Chinese rocks

Both Hull and Dee Dee claimed that the authorship of the song was largely owned by Dee Dee Ramon. According to Dee Dee, the idea was given to him by Hull when he said that he wanted to write a song about heroin better than Lou Reed's “ Heroin ”. Then Dee Dee wrote "Chinese Rocks"; according to the book Please kill me , he wrote it at Debbie Harry's house.

According to Dee Dee, the song was written about The Heartbreakers drummer Jerry Nolan , who called him to go out together and buy heroin, one of the forms of which at that time was known as “Chinese rocks”. The line "'My girlfriend's crying in the shower stall" ( Rus. My girlfriend is crying in the shower ) was written about the girl Dee Dee, Connie; here refers to the shower at home at Arturo Vega.

Initially, Dee Dee wanted to record a song with the Ramones , but Tommy Ramon vetoed the recording of the song, saying that it was too clearly related to the drug theme. Then Dee Dee showed the song to Hell, then a member of Johnny Sanders' band The Heartbreakers; he told Hull that the song wasn’t complete, and he suggested adding it together if he liked it. In the book Please, Kill Me, Hull said that the song was basically written by Dee Dee, but he did not have a second verse; Hell finished two lines and worked on the chorus. He considered his lines in this song successful. As Dee Dee said in an interview, "Richard Hell added a few lines to the song, and I gave him some of the authorship."

The Heartbreakers

There are two different perspectives on how the song became part of The Heartbreakers' repertoire. According to Hell, he himself after writing the song gave it to the group where he then participated, and because of his co-authorship he sang it. According to Dee Dee Ramon, he played a song to Jerry Nolan, after which he included it in the repertoire of his group. One way or another, the recording of “Chinese Rocks” with Hell on vocals was not included in the group’s albums (as well as the rest of the recordings with him) and was included in Hell’s two compilation releases much later - “ Time ” and “ Spurts: The Richard Hell Story ”.

The song became one of The Heartbreakers' most popular songs, and after leaving the Hell band, they continued to perform it, eventually recording it for their 1977 debut album , LAMF . The authorship was indicated on the album, along with Hell and Ramon, Jerry Nolan and group leader Johnny Thunders . At the reissue of the same album in 2002 , Joey , Johnny and Dee Dee Ramona (without Halle) were named as authors. In his memoirs, Di Di Ramon spoke out with displeasure about the incorrectness of the authorship on “LAMF”. However, in the online databases of the ASCAP and BMI organizations, the authorship of Dee Dee Ramon and Richard Hell is indicated for the song.

At concert performances, Johnny Thunders changed some lines to more explicit sexually, for example, “I'm just fucking a Chinese bitch” ( Rus. I just fuck a Chinese bitch ) instead of “I'm just digging a Chinese ditch” ( Rus I’m just digging a Chinese channel ) or “Hey Dee Dee, do you want to go suck some Chinese cock?” ( Rus. Hey, Dee Dee, do you want to go and suck a Chinese cock? ) Instead of “Hey, do you want to go get some Chinese Rocks? ”( Rus. Hey, Dee Dee, do you want to go and get Chinese rocks? ). The reason for this was the tense relationship between Dee Dee and Thunders.

Ramones

"Chinese Rocks" was featured on the 1980 Ramones album " End of the Century ." All Ramones members are listed as song authors, without mentioning Hell. The Ramones version has been renamed to “Chinese Rock”, with no “s” at the end, and is also distinguished by changes in some lines. The Heartbreakers version starts with “Somebody calls me on the phone / They say hey hey is Dee Dee home” ( Rus. Someone calls me on the phone, they ask: hey, Dee Dee is at home? ); The Ramones replaced Dee Dee's name with Archie (meaning Arturo Vega, a longtime friend of the group and the author of their logo). However, in concert versions, after Dee Dee left the band, vocalist Joey Ramon sometimes sang “Dee Dee” instead of “Archie” (for example, this is the line on the 1993 concert album “ Loco Live ”).

Other versions

The song was sung by Sid Vichez during his short solo career after the breakup of Sex Pistols and was featured on his album Sid Sings . The song was also performed by:

• The Insane (in a very different style from the original)
• Violent Femmes (their version was included on the single “Machine”; in it, vocalist Gordon Gano sings, accompanying himself on the electric piano)
• Rich Kids on LSD (for “ Keep Laughing ” album)
• Jeff Dahl (for a tribute to The Heartbreakers leader Johnny Thunders in 1992 )

The name of the Finnish rock band Hanoi Rocks is associated with “Chinese Rocks”. The name “Chinese Rocks” became one of the options when the band chose its name; since their music was significantly influenced by the Ramones and The Heartbreakers, it was decided to pick something close to “Chinese Rocks”, and “Hanoi Rocks” became that name.