Going Out In Style

Dropkick Murphys’ Going Out in Style is their seventh studio album, released March 1, 2011, through Born & Bred Records. The collection combines Celtic folk instrumentation, forceful punk rhythms, and communal choruses within a concept centered on Cornelius Larkin, a fictional Irish immigrant whose life is remembered after his death. Drawing on the band’s family histories and personal experiences, the story connects immigration, friendship, love, and loss through a spirit of solidarity. The title track imagines Larkin’s own exuberant wake, with guest appearances from NOFX’s Fat Mike, The Living End’s Chris Cheney, and comedian Lenny Clarke turning a farewell into a rowdy celebration.

“Hang ’Em High” opens with a combative charge, while “The Hardest Mile,” “Broken Hymns,” and “Memorial Day” extend the album’s concerns with endurance and remembrance. “1953” brings a more tender, romantic dimension, and “Sunday Hardcore Matinee” looks back on the musical community that helped shape the band. Bruce Springsteen joins “Peg o’ My Heart,” connecting an early-20th-century popular song to the record’s Irish-American identity, before the traditional “The Irish Rover” closes the original album. These contrasting moments make Going Out in Style more than a succession of drinking songs: its boisterous energy accompanies a multigenerational story about the people, places, and traditions that survive through shared memory.