Cover songs are like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get. We here at Dying Scene love hearing punk bands do their own take on other band’s songs. Sometimes they pull off amazing interpretations of old classics, sometimes they’re not much more than humble tributes to a fellow artist, and other times they’re just downright laughable renditions of otherwise great songs. Good or bad. Intriguing or mundane. We’ll let you be the judge.
Today’s cover comes from melodic metal act, Children of Bodom. Never a group to shy away from a good cover song (in the past they’ve been known to cover the Ramones’ “Somebody Put Something in My Drink“, Andrew WK’s “She Is Beautiful“, Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell“, and even “Oops!… I Did It Again” by Britney Spears), the Finnish band has recorded a cover of “I’m Shipping Up to Boston“, originally recorded by the Dropkick Murphys and based on lyrics written by Woody Guthrie. The cover is set to appear on the band’s upcoming compilation album Holiday at Lake Bodom (15 Years of Wasted Youth) on Spinefarm Records, while the Dropkick Murphys version appeared on their 2005 album, The Warrior’s Code, released on Hellcat Records.
As you may remember, “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” became one of the Dropkick Murphys most popular songs after appearing on the soundtrack for the 2006 Martin Scorsese film, The Departed. It’s also an easy song to shout along with, which surely helped it’s popularity. While the framework of the song remains untouched, Children of Bodom have certainly managed to put their own dark spin on it.
You can listen to the cover, along with the original, right here.