Who wrote "Chinese Rocks"?
Lisa Lindstrom
In <19970526054...@ladder01.news.aol.com> mutan...@aol.com
(MutantTeen) writes:
>
> Who exactly wrote "Chinese Rocks"? What led to my
confusion >was several conflicting song writing credits on different
albums I have. >On my Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers "LAMF-the
lost '77 mixes" Johnny >Ramone, Dee-Dee Ramone, and Richard Hell(!?!)
are given credit for writing >the song. While on Sid Vicious "Love
Kills NYC" (a live Sid album), >Johnny Ramone and Johnny Thunders are
given credit for penning the tune. >I've also heard that it was not
Johnny, but Dee Dee and Johnny Thunders >who wrote it. It seems too
rockin a song for an arty flake like Richard >Hell to write, but which
Ramones were involved in writing it? Please help >me clear up my
confusion.
It was written by Dee Dee, Thunders and Hell. An arty flake? "Blank
Generation" rocks. Anyway, The Ramones took credit for their version on
"End of the century" crediting it to "Ramones." The only Ramone
involved was Dee Dee. The song was written by the then-Heartbreakers:
Jerry Nolan (drums), Hell (bass, vocals), Thunders (gtr, vcls.) and
Walter Lure (gtr., vcls.). Hell was soon replaced (kicked out) by Billy
Rath, and Hell formed the Voidoids. "Chinese Rocks" was one of the few
Hell-era songs the band kept after he was ousted.
Alan W.
Blair
>It seems too rockin a song for an arty flake like Richard
>Hell to write
First off, I think this song was written right when The Heartbreakers
first formed. At that point, Richard Hell was a Heartbreaker, so it's not
too much of a surprise that he was in on this one. And, honestly, it seems
like a subject that all involved could easily have related to at the time.
As to Richard Hell being too arty... I've always thought "Love Comes In
Spurts" was fairly rockin'. He *did* write that one, didn't he? On the
other hand, I once saw him do a poetry reading... YAWN! (Lydia Lunch was
*much* better.) Of course, he had a recording on some spoken word comp
around '83 that was pretty good... (Church organ in the background.) "Hi,
this is the Reverend Hell... I'm eating a sandwich and getting a blowjob...
I'm not really getting a blowjob..." It was fairly funny. For What It's
Worth...
As to who wrote the damn song... I'm not sure whether Johnny Ramone had
anything to do with it or not... but Dee Dee almost certainly did. Why do
I say that? I guess just from hearing Walter Lure say certain things over
the years... I can't really recall what, but I always thought it was *at
least* Richard Hell, Johnny Thunders, and Dee Dee, if not Johnny, too.
I'll ask around.
Blair
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Craig
HayHuggins wrote:
>
> The Chesterfield Kings, who also covered this song (but in the mid-80's)
> always gave credit to Dee-Dee Ramone for writing this song, so I always
> figured that he wrote it on his own.
According to "Please Kill Me" (Legs McNeil), Dee Dee Ramone and Richard
Hell. The other guys in Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers
appropriated the song and tacked their names on.
Craig
_______________________________________
Sydney, Australia
Blair
>According to "Please Kill Me" (Legs McNeil), Dee Dee Ramone and Richard
>Hell. The other guys in Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers
>appropriated the song and tacked their names on.
Is this being fair to the Heartbreakers? The Ramones said it was
*completely* their's on their album... they didn't give credit to *any* of
The Heartbreakers... at least the Heartbreakers had the good graces to give
Dee Dee the credit.
By the way, on Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers *DTK*, the credit goes
to Dee Dee and all the Heartbreakers except for Walter Lure. *That* amazed
me, as the Lure-Nolan team came up with most of my favorite Heartbreakers'
tracks. (And Walter *still* writes songs exactly like these.)
Also, I have to wonder if any of these guys even remember any more. Not
to doubt Legs McNeil, but... who's *his* source on this?
Masa
Blair wrote:
>
>The Ramones said it was *completely* their's on their album... they didn't give credit to *any* of
> The Heartbreakers... at least the Heartbreakers had the good graces to give
> Dee Dee the credit.
>
To furthermore add to the confusion, at least on my copy of the Ramones'
End Of The Century album the song is credited as 'Chinese Rock' instead
of 'Chinese Rocks', and if I remember correctly there's some cover
versions which follow the Ramones' spelling.
Masa
Lisa Lindstrom
The Ramones also changed the lyrics, censoring lines like "I'm just
fucking some Chinese bitch" to "I'm just digging a Chinese ditch" and
"They said 'Hey, is Dee Dee home'" to "Hey is Arnie home" and so forth.
In The Ramones bio book, Dee Dee claims he wrote the song and that all
the other Heartbreakers did was come up with a line of lyric here and
there, thus when he changed the lyrics for the Ramones he presumably
felt he should take full credit for the song, or at least credit it to
"Ramones" as on "End of the Century."
Alan W.
Alright, lets' get crazy! Covers of "Chinese Rocks"!
Jeff Dahl
B-Girls
Jamie Pina
Sid Vicious & The Idols/Vicious White Kids
Fifi & the Mach 3
Walter Lure & the Zolge
Chesterfield Kings
that's all I can think of right now...
Alan W.
Susan
Blair wrote
> Not to doubt Legs McNeil, but... who's *his* source on this?
Dee Dee, who said he wrote it by himself.
And by the way, Legs is only one of the TWO authors of _Please Kill Me_
The other is Gillian McCain.
XXXS
________________
Susan
sap...@esinter.com
________________
Blair
>The Ramones also changed the lyrics, censoring lines like "I'm just
>fucking some Chinese bitch" to "I'm just digging a Chinese ditch" and
>"They said 'Hey, is Dee Dee home'" to "Hey is Arnie home" and so forth.
Not to mention the line change from "I'm sucking some Chinese cock."
Guess Sire didn't buy that one, huh?
As to Dee Dee saying he wrote the whole thing... I dunno, I find that
really hard to believe, as it sounds *MUCH* more like a Heartbreakers'
styled number. Either way, the Heartbreakers' version does much more for
me...
BudgetRock
it's probably a moot point by now, but the DIY "blank generation:new york
scene" cd comp credits the song to: Ramone/Thunders/Nolan/Hell, and they
list the source as the UK single.
Mike Desert
http://members.aol.com/budgetrock
"the crowning event of my life has been,
a free shot of whiskey and a 5th of gin"
-the Jack Saints
Masa
Alan W. wrote:
>
> The Ramones also changed the lyrics, censoring lines like "I'm just
> fucking some Chinese bitch" to "I'm just digging a Chinese ditch" and
> "They said 'Hey, is Dee Dee home'" to "Hey is Arnie home" and so forth.
If I remember correctly the Ramones' version goes "Is Arty home?"
Now, does anyone know if this 'Arty' is a reference to any real-life
person?
And Alan W. continues:
> Alright, lets' get crazy! Covers of "Chinese Rocks"!
>
> Jeff Dahl
> B-Girls
> Jamie Pina
> Sid Vicious & The Idols/Vicious White Kids
> Fifi & the Mach 3
> Walter Lure & the Zolge
> Chesterfield Kings
>
I remember hearing a live(?) version from the mid-80's by a band called
Reptiles At Dawn.
And of course there's several Johnny Thunders' 'solo' versions, but they
don't really count as covers, do they?
Masa
"The 'Famous' Monster of Finland"
E_COLI
Everyone who knew Johnny supposedly say Dee Dee's lying about having
anything to do with the song. Johnny's dead.
I think the Chinese pusher they sucked off for the substance later to be
called crack-cocaine wrote the damn song!!
Craig
Marten Sahlen wrote:
>
> Masa <nisk...@cc.joensuu.fi> writes:
> >
> >If I remember correctly the Ramones' version goes "Is Arty home?"
> >Now, does anyone know if this 'Arty' is a reference to any real-life
> >person?
>
>
Arthur Kane?