The original members of the Standells broke up in 1968, and lead singer/drummer Dick Dodd didn’t even know his band’s song was still played in Boston until he heard it in the background of an ESPN telecast several years ago. The irony of the song was that none of the four members of the Los Angeles-based Standells had been to Boston before it was released. Hence the reference to fuggers and thieves down by the banks of the river Charles. The song was written by the band’s producer, Ed Cobb, who wrote it after a visit to Boston, during which he was mugged on a Massachusetts Avenue bridge over the Charles River. “Dirty Water” has been the tune to which the Red Sox have celebrated home victories since 1997, when general manager Dan Duquette and manager Jimy Williams chose the 1966 punk rock song, which peaked at number 11 on the pop chart.Īlthough the Standells’ had only one major hit, that song has remained a home run for Red Sox fans despite the less than flattering background behind it. “As far as a celebratory postgame anthem….the song seems to fit," Charles Steinberg, the Sox’ executive VP for public affairs, told the Boston Globe. The song blares over the speakers immediately after every Boston victory and has become one of the proud Fenway Park traditions. With the refrain “Well I love that dirty water Oh, Boston, you're my home,” the sound of the Standells' “Dirty Water" is the recognized Red Sox victory anthem. Of all the sights and sounds that fans look forward to at Fenway Park, nothing makes Red Sox Nation happier than the playing of a song that dates back nearly 40 years.