Chinese Rocks

This article is about a song. For a musical genre, go to Chinese rock. Otherwise, go to Chinese Rock (disambiguation).

Chinese Rock is a punk rock song written early in his carreer by Dee Dee Ramone and Richard Hell.. He wanted to record it with The Ramones, but Johnny Ramonevetoed it, claiming that it was too obviously drug-related. It was recorded by each of the songwriter's bands: The Ramones and The Heartbreakers. It first appeared on the Heartbreakers' debut album, L.A.M.F. in 1977, although Richard Hell had already left the band at that time. The Ramones released it on the End of the Century album in 1980.

The title reflects the fact that chinese rocks is a slang term for far-eastern heroin. The lyrics reflect that heroin addiction is all-consuming.

The song has been covered by a number of bands and singers, most notably by Sid Vicious, on his album Sid Sings, during his brief solo career after the Sex Pistols broke up.

There is a slight difference between the Heartbraker's and the Ramones' version: the person named on the second line of the first changes.

The Heartbreakers

Somebody calls me on the phone they say hey hey is Dee Dee' home Here Dee Dee obvisouly is the Ramone's bass player.

The Ramones :

Somebody calls me on the phone they say hey hey is Arty' home

Here, Arty refers to Arturo Vega, long-time friend of the band, and who indeed used to go cop with Dee Dee.

The song inspired the name of a computer font by Canadian designer Ray Larabie. The font was actually based on lettering on a shipping carton of Chinese-made dinnerware.

See Also:

• Hanoi Rocks