BOSTON – Neither the Massachusetts state house or senate were in session, but that wasn’t the reason very little work got done at the Statehouse Friday.

The World Series champion Boston Red Sox (sounds great, doesn’t it?) – more specifically catcher Jason Varitek and Series MVP Manny Ramirez – dropped by to pay their respects to an appreciative throng of thousands of fans and well-wishers during a victory rally at the plaza on a warm and sunny afternoon.

Standing before a backdrop featuring a giant, blue-and-white Red Sox banner hanging from the Statehouse balcony, Varitek and Ramirez received thunderous applause from fans squeezed into every available space on the plaza grounds – behind the wrought iron fence, around the rose bushes, on top of monuments – on the balcony, across the street, and even at the windows of nearby buildings during much of the hour-long ceremony that also featured a performance by the Dropkick Murphys, a mainstream Celtic rock band which remade the song that became the official anthem of the Red Sox … Again.

“This is just so overwhelming. I didn’t know they were coming until I got to work today,” said Kelly McDermott, a legal counsel for the criminal justice committee from Franklin, Mass., who had her picture taken with Ramirez. “There’s not much work being done today.”

Varitek and Ramirez found it difficult to describe the reaction they’ve received since helping the Sox win their first Series crown in 86 years.

“You can’t explain, with everything that we’ve put into it and everything this city and the whole region’s been through for so many years,” Varitek said. “It didn’t really hit me probably until late yesterday afternoon and this makes it hit home even more.

“And this is probably just a little piece of what’s ahead for us tomorrow.”

That would be a three-mile-long victory parade expected to draw four million fans – which would be more than double the largest estimated crowd to attend an event in Boston-area history, according to Boston Globe archives.

“I’ve been here four years and this is the place to be.” Ramirez said. “If you’re going to win a World Series, this is the place to do it.”

“I just cherish it,” said Varitek, who can become a free agent this offseason. “We always said there would be no greater place to win a championship than here and now I’m actually starting to see what that feels like.”

After the Sox duo was presented with plaques and hailed by state politicians, the Dropkick Murphys, a septet which has recorded five albums since starting up in 1996, played “Tessie,” a reworked, rock-and-roll version of a Broadway hit song that became the anthem for the 1903 Boston Pilgrims and was credited with helping to rally the Pilgrims back for a World Series victory over Pittsburgh.

Originally sung by the original Boston diehard fans known as “The Royal Rooters,” Tessie has been rediscovered by area fans and radio stations alike and has propelled Dropkick Murphys, a Boston band named after an infamous hangout, into notoriety.

“It was an old rehab back in the ’40s and ’50s and we kind of just stole it from hearing old people talk about it,” said bass guitarist and band “godfather” Ken Casey.

“Tessie” was remade at the request of Red Sox executive vice president Dr. Charles Steinberg and Boston Herald writer Jeff Horrigan.

“We were in Europe and they got hold of Ken and approached him about doing it,” said Scruffy Wallace, a Scotsman who hails from South-End-On-Sea, Essex, and now lives in Calgary, Alberta. “They sent us like a 100-year-old version and asked what we could do with it to try and rekindle the spirit from 1918.”

Little did Wallace, who says only his mother knows his real first name, or anyone else in the band know how big a hit their reworked classic would become.

“It’s been amazing and we’re really honored and fortunate to be attached with the Red Sox and having them make this their official anthem,” Wallace said. “It’s been crazy. It’s a roller-coaster ride and I’m still exhausted from the whole playoff experience.

“This has far surpassed our expectations of anything. It’s almost overwhelming. I can’t even imagine what the guys on the Sox feel.”

Casey, a native of nearby Milton, is a hardcore Boston sports fan. His band played for the Boston Bruins last year.

“They knew the band, and we’re big fans, so it wasn’t a hard sell,” Casey said. “It’s funny, it all goes hand in hand with the team’s performance. When they were down 0-3 to the Yankees, I had friends calling me and calling me names and telling me to stay away. Now all of a sudden they’re calling us the good luck charm.”

The Murphys have played Fenway four times this season (once before the final regular-season series against the Yankees, once before the Angels series, once before the American League Championship Series, and once before the World Series), and their version of Tessie is played on the park’s P.A. system after every victory.

“The song hopefully will be somehow associated in people’s minds with this season and it’s a pretty good season to associate with,” Casey said.

All proceeds from the song’s sales and licensing profits go directly to the Jimmy Fund, the Red Sox chief charity, which fights children’s cancer and is an arm of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

“Yeah, that’s the other big winner in all of this,” said Wallace, who became a Red Sox fan last year shortly after joining the band in February.

“To be honest with you, when I was with these guys on the tour last year, the only thing the guys would watch was baseball and I got dragged into it,” Wallace admitted. “I’m a hockey fan, but don’t tell anyone. Now it’s hockey, and then baseball, too.”

“Being with these guys, and being part of this, I feel really fortunate to share in the experience of finally bringing the pennant back to Boston. It’s just a really exciting time to be here.”