Best cover by The Ramones '76-'80

oh damn it

Needles and Pins.

California Sun. End of the Century is my favorite record of theirs but the BILY cover is not that great

Surfin' Bird - Joey's voice is a gift from the godz

Do You Wanna Dance? by a nose over CS and SB.

"Surfin' Bird."

does the richie valens one count? the one in rocknroll high school.

Bird Bird Bird. The Bird is the Word.

Needles and Pins was my first thought before I even looked at the options.

Let's Dance

"do you wanna dance?" -- specifically, the it's alive version. one minute 39 seconds.

d'yad'yad'yad'yawannadance d'yad'yad'yad'yawannadance oh bay-beh d'ya wanna daa-ahaa-a-haance

Yeah, I forgot C'Mon Let's Go - the Ritchie Valens/McCoys one from R&R High School. It's w/ the Paley Bros. singing though, so maybe shouldn't really count.

California Sun. Makes me think of listening to the Johnny Walker show on Radio Luxembourg, which, in the late 70's/early 80's, was recorded in San Francisco or L.A IIRC. He was covering the kind of 'Love and Rockets' (the comic) punk and proto-hardcore scene there, and it just seemed like so much more fun than anything going on in my corner of the UK. (And of course, he'd throw in the odd Ramones number - I think I heard this one there, and it seemed perfect.)

OT, but "I Don't Wanna Grow UP" is a devastating late classic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XJZM0k7Q-Q

I can't wait until the post 1980 poll so I can vote vote vote for "Time Has Come Today"

Fuck, yeah, let's do it!

"Do you Wanna Dance," though really only because it's the best pop song, not because the Ramones do something with it they don't with the others. Of course, "Surfin' Bird" is writ the largest, sui generis, and therefore only playable by the Trashmen themselves.

I don't think there's room for the Ramones' Surfin' Bird when the Trashmen and Cramps versions exist. I'm going for California Sun.

Anything but "Baby, I Love You."

"do you wanna dance?" -- specifically, the it's alive version. one minute 39 seconds.

d'yad'yad'yad'yawannadance d'yad'yad'yad'yawannadance oh bay-beh d'ya wanna daa-ahaa-a-haance

Aw, I love Joey's gurgles on Baby I Love You. But Do You Wanna Dance is so amazing.

Like I said on another thread, the covers are my least favourite tracks on the first three albums. Whereas "Needles and Pins" is the only one I prefer to the original, so that.

For me, they'll never top "Time Has Come Today" as far as covers go.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Baby I Love You is my favorite song up here but their version isn't so hot, kind of missing the ethereal creepiness of the original. Surfin' Bird it is.

Never understood why they even bothered with "California Sun," after this; they couldn't come close, so why try?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j41GBIUQko4

Voting "Surfin' Bird."

Ha my reasoning is exactly the opposite! Voted "California Sun," always found any cover of "Surfin' Bird" to be pointless.

totally agree... and even if you were itching for a cover of surfin' bird the cramps released a better one six months earlier on Gravest Hits

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Bizarre: I know all these apart from the winner. Is it really that good?

get one Road to Ruin quick!

My favorite album cover from this era is Leave Home.