Special Kudos and thanks for noting the Drop Kick Murphys, whose version of “Johnny We Hardly Knew
Ye” is a theme throughout the evening. In case you’re a trivia buff, here are the reasons that cut was so appropriate to “The Titans”:

The Tune:

* The tune is most recognized as”When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” an American war song..

* ….which is often used to symbolize the futility of and sadness of war (it was popular with both the North and the South during the Civil War)

* It was the theme used by Stanley Kubrick for all the scenes in “Dr. Strangelove” involving the American bomber preparing to drop an A-bomb on Russia. The movie itself was inspired by the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Lyrics:

* “Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye” is an old Irish funeral song, used as the title of Kennedy aide Ken O’Donnell’s JFK memoir.

* Its refrain “guns and guns and drums and drums” has the proper bellicose flavor for the play’s story, and references the Cold War tensions in context.

The Origin: It is an old Irish song fitting with JFK’s old Irish ancestry.

The Arrangement: I wanted a song that would end the show (the sad guitar strum that starts the song, heard after Khrushchev’s “I wept”), provide something lively but dark for the curtain call, and go long enough to get everyone out of the theater…and it’s a 5 minute plus arrangement.

The Band: Of course, the Drop Kick Murphys are a Boston-based Irish band, as were the Kennedys…

and finally…

The Obscure: The band is famous for its hit rendition of “Tessie,” the anthem of the 1903 Red Sox championship team. It recorded it in 2004, the year the Sox finally won the World Series. The original “Tessie” used to be sung at games by the “Royal Rooters,” a fanatic group of Red Sox supporters whose leader was Boston mayor “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald…the maternal grandfather of JFK and RFK!

(And, on a personal note, it is the favorite band of my 13 year-old son, Grant, who ran the sound board when you saw the show!)

Thanks again!