BOSTON — Freshly re-elected Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, perhaps looking to gain some populist cred, chose the rollicking punk song “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” as his entrance music at an event in Iowa on Saturday.
The song, famously featured in the film “The Departed,” was originally written by protest singer Woody Guthrie and more recently recorded by Boston Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys.
Guthrie died in 1967, so there’s no way of knowing for sure whether he’d approve of Gov. Walker’s decision to use it. The Dropkick Murphys, though, are very much alive. They made their feelings on the matter clear in a tweet Saturday night, after a clip of the Iowa event hit the internet.
Neither Walker’s camp nor the band would comment further on the matter, Bloomberg reported.
The band has previously clashed with Wisconsin Republicans. In 2012, Dropkick Murphys were vocal supporters of labor unions in a dispute between workers’ groups and Walker’s administration, which championed legislation aimed at cutting most union benefits in the state.
PHOTOS: Dropkick Murphys and more at Riot Fest 2014 in Denver