We were all saddened to hear that Tommy Ramone (a.k.a. Erdélyi Tamás) and the last original member of the Ramones, died on Friday, especially since so many of us grew up blasting their tunes while our parents either yelled at us to turn it down, or if we were lucky, asked us to turn it up.
While certainly there are options from bands like the Boogers who put their own twist on the Ramones sound, or clever kid-friendly versions of tunes like The Sippy Cups’ I Wanna Be Elated, we went right to the source this week. There are plenty of original Ramones tracks for families to play loudly together where you don’t have to change the lyrics–or listen to covers of children singing the lyrics.
Here are three of my favorites that we’ll be singing with a little extra gusto this weekend. For Tommy.
The Ramones debut single from 1976 kicks off with the call-to-action lyrics, Hey ho, let’s go!--words that are just perfect for getting the kids out of the house in the morning. Even if that’s not what they were referring to.
A great song for summertime, there’s also lots of fun details to explain to the kids in this song, like what “hitch a ride” means and why was it so terrible that the public bus plays “disco on the radio.”
This is probably my favorite Ramones song, with its fun, sing-aloud chorus that sounds especially awesome sung by kids. Even if they have no idea what a punk rocker is. Hey, all kids seem to have a bit of punk rocker in them anyway, even if their anarchy is is completely non-political and contained inside their own rooms.
Does your family have a favorite song by the Ramones? Let us know!
Top image via Pitchfork
