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Rating:
When it seemed that punk rock had already showcased its best with epochal releases like the first Ramones album, Sex Pistols' "Never Mind The Bollocks," and The Clash's debut work, the Ramones, at the height of punk's explosion in '77, challenged everything with the deadly "Rocket To Russia," the third album of their dazzling career and the best R'n'R album ever according to the authoritative (then...) Rolling Stone.
Here lies the essence of Ramones-thought: breathtaking rhythms, a penchant for writing memorable tracks with three chords, and an underlying melody that no punk group (even future ones...) has ever managed to come close to. To even mention a single track from this record seems limiting, firstly due to the extremely high quality of the songs, and secondly because most of these have been an integral part of the band's phenomenal live performances for years. Just citing "Cretin Hop," "Rockaway Beach," and "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" is enough to consider this album a masterpiece which, by Johnny and Joey's own admission, is THE RECORD par excellence of the New York quartet that will forever be punk rock as we know it and how we wish it were. With "Rocket To Russia," the Ramones laid the groundwork for the 90s punk rock revival, emerging, even many years after its release, as the true pioneers of the most important musical genre of the past thirty years.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Cretin Hop (01:56)
There's no stoppin' the cretins from hoppin'
you gotta keep it beatin'
for all the hoppin' cretins
cretin! cretin!
I'm gonna go for a whirl with my cretin girl
my feet won't stop
doing the cretin hop
cretin! cretin!
1 - 2 - 3 - 4
cretins wanna hop some more
4 - 5 - 6 - 7
all good cretins go to heaven
(Repeat)
02 Rockaway Beach (02:06)
Chewin' out a rhythm on my bubble gum
The sun is out and I want some
It's not hard, not far to reach
We can hitch a ride
To Rockaway Beach
Up on the roof, out on the street
Down in the playground, the hot concrete
Bus ride is too slow
They blast out the disco on the radio
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach
We can hitch a ride
To Rockaway Beach
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach
We can hitch a ride
To Rockaway Beach
It's not hard, not far to reach
We can hitch a ride
To Rockaway beach
It's not hard, not far to reach
We can hitch a ride
To Rockaway beach
Chewin' out a rhythm on my bubble gum
The sun is out and I want some
It's not hard, not far to reach
We can hitch a ride
To Rockaway Beach
Up on the roof, out on the street
Down in the playground, the hot concrete
Bus ride is too slow
They blast out the disco on the radio
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach
We can hitch a ride
To Rockaway Beach
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach
We can hitch a ride
To Rockaway Beach
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach
Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach
We can hitch a ride
To Rockaway Beach
05 I Don't Care (01:39)
"I don't care
I don't care
I don't care
About this world
I don't care
About that girl
I don't care
I don't care
I don't care
I don't care
About these words
REPEAT "
06 Sheena Is a Punk Rocker (02:49)
Well the kids are all hopped up and ready to go
They're ready to go now
They got their surfboards
And they're going to the Discotheque Au Go Go
But she just couldn't stay
She had to break away
Well New York City really has it all
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker now.
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker now.
She's a punk punk, a punk rocker
Punk punk, a punk rocker
Punk punk, a punk rocker.
Well the kids are all hopped up and ready to go
They're ready to go now
They got their surfboards
And they're going to the Discotheque Au Go Go
But she just couldn't stay
She had to break away
Well New York City really has it all
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker now.
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker now.
She's a punk punk, a punk rocker
Punk punk, a punk rocker
Punk punk, a punk rocker.
07 We're a Happy Family (02:31)
We're a happy family
we're a happy family
we're a happy family
me mom and daddy
We're a happy family
we're a happy family
we're a happy family
me mom and daddy
Sitting here in Queens
eating refried beans
we're in all the magazines
gulpin' down thorazines
we ain't got no friends
our troubles never end
no Christmas cards to send
Daddy likes men
Daddy's telling lies
baby's eating flies
mommy's on pills
baby's got the chills
I'm friends with the president
I'm friends with the pope
we're all making a fortune
selling daddy's dope
Sitting here in Queens
eating refried beans
we're in all the magazines
gulpin' down thorazines
we ain't got no friends
our troubles never end
no Christmas cards to send
Daddy likes men
We're a happy family
we're a happy family
we're a happy family
me mom and daddy
We're a happy family
we're a happy family
we're a happy family
me mom and daddy...
08 Teenage Lobotomy (02:01)
Lobotomy, lobotomy, lobotomy, lobotomy!
DDT did a job on me
Now I am a real sickie
Guess I'll have to break the news
That I got no mind to lose.
All the girls are in love with me
I'm a teenage lobotomy.
Slugs and snails are after me
DDT keeps me happy
Now I guess I'll have to tell 'em
That I got no cerebellum.
Gonna get my Ph.D.
I'm a teenage lobotomy.
REPEAT
11 I Can't Give You Anything (02:01)
You better know what you want you know how little I got
I can't give you anything I can't give you anything I can't give you anything
You better know what you want you know how little I got
I can't give you anything I can't give you anything I can't give you anything
You think I'm real cute but who's gonna bring home the loot?
Make up your mind about hope you don't doubt, that
I can't give you anything I can't give you anything I can't give you anything
You better know what you want You know how little I got
I can't give you anything I can't give you anything I can't give you anything
You think I'm real cute but who's gonna bring home the loot?
Make up your mind about hope you don't doubt, that
I can't give you anything I can't give you anything I can't give you anything
12 Ramona (02:37)
hey jonny hey dee dee, little tom and joey.
you know its coming over. sweet sweet little ramona
it's getting better an better.things getting easier than ever.
hey you kids in the craud you know you like it whn the music is laud.
sweet sweet little ramona she allways tries to come over.
sweet sweet little ramona I think i'll try to fone her.
I let her in, if you wondering why.
cos shes a spy for the BBI
I let her in and I started to cry.
and then I knew I whanted to die..
uuuuh uh uh little ramona
13 Surfin' Bird (02:37)
Well everybody's heard about the bird
Bird is the word
Don't you know about the bird well everybody knows that the bird is a word
Bird is a word
14 Why Is It Always This Way? (02:15)
Hey hey hey why is it always this way? Hey hey hey why is it always this way?
Last time I saw her alive she was wavin', wavin' bye bye
She was contemplating suicide now she's lying in a bottle of formaldehyde
And oh, I just don't know why I can't let her go oh I just don't know
Hey hey hey why is it always this way? Hey hey hey why is it always this way?
Last time I saw her alive she was going to the wash and dry
She was outside hitchin' a ride now she's lying in a bottle of formaldehyde
And oh, I just don't know why I can't let her go oh I just don't know
Hey hey hey why is it always this way? Hey hey hey why is it always this way?
Hey hey hey why is it always this way? Hey hey hey why is it always this way?
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By panlio malmieri
Notoriously, the true inventors of punk are the American Ramones, in a demented and euphoric version, before the British made it depressing with nihilism and political commitment.
An anthem to cretinism, bearer of lightheartedness, indeed seems to be the opening track ('Cretin Hop').
