Openly discussing heroin addiction based on real-life experiences, "Chinese Rock" was first recorded by Hell's former band, The Heartbreakers, and later by Dee Dee's band the Ramones.
Hell and Dee Dee were in agreement that the song was mainly written by Dee Dee. "The reason I wrote that song was out of spite for Richard Hell, because he told me he was going to write a song better than Lou Reed's "Heroin", so I went home and wrote 'Chinese Rocks', Dee Dee is quoted in Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. "I wrote it by myself, in Debbie Harry's apartment on First Avenue and First Street."
According to Dee Dee, the song was "about Jerry Nolan, of The Heartbreakers calling me up to come over and go cop" heroin, a form of which was known in those days as Chinese Rocks. "The line 'My girlfriend's crying in the shower stall' was about Connie, and the shower was at Arturo Vega's loft," where Dee Dee, his girlfriend Connie and Joey Ramone all lived at one point.
Dee Dee wanted to record the song with the Ramones, but bandmate Johnny Ramone vetoed it, claiming that the song was too obviously drug-related. Dee Dee then took it to Richard Hell, also with The Heartbreakers at the time. "Dee Dee called me one day and said, 'I wrote a song that the Ramones won't do,'" Hell recalled. "He said, 'It's not finished. How about I come over and show it to you and we can finish it if you like it?'"
According to Hell, "What happened is really clear, and the songwriting credits can all be checked at BMI. The song is by me and Dee Dee, but Dee Dee did 75 percent of it. I mean, all I did was write two verses out of three. Dee Dee wrote the music, the concept was his. He's basically responsible for it. But he brought me the song; he didn't even know Johnny and Jerry, but we were friends and he thought the band was great. And when the Ramones didn't want to do the song he said, 'Look, I've written one verse of this song with the chorus and it's about heroin, how about you write the rest of it and it's yours?'"And that's what he did." Dee Dee similarly recalled, "Richard Hell put that line in, so I gave him some credit."
The Heartbreakers
There were differing recollections about how the song became part of The Heartbreakers' repertoire. Richard Hell said, "I brought it to the next rehearsal, exactly as it was done by the Heartbreakers for all those years. I would sing it because it was a song I brought in." Dee Dee, on the other hand, wrote in his memoir, "When Jerry was over at my place one day, we did some dope and then I played him my song, and he took it with him to a Heartbreakers' rehearsal."
In either case, the song became one of the band's most popular songs. As Hell states, "After I left the Heartbreakers, they kept playing 'Chinese Rocks' and then ended up recording it" for the band's 1977 debut album, L.A.M.F.. "And they put all of their names on it, though nothing had changed about the song--they just added their names to it. Johnny Thunders... had nothing to do with 'Chinese Rocks' at all."
All vinyl pressings L.A.M.F. including the 1984 L.A.M.F. Revisited album continued to credit the song writers as, Thunders, Heartbreakers' drummer Jerry Nolan as well as Ramone and Hell. It was only after the deaths of Thunders and Nolan that the credit was changed. However, both the 1994 and 2002 CD reissues of L.A.M.F. now name the three Ramones as the writers Joey, Johnny Ramone and Dee Dee—but not Hell.
"The credits are false," Dee Dee wrote in 1997. "Johnny Thunders ranked on me for fourteen years, trying to make out like he wrote the song. What a low-life maneuver by those guys!"[5] The online databases for both ASCAP and BMI, however, credit the song to just Dee Dee Ramone and Hell.
In the Heartbreakers' live performances of the song, Thunders would often change the lyrics to more explicit ones.
The Ramones
On the Ramones' original recording of the song on their 1980 album End of the Century, the song is credited to "D.D.Ramone/R.Hell". However, it later appeared on the Ramones' CD rerelease of End of the Century credited to the Ramones as a whole, with no mention of Richard Hell.
The Ramones' version is called "Chinese Rock", with no s on the end. There is another slight lyrical difference between the versions: The Heartbreakers' lyrics begin, "Somebody calls me on the phone / They say hey hey is Dee Dee home", while the Ramones change "Dee Dee" to "Arty", an apparent reference to Arturo Vega, in whose loft the song is set. Vega was a long-time friend of the band and the designer of the Ramones' "presidential seal" logo. However, in live performances after Dee Dee left the band, Joey Ramone sometimes did sing "Dee Dee" instead of "Arty" (as on the Ramones' 1991 live CD Loco Live).
Dee Dee Ramone has stated in interviews that he feels proud of the song, it being one of his best known tracks, but that the song became a "pain in the ass" for him as he repeatedly tried to get clean and was mistakenly regarded by many fans as a "heroin guru" promoting drug usage rather than just documenting it.
Chinese Rocks
Johnny Thunders Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
They said, "Hey, is Dee Dee home?
Do you wanna take a walk? You wanna go cop?
You wanna go get some Chinese Rocks?
I'm living on a Chinese Rock
All my best things are in hock
I'm living on a Chinese Rock
The plaster's falling off the wall
My girlfriend's crying in the shower stall
It's hot as a bitch, I shoulda been rich
Now, I'm just digging a Chinese ditch
I'm living on a Chinese Rock
All my best things are in hock
I'm living on a Chinese Rock
Everything is in the pawn shop, it is
Ooh, aah, ooh, aah
The plaster's falling off the wall
My girlfriend's crying in the shower stall
It's hot as a bitch, I shoulda been rich
Now, I'm just digging a Chinese ditch
I'm living on a Chinese Rock
I'm living on a Chinese Rock
I'm living on a Chinese Rock
I'm living on a Chinese Rock
I'm living on a Chinese Rock
I'm living on a Chinese Rock
The song "Chinese Rocks" by Johnny Thunders tells the story of a drug addict perhaps who is running out of options and is living on the edge. The singer of the song is faced with an offer to go out and get "Chinese Rocks", a slang term for heroin. He reflects on his current state and paints a bleak picture of his life where everything he owned had been pawned off or sold to support his drug habit. His apartment's plaster is falling off, and his girlfriend is crying in the shower. He acknowledges his bad choices in life and is bitter about the fact that he could have been rich if he had made different choices.
The lyrics are raw and honest in their portrayal of the effects of drug addiction on an individual's life. The imagery of the falling plaster and the crying girlfriend brings a sense of despair and hopelessness to the song. The chorus of the song, "I'm living on a Chinese Rock, all my best things are in hock" is a powerful statement that sums up the singer's current state of life. Overall, the song is a poignant commentary on the impact of drugs on the lives of people and the harsh realities that come with addiction.
Line by Line Meaning
Somebody called me on the phone
I received a phone call from someone
They said, "Hey, is Dee Dee home?
The caller asked if Dee Dee was home
Do you wanna take a walk? You wanna go cop?
The caller asked if I wanted to take a walk or if I wanted to go buy some drugs
You wanna go get some Chinese Rocks?
The caller asked if I wanted to buy heroin, which is often referred to as "Chinese Rocks"
I'm living on a Chinese Rock
I am heavily addicted to heroin
All my best things are in hock
I have sold or pawned all of my valuable possessions to support my drug addiction
Everything is in the pawn shop, it is
All of my belongings are now in pawn shops
The plaster's falling off the wall
The physical state of my living situation is deteriorating
My girlfriend's crying in the shower stall
My significant other is upset and crying
It's hot as a bitch, I shoulda been rich
I am in unpleasant circumstances and regret not being wealthy
Now, I'm just digging a Chinese ditch
I am in a perilous situation and have dug myself into a metaphorical hole, like a ditch used for Chinese laborers
I'm living on a Chinese Rock
I am still heavily addicted to heroin
Ooh, aah, ooh, aah
This is a portion of the chorus with nonsensical words used to create a catchy tune
I'm living on a Chinese Rock
I am still heavily addicted to heroin
I'm living on a Chinese Rock
I am still heavily addicted to heroin
I'm living on a Chinese Rock
I am still heavily addicted to heroin
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Dee Dee Ramone, Douglas Colvin, Jeffrey Hyman, Joey Ramone, John (ramone) Cummings, Johnny Ramone
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind