Don't Worry About Me Review

For some background on the album, Don't Worry About Me is the first of two solo albums released posthumously by Joey Ramone. This is the better and more well known of the two, the other being 2012's Ya Know...?

Track 1: What a Wonderful World

Joey Ramone – What A Wonderful World

This is a pretty solid song to start of the album, it takes the original "What a Wonderful World" just doubles the speed, I played it for a relative of mine, and she said, "I couldn't understand a single word, but I liked it." Right of the bat, this is instantly better than anything Dee Dee could've dreamed of.

Track 2: Stop Thinking About It

Joey Ramone – Stop Thinking About It

Another great one, I will say it's a bit repetitive, but it's still great. Right from the get-go it's powerful and just overall great. I don't have much to say about this one.

Track 3: Mr. Punchy

Joey Ramone – Mr. Punchy

This song is good, nothing amazing, but ok. The lyrics are fine, again nothing to write home about but fine. I tried Googling what the hell Mr. Punchy even is, and I got a Spirit Halloween, 6'4" animatronic clown, but it only got made 20 years after the album came out, so I don't know.

Track 4: Maria Bartiromo

Joey Ramone – Maria Bartiromo

Yep, you're reading that right this is a song written about the Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo. Apparently, Joey just had a really good mind for investing and would email Maria asking questions. He then emailed her saying that he wrote a song about her. Now, Maria didn't really think Joey Ramone had been emailing her until he said that they then coordinated a time for Joey to come on to her show and do the song, but the date kept getting pushed back and eventually, it was too late. Joey died. Now, for the actual song, it's pretty good, it's impressive how he can rhyme Squawk Box with "my stocks" and other things like that. The third verse isn't as good as the first two, but it's ok.

Track 5: Spirit In My House

Joey Ramone – Spirit In My House

I like this song, but towards the second half of the song, it kind of loses me, and no, that's not an attention span issue, it's that the second half is worse than the first. The opening of the song instantly grabs your attention and hooks you, which any good song should do.

Track 6: Venting (It's a Different World Today)

Joey Ramone – Venting (It's a Different World Today)

This is the only song in the Ramones, and Joey Ramone's entire catalogue to be labeled as explicit, now there's been swears on previous Ramones songs, example being "Don't Bust My Chops" but this song uses fuck three times in a row. As the song goes, it's ok. It's not as upbeat as the other songs on this album which isn't necessarily a bad thing (I'll praise another song for that shortly,) it's more that it stays that way, never really rising in volume or anything.

Track 7: Like a Drug I Never Did Before

Joey Ramone – Like A Drug I Never Did Before

This one's fine, if I had to pick one song that was the worst on this album, it'd be this one. It's not bad per say, it's just more of a dud. Like "Venting," it's kind of monotone and never changes.

Track 8: Searching for Something

Joey Ramone – Searching for Something

This song has a really nice blend of electric and almost acoustic sounding guitar. I didn't really like this song that much at first, but after it got stuck in my head for a few days, I started to like it more (that happens a lot with me.) This one also starts out sort of monotone, but it picks up slightly in the chorus, but I don't think it needs to, because of the more acoustic sound to it.

Track 9: I Got Knocked Down (But I'll Get Up)

Joey Ramone – I Got Knocked Down (But I'll Get Up)

This is the song I was talking about earlier saying how I'd praise the more monotone nature of it, here's why: I have a theory, that this song was written about Joey's cancer, the lines "sitting in a hospital bed" and "I want my life" combined with the fact that this album released after his death, leads me to believe this song is about his cancer. Now, I say that the monotone nature works here, because it's a nice contrast between the first and second half of the song. He spends the first half talking about how "it really sucks," and spends the rest of the song repeating the lines "I got knocked down, but I'll get up" showing his optimism. Unfortunately, he never did get back up.

Track 10: 1969

Joey Ramone – 1969

This is also a cover, this time by the song of the same name, but The Stooges. And man, this song makes me feel like I'm on the craziest trip anyone's ever had. Typically, Ramones covers amp the song up to 11, but here, this is actually tamer than the original. It's still very good.

Track 11: Don't Worry About Me

Yeah, this one also sucks, it doesn't hook you like "Spirit in My House," it doesn't hit you emotionally like "I got Knocked Down," it doesn't make you feel like you're tripping balls like "1969." it just doesn't do anything for me.

This album was generally well received; Rolling Stone gave it a 3 and a half out of 5, and Robert Christgau gave is a "B+" as for me, I think the goods out way the bads for every bad song there are like, three good songs ready to balance it out. I give it an "A-"

That's all from me, see you later

-MM