Warning: this article contains spoilers for the movie Sinners.

Ryan Coogler’s new horror movie Sinners uses vampires as a method of conveying its story and themes, including through its villain Remmick and his performance of “The Rocky Road To Dublin.” Sinners centers on twin brothers, Smoke and Stack, who return to their Mississippi hometown from Chicago in order to open a juke joint. As the two prepare for their opening night, they recruit help, including that of Sammie, an incredibly talented musician. Sammie’s music serves as an important catalyst in Sinners, as his talent draws the vampire Remmick towards the club and unknowingly endangers the patrons.

Remmick senses Sammie’s music and desires to possess it for himself, helping the film explore how Black culture has historically been co-opted by white Americans, a point previously touched on by other characters as well. The musical performances by Sammie are not the only ones featured leading up to Sinners‘ bittersweet ending. Remmick and his vampires get a few moments to show off their own musical abilities. This includes a big set piece for “The Rocky Road To Dublin,” a 19th-century Irish song. It’s used to help further explore the real meaning of Sinners.

The Real Meaning Of The “The Rocky Road To Dublin” Song

The Song Describes A Man’s Journey Away From Home

When Remmick and his two followers approach the juke joint but are not allowed inside, they move slightly away from the entrance and begin playing their own music. When Stack is later bitten and patrons hurry to leave the establishment, they are quickly bombarded by the vampires and turned. Those remaining inside begin to hear music, and it is revealed that all the new vampires are singing and dancing to Remmick’s rendition of the Irish folk song “The Rocky Road to Dublin.”

The scene shows that the vampires in Sinners all have some sort of shared consciousness, enabling them to easily join in, but perhaps more importantly, it gives crucial insight into Remmick’s backstory. Despite saying that he is from North Carolina, Remmick’s Irish accent comes out for the first time during his song, hinting at his true origins. “The Rocky Road to Dublin” tells the story of an Irish man from County Galway who travels across the country and eventually to England.

The song’s protagonist initially leaves his home with the goal of making money and a name for himself. However, as he gets further from home, he encounters problems and people unwilling to help him because of where he is from. This is first seen in Dublin, where his “Connaught brogue / Wasn’t much in vogue,” showing that his accent created judgment. Later, the narrator states “The boys of Liverpool /…/ Called meself a fool,” before being aided by fellow men from Galway, implying that as he traveled farther from home, only similar people were willing to help him.

Even Remmick’s Dance In “The Rocky Road To Dublin” Has A Deeper Meaning

Irish Dancing Was Banned Under British Restrictions

Remmick’s rendition of “The Rocky Road to Dublin” mirrors his own journey from his home country before eventually ending up in the American south, and the song depicts the pride that he still has in his heritage. The song itself is quite an important folk song, but it is made even more meaningful by the dance that accompanies it. During the scene, as the other vampires circle and dance around him, Remmick does an Irish dance in the middle. The dance in itself is significant because of the restrictions that Irish culture faced under British colonialism.

Both the song and the dance that Remmick performs would both have been banned by British Penal Laws. While there were laws obstructing traditional Irish cultural practices, this does not mean that dancing fully stopped (via World Irish Dance ᴀssociation). Because the practice was strongly tied to Irish cultural idenтιтy, Irish dancing instead became a form of defiance to British imposition. In this sense, Remmick’s dance in Sinners is just as important as his song, as both help explore who he was before he came to the United States and how he connects to his own culture.

Sinners Uses “The Rocky Road To Dublin” To Explore Another Side Of Racism

The Song Explores British Colonization Of Ireland

Part of what makes Sinners so interesting is that even though Remmick is a formidable villain that audiences may struggle to empathize with, the movie does hint that he has experienced his own type of discrimination. “The Rocky Road to Dublin” helps highlight this through the discrimination that the song’s protagonist faces first in Ireland because of his distinctive accent and later in Liverpool because he is Irish. The song ends on a bittersweet note as he does eventually find solace in a group of others from Galway despite his previous troubles.

Throughout the song, the narrator faces poor treatment from those around him, and it is clear that Remmick is deeply moved by the words. Ireland has a centuries-long history of being colonized by the British and being treated as lesser. Sinners is able to explore that history subtly through the use of “The Rocky Road to Dublin” without directly outlining the history itself, which could detract focus from the main plot of the film. This is done slightly more explicitly at the end of the film, when Remmick speaks to Sammie about religion being forced on him.

Sinners Smartly Parallels The Experiences Of The Irish & Black Americans

Remmick Seems To Believe On Some Level That He Can Help The Club’s Attendees

While the experiences of Black Americans and Irish people certainly have a lot of differences and nuances, there are also some similarities as well, and Sinners does highlight those a bit through Remmick. The character is introduced as a racist white man attempting to gain help from KKK members, but as the film progresses, his standing is more complex than it initially seems. Remmick himself is a victim of discrimination for his Irish idenтιтy and for being an immigrant, but he is also simultaneously using his privilege as a white man to victimize others.

This duality is seen in his attempt to turn Sammie as a way to access his music and Black culture more broadly, while claiming that if he turns the survivors, they can all attack the KKK together. Remmick’s past becomes even more clear at the end of the film when Sammie begins to recite the Lord’s Prayer. Remmick recounts to the younger man how long ago people came to his home and subdued his beliefs, forcing Christianity in their place.

As has often been the case for Black people in America, Irish culture was taken from Remmick, and despite his attempts to rebel or connect with Irish culture on his own, that treatment still haunts him. Ultimately, Remmick is the result of centuries of displacement and disrespect and, on some level, he mirrors the Black patrons of the club. Remmick understands what it feels like to have one’s culture and idenтιтy forcibly taken. However, he is still more concerned with his own plans and desires, showing just how complex Sinners‘ characters truly are.

Source: World Irish Dance ᴀssociation