This One? 30 Years (Or So) Ago Today

I can't remember exactly when this song was released, but I know that the album "Rocket to Russia," on which it appeared, was released in 1977.

Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
The Ramones

Well the kids are all hopped up and ready to go
They're ready to go now
They've got their surfboards
And they're going to the discotheque a go go
But she just couldn't stay
She had to break away
Well New York City really has it all
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker
Sheena is a punk rocker now
She's a punk punk, a punk rocker
Punk punk, a punk rocker
Punk punk, a punk rocker

For my money, it remains one of the great summer songs of all time; not to mention of the great rock songs of all time. Unless I've lost my mind completely, I heard it for the first time during the Summer of 1977, a summer that I spent most of time working at McDonalds and most of the rest of it listening to loud music in my room.

Thirty years on, the song has a generosity of spirit that reverberates to this day. What teenager of any generation, boy or girl, couldn't relate to the lines, But she just couldn't stay/She had to break away? Pretty much says it all.

And how about, Well New York City really has it all? Remember, at the time, the Big Apple was going through some rough times. Howard Cosell had decried fires in the Bronx during the previous year's World Series, it was the "Summer of Sam," and it was the Summer of the (first) great blackout. Yet, it was also the place where something great was being born, with the sounds of The Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, Television, and others. What an exciting time it must have been.

In a way, it's harder for me to believe that "Sheena" was 30 years ago than it is for me to believe the Sgt. Pepper was 40 years ago.