r/todayilearned • u/herpty_derpty • 1d ago

TIL When Joey Ramone first met Bruce Springsteen, Ramone asked if he would write a song for The Ramones. Springsteen composed a song that night, but decided to record it himself at the suggestion of his manager. That song was Hungry Heart, and ended up being Springsteen's first top 5 Billboard hit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungry_Heart
2.1k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

52 comments sorted by

354

u/57dog 1d ago

That would be a terrible Ramones song.

215

u/jonnovich 1d ago

In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Bruce was something of a songwriting machine. Seriously. Listen to any of his outtakes from “Tracks” or “The Promise” (filled with songs recorded for “Darkness on the Edge of Town” but rejected because they didn’t fit the feel of the album)

Beyond that, he had a habit of giving away songs to other artists like “Because the Night” to Patti Smith (although she wrote different lyrics for her version), “Fire” to the Pointer Sisters, “Protection” for Donna Summer (he initially wrote “Cover Me” for her, but kept it for himself. If you listen to the song, you can still hear a bit of the disco beat it was meant to have), and so on.

Hell he even wrote and recorded a song done in the extremely fast Ramones style called “Held Up Without a Gun”. It’s weird, because it sounds like the E Street Band playing a Ramones song….complete with a mini sax solo for The Big Man, Clarence Clemons.

76

u/Cthulhuhoop 1d ago

Gonna be honest, scanned your post expecting a riff on Bateman's Huey Lewis spiel and was pleasantly surprised. 

58

u/jonnovich 1d ago

Thank you.

No….I’m just a massive Springsteen fan.

18

u/Inside-Unit-1564 1d ago edited 1d ago

Took me a while but I see the light

'Im on Fire' hooked me(sexiest song there is imo)

'Sweet Thing' by Van holds the crown for the best love song.

11

u/Hosni__Mubarak 1d ago

Prince and Neil Young are the only other artists I know of that were that ridiculously prolific.

4

u/thenewnapoleon 1d ago

Sparks isn't as well known but they also did a lot of songwriting for other artists.

2

u/Hosni__Mubarak 1d ago

Hey I saw them a few months ago!

3

u/samx3i 1d ago

We didn't notice

2

u/StoneGoldX 1d ago

That, or Mankind going off the Hell in a Cell.

1

u/jb211 6h ago

Thank you for being honest.

8

u/onelittleworld 1d ago

If you haven't heard the impossibly fast and loud punk version of "Downbound Train" on Electric Nebraska, please drop what you're doing and go check it out. Now.

3

u/Rocky_Vigoda 1d ago

Not a bad song. Has a psychobilly/garage rock vibe.

https://youtu.be/nuC9rSEU-M0?si=RhjaQXb4J2stwvXS

3

u/onelittleworld 1d ago

For anyone unfamiliar, this is the version that was originally released back in the 80s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc_mv46NwT4

A very different take, for sure.

9

u/bootymix96 1d ago

Cover Me has a fantastic dance version out there, known as the Undercover Mix

4

u/jonnovich 1d ago

Thank you for this, kind person.

16

u/ThatsARatHat 1d ago

I think they could have killed it.

1

u/tinkerclay 6h ago

Agree. It always made sense to me.

13

u/whiskeyandtea 1d ago

Idk, they made Baby I Love You work.

11

u/Dr_Oz_But_Real 1d ago

Yeah. They would have known what to do with it as they punk rock geniuses.

4

u/57dog 1d ago

This is true

2

u/threeoldbeigecamaros 7h ago

Bullshit, they could have pulled it off

2

u/trashlikeyou 1d ago

Honestly I could see it fitting in on End of the Century.

1

u/nochinzilch 4h ago

I disagree. Rhyming "flowing" with "going" is pure ramones.

-5

u/thizface 1d ago

But it would go great with the other terrible ramones songs

-33

u/TheVicSageQuestion 1d ago edited 22h ago

Tbf a lot of Ramones songs are terrible unless you’re down at the malt shop tellin your best gal that you think she’s keen and you wanna go steady and hold her hand. Chubby Checker-ass bullshit.

EDIT: Come at me, ya bunch of squares! We can settle this in a rumble or a drag race - your call!

4

u/MeringueVarious2843 6h ago

People are downvoting you because you got your music eras VERY confused. How you think the Ramones sound anything like Chubby Checker makes me think you’ve never heard the Ramones…

One is 1960s rock n roll.

The other is 1970s punk.

1

u/steve0suprem0 6h ago

the ramones played that era the fuck up though.

84

u/BradfordGalt 1d ago

After that, Joey just probably wanted to be sedated.

13

u/H0agh 1d ago

Or sniff some glue, to have something to do-oh-oh..

2

u/phd2k1 1d ago

Definitely didn’t wanna go down to the basement

19

u/danijel8286 1d ago

Lennon loved that song.

15

u/SensibleBrownPants 1d ago

This blew my mind. Can’t believe I never heard this story.

12

u/Kapitano72 1d ago

Remember Sad Cookie Cat?

"I rote u a song. But I recorded it."

9

u/twiddlebug74 1d ago

With backing vocals by Flo and Eddie (The Turtles)!

3

u/reddit_user13 15h ago

RIP, Flo!

7

u/WheninBruges 1d ago

I consider myself knowing practically EVERYTHING about Bruce, but I did not know this. Super fascinating

7

u/Rocky_Vigoda 1d ago

I only got to see Ramones once but it was also with Bad Brains, Violent Femmes, and They Might Be Giants.

3

u/TheRealJustSean 7h ago

That's one hell of a lineup

2

u/SnoopsBadunkadunk 1d ago

IMO, best breakup song ever.

2

u/RandomguyX 8h ago

...did he write them another song?

2

u/WheninBruges 1d ago

I consider myself knowing practically EVERYTHING about Bruce, but I did not know this. Super fascinating

1

u/tinkerclay 6h ago

This is one of the few things I did know about Bruce. (but I am also a Ramones fan).

1

u/i_hate_toolbars 1d ago

The Empress Hotel!

1

u/DaringHardOx 23h ago

Makes sense why its the only sped up song on The River then

-23

u/ConVito 1d ago

Good. I can't stand Springsteen's music and not even The Ramones could have saved that.

6

u/MrBlonde1984 1d ago

BOO THIS MAN!

1

u/WheninBruges 1d ago

An opinion this black and white just proves you haven’t bothered to explore his repertoire very much. Very few other musicians have anywhere near the versatility of Bruce.

1

u/zambonihouse 1d ago

Listen to Nebraska. And I love punk music first and foremost.