Danny Says

Album: End Of The Century (1980)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Joey Ramone wrote this poignant love song at the Tropicana Hotel in Los Angeles when the Ramones were staying there for the recording of End of the Century. The vocalist penned the tune about Linda Danielle, his girlfriend at the time. She later begun a relationship with and eventually married guitarist Johnny Ramone, resulting in Joey refusing to speak to him for the rest of their lives.
  • The title of this ballad pertains to the band's former tour manager Danny Fields. "That song isn't really about me," Fields told Uncut magazine February 2014. "It's a love song Joe wrote to Linda. It's a poisoned song and I get introduced as the person it is about. Well, it's not about me, I had nothing to do with the album and it's about a love affair that turned into a tragedy."
  • This song, along with the rest of End of The Century, was produced by Phil Spector. Johnny later commented in Rolling Stone, "It really worked when he got to a slower song like 'Danny Says' - the production really worked tremendously. For the harder stuff, it didn't work as well."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Chris Frantz of Talking Heads

Chris Frantz of Talking HeadsSongwriter Interviews

Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz on where the term "new wave" originated, the story of "Naive Melody," and why they never recorded another cover song after "Take Me To The River."

How The Beatles Crafted Killer Choruses

How The Beatles Crafted Killer ChorusesSong Writing

The author of Help! 100 Songwriting, Recording And Career Tips Used By The Beatles, explains how the group crafted their choruses so effectively.

Bob Daisley

Bob DaisleySongwriter Interviews

Bob was the bass player and lyricist for the first two Ozzy Osbourne albums. Here's how he wrote songs like "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" with Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.

Graduation Songs

Graduation SongsFact or Fiction

Have you got the smarts to know which of these graduation song stories are real?

Shawn Mullins

Shawn MullinsSongwriter Interviews

"Lullaby" singer Shawn Mullins on "Beautiful Wreck," beating the Devil, and his writing credit on the Zac Brown Band song "Toes."

"Private Eyes" - The Story Behind the Song

"Private Eyes" - The Story Behind the SongSong Writing

How a goofy detective movie, a disenchanted director and an unlikely songwriter led to one of the biggest hits in pop history.