Danny Says

"Danny Says"
Song by Ramones from the album End of the Century
Released	February 4, 1980
Recorded	May 1979
Genre	Punk rock
Length	3:05
Label	Sire
Writer	Joey Ramone
Producer	Phil Spector
End of the Century track listing
"I'm Affected" (2) "Danny Says" (3) "Chinese Rock" (4)

"Danny Says" is a ballad written by Joey Ramone. The song was originally released as the third track on the Ramones 1980 album, End of the Century. The 2002 Expanded Edition CD of the album includes a demo version of "Danny Says" among the bonus tracks. The song has since been covered and released by the Foo Fighters and Tom Waits.

Background and content

"Danny Says" is a love song written by singer Joey Ramone at the Tropicana Hotel in Los Angeles when the Ramones were staying there for the recording of End of the Century. At the time Joey was rooming with Arturo Vega.^[1] The "Danny" alluded to in the title is the Ramones' manager, Danny Fields. When Joey was later asked what were his favorite Ramones songs he was quoted as replying, 'Danny Says was always a favorite'. The romantic inspiration for the song is believed to be Linda Danielle, Joey's girlfriend at the time. Linda later ended her romantic involvement with Joey to instead begin a relationship with and eventually marry the band's guitarist Johnny Ramone. Although this virtually ended dialog between the two bandmates, both remained in the Ramones until the band split up in 1996.^[2]

The lyrics include reference to a character named Sheena. Sheena is a Punk Rocker is a track on the 1977 Ramones album, Rocket to Russia. The lyrics also include a reference to the late 1960s TV program, Get Smart. Another reference in the song is to Christmas, reflecting the difference at that time of year between where the band were recording in Los Angeles and the Ramones' home town of New York City - It ain't Christmas if there ain't no snow.

Johnny later commented on working with Phil Spector on the recording of the album, "It really worked when he got to a slower song like 'Danny Says'—the production really worked tremendously. For the harder stuff, it didn't work as well."^[3]

Cover versions

• A cover version of the song was released by the Foo Fighters as a bonus track on the Japanese/International release of their 2002 One by One album with guitarist Chris Shiflett on lead vocals.

• Danny Says was covered by Tom Waits and released on disk two of his Orphans triple album in 2006.

External links

• Danny Says chords and lyrics

References

1. ^ "The Ramones: End of the Century", Kurt Loder, Rolling Stone, March 20, 1980.
2. ^ Sisario, Ben (September 16, 2004). "Johnny Ramone, Signal Guitarist for the Ramones, Dies at 55". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/16/arts/music/16CND-RAMO.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&oref=slogin. Retrieved May 1, 2010. 
3. ^ Devenish, Colin (June 24, 2002). "Johnny Ramone Stays Tough: Ramones Guitarist Reflects on Dee Dee's Death and the Difficult Eighties". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/theramones/articles/story/5934320/johnny_ramone_stays_tough. Retrieved 2008-01-05.