在沒錢請樂隊的情況下他們只好在比賽中自己唱著任何他們想得到會唱的歌來幫紅襪加油。

第六場比賽他們就這樣大聲地嘗試唱著各種歌曲，情況並未好轉，第七局仍然 0:0 平手僵持著。這時有人想起了當時百老匯的華爾茲名曲 Tessie，一群人便大聲齊唱著，接著 Red Sox 便有如神助地連拿六分最後以 11:2 贏了比賽。Royal Rooters 嘗到了甜頭之後的每一場比賽都在觀眾席大聲地唱著 Tessie，最後你知道的，Red Sox 就這樣奇蹟似地連贏四場拿下了隊史的第一個世界冠軍。Pittsburgh 的外野手 Tommy Leach 賽後表示的確「那該死的 Tessie 歌曲」對他們起了部分作用，導至 Pirates 輸了比賽(credited at least part of Boston's win to "that damn Tessie song". It was a real hum-dinger of a song, but it sort of got on your nerves after a while.)。

帶領 Royal Rooters 的人叫作 Michael T. McGreevy，是當時舊球場 (現在 Northeasten Univ. 的運動場) 三壘後方沙龍的老闆，一直到 1918 年 Royal Rooters 解散之前 Red Sox 一共贏得了 6 次聯盟冠軍與 5 次世界冠軍；期間有唱 Tessie 的戰績是 20W4L，而沒有唱 Tessie 的成績是 2W4L。

1918 年後沒有 Royal Rooters 用 Tessie 幫 Red Sox 加油的日子，你也知道的，Red Sox 開始了長達 86 年與世界冠軍絕緣的日子，直到 2004 年‧‧‧

2004 年，一個 Boston 的樂團 Dropkick Murphys 重新錄製了 Tessie 以單曲型式發行，接下來的事，你一定知道的，在人們又開始傳唱 Tessie 的 2004 年 Red Sox 拿下了 86 年來的第一個世界冠軍。

這年的過程尤其精彩，絕對是經典系列賽，特別是跟 Yankees 在美聯冠軍的系列戰，三場打完 0:3 陷入絕境就跟 1903 年一樣必須連贏四場才能勝出，在此之前史上從來沒有一隻 MLB 隊伍可以在先輸三場的的情況下連贏四場逆轉，Red Sox 做到了，寫下了歷史也把 Yankees 打成了運動史上的笑話之一。

"We recorded this song in June 2004 and after giving it to the Red Sox told anyone that would listen that this song would guarantee a World Series victory. Obviously no one listened to us or took us seriously. We were three outs away from elimination in game 4 at the hands of the Yankees and receiving death threats from friends, family, & strangers telling us to stay away from the Red Sox and any other Boston sports team and get out of town. Luckily for us things turned around for the Red Sox and the rest is history." -- By Dropkick Murphys on "Tessie"

每次聽這歌看這 MV 都會熱血沸騰！Boston, you are the only only on~~~ly!



Tessie / Dropkick Murphys

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

--

Boston-based punk band the Dropkick Murphys perform "Tessie" at Fenway Park before the Yankees-Red Sox game in July of 2004. Dropkick Murphys play Tessie at Fenway Park (7/24/04)