All of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname "Ramone", though none of them were related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years. In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played a farewell concert and disbanded. By a little more than eight years after the breakup, the band's three founding members—lead singer Joey Ramone, guitarist Johnny Ramone, and bassist Dee Dee Ramone—had died. Drummer Tommy Ramone, the last surviving original member, died in 2014.
Their only record with enough U.S. sales to be certified gold was the compilation album Ramones Mania. However, recognition of the band's importance built over the years, and they are now cited in many assessments of all-time great rock music, such as the Rolling Stone list of the 50 Greatest Artists of All Time and VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. In 2002, the Ramones were ranked the second-greatest band of all time by Spin magazine, trailing only The Beatles. On March 18, 2002, the Ramones—including the three founders and drummers Marky and Tommy Ramone—were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2011, the group was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Formation: 1974–1975
Forest Hills High School, attended by the four original members of the Ramones
The original members of the band met in and around the middle-class neighborhood of Forest Hills in the New York City borough of Queens. John Cummings and Tamás Erdélyi had both been in a high-school garage band from 1966 to 1967 known as the Tangerine Puppets. They became friends with Douglas Colvin, who had recently moved to the area from Germany, and Jeffry Hyman, who was the initial lead singer of the glam rock band Sniper, founded in 1972.
The Ramones began taking shape in early 1974, when Cummings and Colvin invited Hyman to join them in a band. The initial lineup featured Colvin on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Cummings on lead guitar, and Hyman on drums. Colvin, who soon switched from rhythm guitar to bass, was the first to adopt the name "Ramone", calling himself Dee Dee Ramone. He was inspired by Paul McCartney's use of the pseudonym Paul Ramon during his Silver Beatles days. Dee Dee convinced the other members to take on the name and came up with the idea of calling the band the Ramones. Hyman and Cummings became Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone, respectively.
A friend of the band, Monte A. Melnick (later their tour manager), helped to arrange rehearsal time for them at Manhattan's Performance Studios, where he worked. Johnny's former bandmate Erdélyi was set to become their manager. Soon after the band was formed, Dee Dee realized that he could not sing and play his bass guitar simultaneously; with Erdélyi's encouragement, Joey became the band's new lead singer.
Dee Dee would continue, however, to count off each song's tempo with his signature rapid-fire shout of "1-2-3-4!" Joey soon similarly realized that he could not sing and play drums simultaneously and left the position of drummer. While auditioning prospective replacements, Erdélyi would often take to the drums and demonstrate how to play the songs. It became apparent that he was able to perform the group's music better than anyone else, and he joined the band as Tommy Ramone.
The Ramones played before an audience for the first time on March 30, 1974, at Performance Studios. The songs they played were very fast and very short; most clocked in at under two minutes. Around this time, a new music scene was emerging in New York centered around two clubs in downtown Manhattan—Max's Kansas City and, more famously, CBGB (usually referred to as CBGB's). The Ramones made their CBGB debut on August 16. Legs McNeil, who cofounded Punk magazine the following year, later described the impact of that performance: "They were all wearing these black leather jackets. And they counted off this song...and it was just this wall of noise.... They looked so striking. These guys were not hippies. This was something completely new."
The band swiftly became regulars at the club, playing there seventy-four times by the end of the year. After garnering considerable attention for their performances—which averaged about seventeen minutes from beginning to end—the group was signed to a recording contract in late 1975 by Seymour Stein of Sire Records. Stein's wife, Linda Stein, had seen the band play at CBGB; she would later co-manage them along with Danny Fields. By this time, the Ramones were recognized as leaders of the new scene that was increasingly being referred to as "punk". The group's unusual frontman had a lot to do with their impact. As Dee Dee explained, "All the other singers [in New York] were copying David Johansen [of The New York Dolls], who was copying Mick Jagger.... But Joey was unique, totally unique."
The K.K.K. Took My Baby Away
Ramones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Said she's going to L.A.
But she never got there
She never got there
She never got there, they say
She went away for the holidays
Said she's going to L.A.
She never got there
She never got there, they say
The KKK took my baby away
They took her away
Away from me
The KKK took my baby away
They took her away
Away from me
Hey ho
Hey ho
I don't know where my baby can be
They took her from me
They took her from me
I don't know where my baby can be
They took her from me
They took her from me
Ring me, ring me ring me up
The President
Find out where my baby went
Ring me, ring me, ring me up
The FBI
And find out if my baby's alive
Yeah, yeah, yeah
oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
She went away for the holidays
Said she's going to L.A.
But she never got there
She never got there
She never got there, they say
She went away for the holidays
Said she's going to L.A.
But she never got there
She never got there
She never got there, they say
The KKK took my baby away
They took her away
Away from me
The KKK took my baby away
They took her away
Away from me
The KKK took my baby away
They took her away
Away from me
The KKK took my baby away
They took my girl
They took my baby away
The Ramones' song "The KKK Took My Baby Away" is about a betrayed lover whose girlfriend leaves for Los Angeles but never arrives, and he later finds out that she has been taken by the KKK. The song was written by Joey Ramone about his relationship with Linda Daniele, who was also the band's manager and Joey's girlfriend. Daniele had apparently cheated on Joey with the band's lead guitarist, Johnny Ramone, who Joey believed had links to the KKK.
The lyrics themselves reflect Joey Ramone's feelings of loss and betrayal, with the repetitive lines "She went away for the holidays, said she's going to L.A. But she never got there, she never got there, she never got there, they say" creating a somber and almost hypnotic effect. The chorus, "The KKK took my baby away, they took her away, away from me" is a direct accusation against Johnny and his alleged affiliation with the KKK. The bridge of the song is a plea for help to the United States President and the FBI to find out what happened to his girlfriend.
Line by Line Meaning
She went away for the holidays
My girlfriend left for vacation during the holiday season
Said she's going to L.A.
She told me she was headed to Los Angeles
But she never got there
Unfortunately, she never reached her destination
She never got there
She didn't make it to LA
She never got there, they say
I heard rumors that she didn't arrive at her intended location
The KKK took my baby away
The KKK, a white supremacist group, abducted my girlfriend
They took her away
The KKK forcefully took her and she was not able to escape
Away from me
She was taken away from me and I couldn't do anything to stop it
Hey ho
Chant-like expression meant to convey disappointment and sadness
I don't know where my baby can be
I'm unsure of her location and safety after being taken by the KKK
They took her from me
The KKK took her away from my life
Ring me, ring me ring me up
Call me, call me immediately
The President
The leader of the United States government
Find out where my baby went
Determine her location and safety
Ring me, ring me, ring me up
Call me, alert me to any updates
The FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation
And find out if my baby's alive
Determine if my girlfriend is still alive after being taken by the KKK
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Chant-like expression meant to convey urgency or importance
The KKK took my girl
The KKK took away the love of my life, my girlfriend
They took my baby away
The KKK forcefully and erroneously removed my significant other from my life
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DEE DEE RAMONE, JOEY RAMONE, JOHNNY RAMONE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@arsipepicroll2519
[LYRIC]
She went away for the holidays
Said she's going to L.A.
But she never got there
She never got there
She never got there, they say
The KKK took my baby away
They took her away
Away from me
The KKK took my baby away
They took her away
Away from me
Now I don't know
Where my baby can be
They took her from me
They took her from me
I don't know
Where my baby can be
They took her from me
They took her from me
Ring me, ring me ring me
Up the President
And find out
Where my baby went
Ring me, ring me, ring me
Up the FBI
And find out if
My baby's alive
Yeah, yeah, yeah
o o o o o o
o o o o o o
She went away for the holidays
The KKK took my baby away
They took my girl
They took my baby away
@SFCvalente
Ramones = The legend
@edermanriquez7996
Ramones >sexpistols÷dead keneddys%black Flag =. l.
@Tyler-nz5lv
The legends
@gwynnielsen5081
You've got to respect the Ramones for their memorable lyrics.
@seanbrewer1232
it's a little-known federal law that every American citizen is required to have one favorite Ramones song and one favorite David Bowie song.
This is my favorite song by The Ramones.
@lindsaybaugh4916
Mine is Beat in the Brat
@seanbrewer1232
@Lindsay Baugh great choice!
@nurcoxinha9509
mine is needle and pins
@Slammerworm1
'Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World' (Uncensored Version)
@Morbidous
That doesn't make sense since Bowie wasn't american.