The Ramones were a bunch of delinquents from Forest Hills and like many would catch the Green Bus down Woodhaven Boulevard to escape to Rockaway Beach. If you had a car, you’d drive out to Jones Beach on Long Island or maybe down to the Jersey Shore. No car, you headed to Rockaway Beach (or maybe Coney Island).
The Ramones mixed the Beach Boys, bubble gum rock and their own punk edge to create this song, though it is far from the carefree surfing songs of the Beach Boys.
I’ve always felt a connection with this song because Carol and I lived in a bungalow in Rockaway Beach when we first moved to New York City in 1980, long enough ago that Rockaway Playland still existed. (Shout out to Rockaway Rugby Fish Heads). And I would hear the tales from my parents of how they and their separate groups of friends hung out in the Rockaways at the old McGuire’s Bar. And years before that, my Mom was born in a bungalow in Rockaway Beach.
#Songoftheday #spreadinghappiness #ramones #theramones #rockawaybeach
YouTube: https://youtu.be/8Z1-R2LEuao?si=adN2nrvApa9BZTbA
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2HZGsnMByx3V8KmNW6LqWF?si=6ee8fa45130c41ae