Judy Is A Punk

Album: Ramones (1976)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song tells a vague story of two adventurous girls: Jackie and Judy. We know that Jackie is a punk and Judy is a runt, and they've decided to join the SLA - the Symbionese Liberation Army. The SLA was a fringe political group that was in the news for kidnaping the heiress Patty Hearst in 1974.

    Lead singer Joey Ramone wrote the song; it is purely fictional.
  • Running 1:30, this blast of first wave punk was one of the Ramones first songs. They developed a reputation in 1975 for playing rapid-fire sets in and around New York City, often blasting through about 12 songs in 25 minutes. When they recorded their first album in 1976, they had honed this song during many performances and included it on the album.
  • The Ramones recorded a follow-up to this song called "The Return Of Jackie And Judy" on their 1980 album End Of The Century.
  • This was used in the 2001 movie The Royal Tenenbaums.

Comments: 3

  • Dan Smallwood from LondonI always thought Joey's 'second verse, same as the first' was pure Ramones, but then I heard Herman's Hermits 'Henry the Eighth', obviously years earlier, and Peter Noone shouts 'second verse, same as the first', before the second verse. Amazing where our heroes get their influences.
  • Zero from The Abyss, NjI think Pete Townshend was the one who originally coined the term "punk", but then again it was used as a term for derelicts or delinquents way before then. This was most likely the first time that this was associated with the type of music/scene.
  • Jessica from St.louis, Mooriginal punk !!!
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