One Of Us
After nearly a year of mourning the passing of a rock and roll giant in
Joey Ramone, after all the post 9-11 anxiety, the whole War on Terrorism
aftermath, how fitting, how wonderful, it is to hear from Joey Ramone one
last time, and how punk of him to do it from beyond the grave. His
posthumous solo debut CD, Don't Worry About Me is now out, and its
release couldn't be more timely. Joey's back, in a sense, for one last time,
and if he has anything to say about it, to paraphrase one of his songs,
we're gonna have a real good time, and everything's gonna be real fine.
It's easy to assume Don't Worry About Me is nothing more than a
shallow cash grab, the usual dog and pony show we always see when a rock
icon passes away, but after one listen, you're hit with the stunning fact
that this is one great record. Almost End of the Century great, or
Leave Home great. Let's face it, Joey was the Ramones (the
classic Ramones eagle logo is even used in the CD artwork), and this is the
best Ramones album since 1981's underrated Pleasant Dreams. Produced
by latter-day Ramones cohort Daniel Rey, the album bursts with vitality,
mixing the giddy, bubblegum pop of classic Ramones songs like "Oh Oh I Love
Her So" with heavier fare like "I Wanna Live".
Nobody from the punk era -- besides maybe Pete Shelley -- sung about love
better than Joey Ramone. People are quick to remember his sardonicism, his
dark humor that overflowed in songs like "Beat on the Brat", "I Wanna Be
Sedated", and "The KKK Took My Baby Away", but his best songs were always
his most optimistic ones -- the stories of how he wanted to be a girl's
boyfriend, about falling in love by the soda machine at the Burger King,
about missing his girl while on tour in Idaho, how she was the one. In fact,
on Don't Worry About Me, Ramone sounds the most optimistic he's been
in a long time, going back to when he sang "She's A Sensation" twenty years
ago, and the album's first four songs get things off to a spectacular start
in similarly ebullient fashion.
What a stroke of genius it was to cover "What a Wonderful World"! In just
over two minutes, Ramone claims Satchmo's long-overplayed standard as his
own, and manages to put just as much emotion into it, perhaps even more.
Daniel Rey launches the song with an opening riff that sounds neatly lifted
from End of the Century's "The Return of Jackie and Judy", before the
rest of the band, which includes Marky Ramone on drums (he plays on six of
the CD's 11 tracks), raucously (but tightly) chugs in. Ramone's vocals
resonate with joy, and he hits the high notes in the song with relative
ease. The performance of the song is note-perfect, shamelessly positive, and
packs a huge emotional wallop to boot.
"Stop Thinking About It" is a classic Ramones song in every sense, three
minutes of Rocket to Russia harmonies, something you'll be singing
along with at first listen. "Mr. Punchy" is simple, goofy fun, and features
whimsical guest vocals by British singer Helen Love and The Damned's Captain
Sensible. The closest thing to a throwaway track on the CD, it leads up to
the album's shining moment.
Ramone's ode to CNBC reporter Maria Bartiromo, aptly titled "Maria
Bartiromo", is the kind of song only Joey Ramone could write, and easily
fits in with the best songs from the first five Ramones albums. Here he
shows the connection he shared with all of us: he was a normal guy (albeit
very tall and odd-looking), not exactly a ladies' man, and was in no way
ashamed of having crushes on television reporters. A stock market
enthusiast, Ramone conveys his interest, singing, "What's happening on
Squawk Box? / What's happening with my stocks? / I want to know". but then
unabashedly (and charmingly) gives away his real reason for watching: "I
watch you on the TV every single day / Those eyes make everything okay".
By the time the fifth track on the album comes along, things get a bit
more interesting. The songs become considerably heavier (but not enough to
contrast too much from the first four tracks), and the lyrics become more
introspective. At times, painfully so, considering the illness Ramone was
battling at the time. "Venting (It's a Different World Today") is exactly
what the title indicates, with Ramone confessing, "I just don't understand".
"Spirit in My House" hints at paranoia ("I got demons in my head and I
should have stayed in bed"), while "Like a Drug I Never Did Before" paints a
disturbing portrait of Ramone's condition: "My head's gonna blow brains all
over the floor / Pressure like I never knew before". What will undoubtedly
be the most quoted of all the songs on Don't Worry About Me, the
powerful yet simple "I Got Knocked Down (But I'll Get Up)", deals with
Ramone's illness in blunt fashion: "Sitting in a hospital bed / Frustration
going through my head . . . I want my life".
The whole key to Don't Worry About Me isn't the accounts of the
pain Ramone was going through, it's his undying optimism. Times were very
trying for him, but he describes his predicament in dry, self-deprecating
fashion. The album resounds with life, not death, and in his cover of the
Stooges' classic "1969", Ramone's vocals sound urgent, determined not to be
beaten. Like the late filmmaker Kieslowski wrote in his legendary
Decalogue, being alive is a gift, and that's precisely the theme
Ramone successfully gets across, albeit in more succinct, New York fashion:
"Live your life to the fullest and fuck everything". As he sings "Don't
worry about me" at the end of the CD, it's as great a ride into the sunset
as you'll ever hear. It's bittersweet, and I'm sure Joey won't mind if you
shed a tear or two, for just a minute, but I'll bet he'll be a whole lot
happier if you simply dig the hell out of his album, and then go out and
enjoy being alive.
— 28 March 2002
