Boston is a strange entry in the song-canon. The city has produced a disproportionate number of major American bands — Aerosmith, the Cars, the Pixies, the Lemonheads, the Dropkick Murphys, Boston (the band), Passion Pit, Vampire Weekend's Cape Cod orbit. But the actual songs about Boston, naming the city or its specific places, are fewer than you'd expect.

The data: 86 high-correlation song references to Boston — outside the top 15 American cities. By comparison, Atlanta has 312 and Memphis has 272. Boston produces music; Boston isn't always the subject.

But what's there is unusually good. Boston songs tend to be specific, geographic, and emotionally weighted. Streets get named. Neighborhoods get characterized. The Charles River appears constantly. The Red Sox show up almost as often.

The Founding Texts

  • "Dirty Water" — The Standells (1966). The civic anthem. Played at every Red Sox game; played at every Bruins game; lodged in the city's bloodstream.
  • "More Than a Feeling" — Boston (1976). The band, the song, the legacy. Not explicitly about Boston, but spiritually inseparable.
  • "Roadrunner" — Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers (1976). Driving past the Stop & Shop. Possibly the most beloved Boston song among Bostonians; the proposed state song twice.
  • "Sweet Caroline" — Neil Diamond (1969). Adopted by Fenway Park in the 1990s; now functionally a Boston song despite Neil Diamond being from Brooklyn.

The Aerosmith / Cars Era

Boston rock music. The Boylston Street / Berklee axis. Aerosmith's lyrics are full of Boston specifics; the Cars built a slick, synth-driven response.

  • "Back in the Saddle" — Aerosmith.
  • "Dream On" — Aerosmith (1973). Recorded in Boston; the city is the album's spiritual home.
  • "Just What I Needed" — The Cars (1978).
  • "My Best Friend's Girl" — The Cars.

The Pixies / Indie / College-Rock Era

Boston in the 1980s and '90s was an indie-rock capital, anchored on the four-college MIT/Harvard/BU/Berklee corridor. The Pixies, Dinosaur Jr. (Western Massachusetts but Boston-orbit), Throwing Muses, the Lemonheads.

  • "Where Is My Mind?" — The Pixies (1988). Recorded in Boston; the song that turned Boston rock weird and stayed weird.
  • "It's a Shame About Ray" — The Lemonheads (1992). Quintessential Boston indie.
  • "My Sister" — Juliana Hatfield Three.

The Dropkick Murphys / Celtic-Punk Era

The most explicitly Boston-coded musical movement. Irish-American identity, working-class Boston, the South Boston ethos. Probably the most-played Boston music outside Massachusetts.

  • "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" — Dropkick Murphys (2005). The Departed soundtrack made it global.
  • "State of Massachusetts" — Dropkick Murphys.
  • "Tessie" — Dropkick Murphys. The Red Sox curse-breaker song.

The Modern Indie / Pop Wave

Boston has quietly produced a steady stream of modern indie acts — Passion Pit, Vampire Weekend (NYC band but Cape Cod / New England-coded), Guster, Mitski (lived in NYC but the New England aesthetic is in the songs).

  • "Take a Walk" — Passion Pit (2012).
  • "Walcott" — Vampire Weekend (2008). Cape Cod, but the Boston orbit. Names Hyannisport, Wellfleet, and Provincetown.
  • "Nantucket" — Roger Creager.
  • "Boston" — Augustana (2005). The post-college runaway anthem.
  • "Boston" — Adam Doleac.

The Sports Songs

Boston's sports identity is so strong that several non-Boston songs have been claimed by the city:

  • "Sweet Caroline" — Neil Diamond. Now permanent Fenway property.
  • "Dirty Water" — The Standells. Bruins, Red Sox, everyone.
  • "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" — Dropkick Murphys. Bruins entrance music.
  • "Tessie" — Dropkick Murphys. The Red Sox 2004 curse-break.

The Cape and the Islands

A whole sub-canon. Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Provincetown — all have their own songs, mostly indie folk and singer-songwriter.

  • "Walcott" — Vampire Weekend.
  • "Nantucket" — Roger Creager.
  • "Storybook" — Roger Creager. Nantucket again.
  • "Surrender" — Roger Creager.

Why Boston Is Smaller in the Canon Than You'd Expect

Three reasons:

1. Boston bands write about other things. Aerosmith writes about heartbreak; the Cars write about cars. The musical output is huge, but it's not civic.

2. The Irish-American identity is strong, the Boston identity less so. Many "Boston" songs are really Irish-American songs that happen to be set in Boston.

3. The city's mythology is sports-coded more than music-coded. Fenway, the Garden, Boston Marathon. The civic anthems are mostly adopted, not written.

The Reading List

  1. "Dirty Water" — The Standells (1966).
  2. "Roadrunner" — Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers (1976).
  3. "More Than a Feeling" — Boston (1976).
  4. "Dream On" — Aerosmith (1973).
  5. "Just What I Needed" — The Cars (1978).
  6. "Where Is My Mind?" — The Pixies (1988).
  7. "It's a Shame About Ray" — The Lemonheads (1992).
  8. "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" — Dropkick Murphys (2005).
  9. "Boston" — Augustana (2005).
  10. "Take a Walk" — Passion Pit (2012).

Open the explore map at Fenway Park, the Common, or the Cape and the database will surface what the lyrics tie to that exact spot. Or browse state-level Massachusetts songs for the wider New England canon.