According to Standells lead singer Larry Tamblyn, at least some of the song was inspired by a mugging of Cobb in Boston. In addition to the river, other local interest items in the song include the Boston University women's curfew—"Frustrated women... have to be in by 12 o'clock"—and a passing mention of the Boston Strangler—"have you heard about the Strangler?." Boston is also home to Simmons College, a women's college that, like many such institutions, had a curfew for students. Cambridge, on the opposite banks of the Charles River, was home to Radcliffe College, then the women's college counterpart to Harvard College. There is disagreement regarding the identity of the "frustrated women". In a city with many colleges and universities, as well as a large Navy presence, it could be purposefully unspecific.
Reception
First issued in late 1965 on the Tower label, a subsidiary of Capitol Records, the song debuted April 30, 1966 on the Cash Box charts and peaked at #8. It reached #11 on the Billboardsingles charts on June 11. It was the band's first major hit single; their earlier charting record, "The Boy Next Door", had only reached #102 on Billboards Bubbling Under chart in February 1965. Although "Dirty Water" is beloved by the city of Boston and its sports fans, the song first became a hit in the state of Florida, breaking out on WLOF in Orlando in January 1966. Dirty Water was also the title of the Standells' most successful LP, their only nationally charting album. This LP charted on both Billboard and Cash Box magazines' charts, peaking at #52 and #39, respectively, during the summer of 1966. The song is traditionally played by Boston sports teams following home victories. The National Hockey League's Boston Bruins began playing the song in 1995, and Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox followed suit after home victories beginning in the 1997 season. The surviving Standells have performed the song at Fenway Park from atop the Green Monster. The song's famous guitar riff was recorded with a Fender Telecaster through a Vox AC30 amplifier by Standells guitarist Tony Valentino. The song is also included in the soundtrack for the film Fever Pitch'', which includes the Boston Red Sox leading up to the 2004 World Series. "Dirty Water" was included in the influential compilation album ', and is listed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". Though the song is credited solely to Cobb, band members Dodd, Valentino, and Tamblyn have claimed substantial material-of-fact song composition copyright contributions to it as well as contributing to its arrangement.
Covers and samples
British garage rock revivalists The Inmates covered "Dirty Water" in 1979, a version which was a moderate hit and reached #51 on the BillboardHot 100 singles chart in January 1980. This song was promoted with customized promo versions recorded for many towns distributed to radio stations. For example, the promo copy played on Jackson, Mississippi's WZZQ said "Pearl River" and "Jackson you're my home".
The song is sampled at the beginning of "These Are the Days", the first track on The Ducky Boys' 1998 album Dark Days.
Icelandic indie band Singapore Sling covered it in its 2002 debut album The Curse of Singapore Sling, released in North America and Europe the following year.
Former Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo's 2005 cover album, Covering the Bases, includes a version of the song.
The Buffalo Sabres NHL team plays a cover version of this song before the beginning of the 3rd period. This version substitutes River Charles with Niagara River, and Boston is replaced with Buffalo.
