The KKK Took My Baby Away

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The KKK Took My Baby Away
Ramones
publication 1981
length 2:32
Genre (s) punk
Author (s) Joey Ramone
Label Sire Records
album Pleasant Dreams (1981)
Cover version
1994 The doctors : The Wiking youth kidnapped my girl

The KKK Took My Baby Away is a Ramones song from the 1981 album Pleasant Dreams . It was written by Joey Ramone and was also the b-side of the single We Want the Airwaves .

text

The narrator reports that his girlfriend was kidnapped by the Ku Klux Klan on the way to Los Angeles and he begs the audience to inform the FBI so that they can bring them back to him or at least find out if she is still is alive.

There are myths surrounding the history of its origins. It has been claimed that the text is an allusion to an internal dispute. Joey is said to have meant Johnny Ramone by the Ku Klux Klan , who took his then girlfriend Linda from him. Johnny Ramone was known for his conservative views, and he often annoyed Joey for being of Jewish background.

Many, including Mickey Leigh, Joey's brother, disagreed with this theory. The song was written before the affair became known. Rather, Leigh thinks that the text is based on the fact that Joey had a black girlfriend and his parents disapproved of this relationship. When Leigh once asked him what became of this childhood love, he said jokingly "the KKK took my baby away".

music

Like almost all Ramones songs, The KKK Took My Baby Away is a fast punk rock song in 4/4 time . The song consists of two verses and a refrain. Then the first verse and the refrain are repeated in a different key .

According to Joey Ramone, the riff was influenced by Cheap Tricks He’s a Whore .

Cover versions

  • A version of the song by Die Ärzte was released under the title Die Wiking-Jugend has kidnapped my girl . The official release took place as a bonus track for the single Friedenspanzer (1994).
  • MxPx released a version of the song on the live album At the Show (1999). A separate version for Christian retail chains does not contain this song.
  • Marilyn Manson covered the song for the tribute album We're a Happy Family: A Tribute to Ramones (2003)
  • The Japanese pop-punk girl band Shonen Knife released a cover version on their Ramones album Osaka Ramones in 2011 .
  • Weena Morloch released a cover version on the album Grüß Gott, wir sind die Morlochs in 2015

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Spitz, Marc (November 2004). "The Last Testament of Johnny Ramone" , spin
  2. ↑ 'End Of The Century': The Ramones' Long, Sad Trip, By Kurt Loder . MTV . September 9, 2004. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
  3. ↑ Leigh, Mickey. I Slept with Joey Ramone: A Family Memoir , p. 216 (2009)
  4. ^ End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones , Documentary, 2003
  5. ↑ The Wiking youth kidnapped my girl. The doctors , accessed September 17, 2013 .