Willie Loco - "At the Rat"

This is the first song to celebrate the Rat. It was on Live At the Rat (1976) on Rat Records, how perfect. Hearing it those early days was one of the highlights of being out there in the clubs - and yes, Willie sang it at every club not just the Rat. You still can catch the delirious joy of the whole thing by listing to Willie on the Live at the Rat album.

Nervous Eaters -
"Rock and Roll Your Heart Away"/"528"

This was recorded after The Rat closed in November 1997. "528" refers to the Rat address on Commonwealth Ave. Steve Cataldo wrote about the club, the scene and the personalities. If you where there in the early days this song could make you teary eyed.
The group did an update of the song now titled "Rock and Roll Your Heart Away" for their Wicked Cool release. The song is so strong that the album was titled from it.

Mach 5- "Kenmore Square"

Mach Bell played The Rat a lot with Thundertrain. He was in Mach 5 in 2005 when he penned this for the Meet the Mach 5 album. Mach captured the loss here. He piles up what's missing and then resignedly says, "Say goodbye to Kenmore Square. Bye Bye".

The Scrapes - There's a Hole In My Heart
(Where The Rat Used To Be)"

They mention bands Left Nut and the F.U.s and All Mod Cons playing in the Balcony. The line, "Kenmore Square is dead to me" reflects what a lot of us Rat rockers think now.

We saw The Scrapes a few times near the end of their run. They were a fine band and this song is a gem. The title informs you of the depth of emotion people have about the club.

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones -
"I Want My City Back"

Boy, do the lyrics capture what a lot of people think.
The lyrics mention 1995. The Rat closed in 1997 but things were changing before that.

Up around '95
Sailing down Storrow Drive
Left exit into Kenmore Square
Slowed down when I got there
And that's when it was crystal clear
It wasn't there, it wasn't where I left it, when I left it

I want my city back
Back the way it used to be
I want it back the way it was
I looked around and found this doesn't feel like my hometown
And i don't like the way it does feel

Street Dogs - "Poor, Poor Jimmy"

We were tipped off on this on Facebook. You can tell the writer had some real Rat hanging out time. The Jimmy in "Poor Poor Jimmy" is Jimmy Harold, owner of the Rat. The Street Dogs wonder: "Poor poor Jimmy/Why did you sell The Rat?/Poor poor Jimmy/Must be hard looking back". Well, that's tale that we won't go into here.

They also sing, "In that old shit-hole (man did it stink)/But it was our favorite place to drink". It didtn't smell like a rose garden, that's for sure.
They have a big revel when saying they would, " be punk rockers (at least for the weekend)/No one was real, we all were faking it!" Well, not everyone was faking it, especially in the early days.
This song is of the self titled Street Dogs album from 2010.

The Queers - "I Meet Her At the Rat"

The Queers do their best Ramones style blast for their version of a Rat song.

Mike Viola - "Kenmore Square"

Mike was a young prodigy that has fulfilled his early promise. This was released in 1990. The album was also titled Kenmore Square.
Mike's latest album (2025) is titled Rock of Boston. In that he has several references to the Boston scene. He mentions WBCN whose motto was, of course, the Rock of Boston.

Steve Geraci- "Kenmore, No More"

D-Tension - "Kenmore, Square"

Billy Ruane - "Varsity Drag"

Terry Kitchen - "Ghosts of Kenmore Square"

Billy West and Tom Sandman -
"Christmas in Kenmore Square"

Brett Milano came up with this one from 1985/86. We faintly remembered it. Billy West is the famous voice actor. Billy worked and hung out at WBCN. He did the lunch time parodies on the Tom Sandman show.
We saw Billy and a bunch of musicians in the Rat Balcony covering tunes. Billy was an adept musician. He led the Beach Boys songs. This song of course uses those Beach Boys harmonies.
The album was sponsored by WBCN. The song was written by Billy West.

It fake romanticizes Kenmore Square for funny effect.
"You don't need any Christmas lights/'cause the Citco sign is there"
"Santa's wearing red leather and studs/
but he can't park his sled nowhere/
because Santa forgot/ there ain't no legal parking spot/ in Kenmore Square".

The Dogmatics -
"X'mas Time (It Sure Doesn't Feel Like It)"

Once we heard "Christmas in Kenmore Square" we were imediatly reminded of The Dogmatics "X'mas Time (It Sure Doesn't Feel Like It)"
The song mentions Filenes and the Common but Kenmore Square is right there in the first verse.

The Luggnuts - "True Believer"

Here's an obsure one. The Luggnuts are local. They wrote a song in memory of drummer Matt Burns who died in 2024. He's much missed. In their song which does a great job in bringing back thoughts of Matt, they mention The Rat and Kenmore Square.

Lyrics:
"He played at the Midway, Middle East, TT’s and the Rat/
Opened once for Dream Syndicate, he liked to talk about that/
It was a big night out in Kenmore Square/
I was lucky enough to be there/
To see him in his glory, sticks flying on a riser in the back."

Here's the link to "True Belieber" by The Luggnuts.