Some films have a soundtrack. Some films have a playlist someone in marketing threw together on a Friday afternoon. And every so often, a film has a soundscape that is quite obviously a love letter. Fever Pitch is one of those. It's the Farrelly brothers writing a mash note to Boston, and the first line of that note is a scuzzy 1966 garage-rock single that got its hooks into me and never let go.
The Baseball Rom-Com I Didn't Expect to Keep
I'll be honest: I didn't come to Fever Pitch for the music. It's a 2005 romantic comedy starring Jimmy Fallon as a Red Sox tragic and Drew Barrymore as the woman slowly realising she'll always come second to a baseball team. (Down here in Australia it went out as The Perfect Catch, to avoid confusion with the 1997 British original.) Make no mistake. I fucking love this film. It is almost my number one go to comfort movie. Because in many ways, I am Ben Wrightman. Only for me, the town is Adelaide, the sport is Australian Football and the team is the Adelaide Crows.
But as much as I love the film, I almost love the soundtrack more. And this soundtrack opens with a snarling riff, a sneering vocal and a band singing their hearts out to a filthy river. That was my introduction to "Dirty Water" by the Standells, and I've been hooked ever since.
Boston's Anthem, Written by Angelenos
Here's the first delicious twist. The song everyone associates with Boston was recorded by a band from Los Angeles who had never been there.
The Standells formed in LA in 1962 around singer and keyboardist Larry Tamblyn. Their drummer and lead vocalist, Dick Dodd, was a former Mouseketeer, which is a very funny thing to know while listening to him snarl through a song about muggers. The track itself came from their producer, Ed Cobb, and the story goes that it was inspired by Cobb and his girlfriend getting mugged on a trip to Boston. Most people would write a strongly worded letter. Cobb wrote a hit.
They cut it at Western Recorders in Hollywood in March 1965, and by June 1966 it had climbed to number 11 on the Billboard chart. It became a cornerstone of garage rock and proto-punk, all fuzzy guitar and attitude, with a riff you can recognise inside two notes.
And then Boston did something wonderful. Rather than taking offence at a song that affectionately lists the city's criminals, it adopted it. The Bruins started playing it in the mid-90s, and by the late 90s it was ringing out at Fenway Park after every Red Sox home win. And still is. The Standells even played it live at Fenway before Game 2 of the 2004 World Series - which this film is about. Larry Tamblyn passed away in 2025, having watched his band's accidental hometown anthem outlive just about everything else from 1966.
The Farrellys Were Never Making This Film Anywhere Else
Peter and Bobby Farrelly grew up in Cumberland, Rhode Island, and they have been Red Sox fans for life. Their movies keep circling back to New England, but Fever Pitch is where they stopped circling and landed. Nick Hornby's original story was about an Arsenal obsessive in North London. The brothers swapped it for Fenway, got rare access to shoot at the ballpark during real games, and called it the ultimate Red Sox movie.
Then the Red Sox went and ruined their ending, in the best way possible. The script assumed the team would lose, as the team had reliably done for 86 years. Instead, the 2004 Sox came back from 3–0 down against the Yankees and swept the Cardinals to win the World Series. So the Farrellys rewrote on the fly, and on the day of Game 4 they flew Barrymore, Fallon and a film crew to St. Louis, where the two stars watched the game at Busch Stadium in character. You know what they say, you can't script that shit.
Fittingly, the film had its premiere in Boston.
A Soundtrack That Reads Like a Postcard
What makes the Fever Pitch soundtrack special is that it isn't just a list of songs. It's a map of the Farrellys' Boston: the city they cheered from the bleachers, and the music they grew up on.
"Dirty Water" goes first, naturally. Close behind is "Tessie" by Boston's own Dropkick Murphys, a Celtic-punk reworking of a century-old Red Sox rally song, recorded in 2004 with the stated aim of bringing back the old fan spirit and getting the team back on top. Months later, the Sox won the World Series. I'm not saying a punk band broke an 86-year curse, but I'm also not not saying that.
There's a live "Whammer Jammer" from Boston's J. Geils Band, all harmonica and sweat. There's Joe Pernice's "Moonshot Manny," a tip of the cap to Sox slugger Manny Ramírez. And there's Jonathan Richman with "As We Walk to Fenway Park in Boston Town," which is about as literal as a film soundtrack gets.
That Richman inclusion is the tell. The Farrellys grew up hearing his band the Modern Lovers on Rhode Island radio, and loved him so much they cast him as the guitar-playing Greek chorus in There's Something About Mary. Putting him on this record isn't a licensing decision. It's a thank-you.
Then, just to prove the whole thing isn't a tourism brochure, they tuck in Nick Drake's "Northern Sky," The Human League and a Tears for Fears deep cut. That's the sign of a real mixtape: the local heroes, plus the songs the people making it just happen to love.
Love the Dirt
This is the bit that gets me. The most beloved song about Boston was written about getting mugged there, by a band that had never visited. It sings affectionately about a polluted river. And Boston heard all that and said: yep, that's us.
That's what real love for a place looks like. Not the postcard version, but the dirty river, the heartbreak team and the 86-year wait. The Farrellys understood that, and so they opened their love letter to the city with the grimiest, most affectionate three minutes in its musical canon. It's the reason I found the song. It's the reason I keep going back.
Wear It Down by the River
If you've ever loved something a little bit grimy, a little bit hopeless and completely yours, our Dirty Water Tank is made for you. Best worn on a hot day, ideally within earshot of a ballgame.
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