If I Have To: Five Songs By The Ramones
By: Sarah L. Myers
1. “Danny Says” (End of the Century) - I once wrote an entire essay on this track from the album produced by Phil Spector. I always thought of it as Joey’s song. His voice is so affecting - sitting around in LA, longing for New York City, thinking about that special girl, and that perfect line “we can’t go surfin’ cause it’s twenty below.” With all of Spector’s additions, Johnny’s Mosrite could have been lost, but it comes in beautifully after the first verse. Still my favorite Ramones song after 14 years of being a fan.
2. “I Wanna Live” (Halfway to Sanity) - The only thing cooler is the video - a spoof of Bon Jovi’s “Dead or Alive”, featuring road footage like Joey pulling a mouse out of a take-out container, and a “guitar cam.” It’s also pure Dee Dee (“as I loaded my pistol, fine German steel”), with a more hardcore sound, yet still really melodic with a three-chord solo. I played this so much that it’s still the only song that skips on my copy of Ramones Mania.
3. “Pet Sematary” (Brain Drain) - Joey used to introduce this one onstage with “Do we have any Stephen King fans in the house tonight?” King even used “Hey ho, let’s go” as a recurring thread in his novel of the same name. Dee Dee’s vision is haunting - “under the arc of a weather-stained board,” and the video is even more so. In the end, The Ramones are buried alive by Debbie Harry, Jean Beauvoir, and a couple of pinheads.
4. “A Real Cool Time” (Halfway to Sanity) - This is the song that made me fall even more in love with Joey. (The first was “I Want You Around”). “When I saw you at the Cat Club you looked really kind of cool now.” Upbeat, catchy, and cool, it’s another of their great pop songs that should have been a number one hit.
5. “My My Kind of Girl” (Subterranean Jungle) - Joey romances us once more. It’s tender and idyllic, just like the lyrics of his beloved girl groups of the 1960s. “And this time I think it’s forever, I hope your parents understand.” Quintessential Joey, who was always described as an optimist and true romantic, he meets his girl at the jukebox when they play the same song.
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