Don't think old school punk rock can make you cry? Think again - some Ramones songs are really sad.
- "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow," or as Joey put it on It's Alive, "We got a little tear-jerker, for all you lonely hearts out there."
- Joey's cover of "What a Wonderful World". His untimely passing makes it so much sadder.
- Joey's resigned-sounding vocals and the less-than-triumphant guitar solo of "I Don't Want to Grow Up". Even more so than Tom Waits's original, it's the sound of the harsh reality of adulthood. This line right at the end is particularly sad:How the hell did I get here so soon?
- Joey's acoustic rendition of "Life's A Gas" on his posthumous solo record, Ya Know?
- Not to mention his slowed-down version of "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)" on the same album. He just sounds like he's about to start weeping.
- "Questioningly," about a guy running into an old flame, rejecting her, and later realizing how empty his life is. The solo just clinches it.
- The last song on their last album, "Born to Die in Berlin". The title already establishes its downer credentials, but then the song comes out with the morbidly pessimistic lyrics, an oppressive, stifling atmosphere driven by possibly the heaviest riff the band ever wrote, and Dee Dee's last appearance with the band, singing a verse in German through a phone.
- At their 2002 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction, Johnny, Tommy, Marky, and Dee Dee each gave their speeches and left with a trophy each. There was one left at the podium - Joey's.
- "Pet Sematary" is just downright depressing. Joey just sounds like the world's about to end. There's also the Harsher in Hindsight video in which the band is buried underneath a tombstone... Marky is the only one who hasn't passed away since then.
- The chorus is pretty sad too. Most people would jump at the chance for a do-over. He explicitly states he doesn't. The theme of the book is that when death comes, it's better to let go. Dee Dee (the band member who wrote it) doesn't want another go because his life sucked pretty bad and he doesn't want to do it AGAIN.
- The synths that play during the chorus just make everything sound even more hopeless.
- For the band itself, how it all ended can be heartbreaking. For all the influence and respect they had among their peers and future generations of rockers, The Ramones themselves never achieved financial success or reached the top of the charts at the height of their careers. By the time their achievements were recognized by others - such as induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - it was already too late. Joey was gone and the others were close to passing away as well.
