Twenty years ago, Dropkick Murphys wrote a mock recruitment song for the CIA that acknowledged the agency’s fondness for overthrowing governments and installing military dictatorships friendly to the US.
The song, a quasi-hardcore number called “Citizen C.I.A.”, included the lyrics: “We’ll teach them all our secrets and then we’ll walk away/We’re knee-deep in guerrillas, yeah the party never stops/United States of America, undercover cop.”
The song seems almost quaint today considering what’s happening here at home. The band must agree, because they’ve reworked it into a recruitment song for ICE, whose masked agents are currently causing mayhem across the US.
The reimagined track, titled “Citizen I.C.E.”, is included on a new LP, “New England Forever,” featuring the Dropkicks on one side and fellow Boston band Haywire on the other. The 12-inch vinyl will be available exclusively at shows on the Dropkicks’ upcoming St. Patrick’s Day tour, which concludes with five shows in Boston in March. (Four shows are scheduled at MGM Musical Hall at Fenway, and one will be at the House of Blues.)
On social media, Dropkick Murphys are previewing the song with a video that includes images of the killing in Minneapolis of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross. The pointed lyrics include the lines: “Come celebrate dictatorships/And bolster the regime/While abusing helpless immigrants/A bully’s wet dream/You’ve joined the traitors’ ranks/To play the hand of God/In a scumbag grifter’s kidnapping squad.”
The song’s strong anti-ICE sentiment shouldn’t surprise anyone who is familiar with the Dropkicks. The Celtic punk band has been loud and proud in their opposition to the policies of President Donald Trump, participating in several anti-Trump protests and speaking out against MAGA loyalists.
In an interview with the Globe in November, the band’s frontman, Ken Casey, said he’s been alarmed that so few self-proclaimed punk bands are speaking up.
“You’re going to get to this moment where some lunatic wants to end our democracy… and most punk bands have decided to just keep their head down and stay quiet and hope this all blows over because they don’t want to affect their business,” Casey said.
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