Bite-sized posts about 7″ singles I own – shameless nostalgia from the days of vinyl.
Ramones – I Remember You b/w California Sun / I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You (Sire, 1976)
A little bit of CBGB’s in the heart of Birmingham; that’s what it felt like to see the Ramones supported by label-mates Talking Heads at Barbarella’s in May 1977.
With hindsight, this was a unique and historic double bill although at the time both bands had just released their debut albums so no-one really knew what to expect.
The Ramones I knew mainly through the fact that Blitzkrieg Bop was adopted as one of the signature tunes for Punk gigs at this venue alongside a fair smattering of dub reggae. That song was the highlight of their set.
I was immediately smitten by Talking Heads and David Byrne‘s nervous nerd performance. By the side of them, the Ramones looked like an entertaining novelty act especially when Joey produced a handwritten placard saying Gabba Gabba Hey to help us sing along to Pinhead .
They played for a little over half an hour so probably played between 10 and 15 tracks broken only by their trademark 1-2-3-4 intro. Joey Ramone cut an ungainly figure – 6ft 6″, long lank hair, shades, leather jacket, split jeans and a voice that seems to have no inflections whatsoever. They struck me as like a comic strip version of American Punks.
I must have bought this single around the time of the gig, probably because it was the first release of theirs I found in the record stores. The lyrics to the A-side are : “I remember you/ I remember lying awake at night / And thinking just of you / But things don’t last forever / And somehow baby / They never really do”. These lines are printed on the single’s sleeve and are repeated three times in the course of the short song. Most of their best tunes are as simplistic as this – boy-girl date themes, mostly with an unhappy ending.
The B side has two tracks from a live show at The Roxy, Los Angeles. California Sun, is introduced as “this one’s for all you hot- doggers out there”, a revealing link between fast food and fast music. The title of the second tune tells you almost everything save that the question ‘So why d’you wanna walk around with me?’ is tagged on. These two tunes capture the energy of the band far better than the studio-bound A-side.
Things don’t last forever – Ramones lasted for 12 years, and only drummer Tommy from the original 4 man line up is still alive.
Everything you need to know about them is encapsulated by this single. They are one of the many bands that peaked with a classic first album and they spent the rest of their career playing variations of the same song.
