US CELTIC PUNK band the Dropkick Murphys have effectively sent a ‘cease and desist’ warning to Wisconson State Governor Scott Walker, after the Republican politician used one of the most famous songs as his entrance music.

The recently re-elected Governor, known for presiding over controversial budget cuts, used their hit ‘Shipping up to Boston’ as his entrance music at an event on Saturday.

Walker was greeted with a standing ovation at the Iowa Freedom Summit, Bloomberg Politics notes — but the band weren’t happy with his choice of track…

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks during the Freedom Summit. Source: Charlie Neibergall

According to Bloomberg:

Representatives for Walker, the Iowa Freedom Summit, and the Dropkick Murphys did not respond to a request for comment on the issue.

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Walker certainly can’t say he wasn’t warned. The band also hit out at the Republican party for use of the track — best known as the main theme of ‘The Departed’ — back in 2012, writing on Facebook…

“We just got word that Wisconsin State Rep and Speaker of the State Assembly Jeff Fitzgerald used “Shipping Up To Boston” as his walk-on song yesterday at the Wisconsin GOP Convention in Green Bay.

The stupidity and irony of this is laughable. A Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senate candidate – and crony of anti-Union Governor Scott Walker – using a Dropkick Murphys song as an intro is like a white supremacist coming out to gangsta rap.

The group added:

We stand beside our Union and Labor brothers and sisters and their families in Wisconsin and all over the U.S.

High-profile Republicans have a long history of upsetting musicians by purloining their compositions for campaign use. Bruce Springsteen even had to take Ronald Reagan to task back in 1984 for his use of ‘Born in the USA’. The folks at Rolling Stone have put together an impressive chronology.