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About a year ago, . Tonight I feel like doing the second. At this rate I will get through the entire catalog by the time I retire! Maybe!

Here we go with Leave Home!

1. "Glad to See You Go"-- As delightful a song about murder as you'll ever find.  A just about perfect blend of the Joey and Dee Dee aesthetics. You can hear Joey break into Dee Dee's murder ballad at the "I need somebody good"part. Also a good example of how people don't get the Ramones. Apparently people were horrified at the Charles Manson reference, and the modern take is that the Ramones were these kind of idiot savants who had no idea what they were doing with that line.  But it's actually a decent critique of media culture: "In a moment of passion/get the glory like Charles Manson." Morrissey attempted the same thing 11 years later and wound up with this ham-handed, obvious verse: "In our lifetime those who kill/The news world hands them stardom." I'm not suggesting that we should look too deeply into Ramones songs, but I think they were far more clever than they usually get credit for.

2. "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment"-- A flippant exploration of mental illness that doesn't quite hit the high level of "Teenage Lobotomy."  I like the shock treatment sounds in the chorus though. Also: "heard about this treatment by a good friend of mine" is pretty funny.

3."I Remember You"-- Definitely second- or possibly third-tier lovelorn Joey. Lots of reverb on the vocals here. And Joey's vocals are double tracked on every song on the album. Interesting, kind of inexplicable choice. Not bad, just a little odd.

4. "Oh Oh I Love Her So"-- Now this is top-shelf Lovelorn Joey. It really sounds like it could be a forgotten pop gem from the 60's. Love the "oooo-weee-oooo" backing vocals during the Coney Island part, and this might be the first harmony on a Ramones song.  In any case, it's one of the very rare harmonies on an early Ramones song.  And that guitar strum at the end!  

5. "Carbona Not Glue"--Was taken off the album because the Carbona people objected, but I guess they don't care anymore, so it's now widely available. Doesn't really hang together, in my opinion. Great verses, meh chorus. Definitely should have been a B-side anyway.

6. "Suzy is a Headbanger" -- This might be the best song on the album. Pretty much perfect. I'm kind of interested in Suzy's mom--is she an actual bite-the-heads-off-chickens kind of geek?  

7. "Pinhead"--Did I say "Suzy is a Headbanger" was the best song on the album?  I mighta meant this one.  First we start with the Freaks reference, and then "I don't wanna be a pinhead no more," which is perhaps a little more tragic than we initially thought because if one is born with microcephaly, it's a permanent condition. Well, at least he met a nurse he could go for. They used to close shows with this, and a roadie in a pinhead mask would come out with a "Gabba Gabba Hey" sign.

8."Now I Wanna Be a Good Boy"--Eh. The same lyrical ground is going to be coverd in a much more interesting way on "I Just Wanna Have Something To Do." I guess it's a little bit plaintive, though, as it seems to embody Dee Dee's lifelong struggle. It also has this bit that sounds just like the D-U-M-B part in "Pinhead," but maybe they couldn't think of a chant to go there because it's just the drums. 

9."Swallow My Pride"--A really underrated gem, in my opinion. A great example of how the specific can be universal. "Winter is here and it's goin' on 2 years," Joey says. What the hell's he talking about?  Doesn't matter! The sad melody and the chorus belie the parts where he's trying to be hopeful. One of those songs that resonates more with me now than when I first discovered it. Because being an adult pretty much involves swallowing your pride on a regular basis.

10. "California Sun"--Just another example of how The Ramones could take any song and make it sound like they wrote it.  Having said that, I like the Dictators' version better. Question: are the girls in Frisco actually frisky? I've known many people who've lived and spent time there, and nobody's ever mentioned this.

11. "Commando"--This is some wonderfully irreverent stuff. Funny because Johnny seems to have taken all the military imagery pretty seriously, but this absurdist take on gettin' them ready for Viet Nam seems pretty satirical to me.  A couple of questions: is "eat kosher salamis" really a rule for commandos?  And isn't saying that "the laws of Germany" constitute one rule kind of cheating?

11."Babysitter"--I guess this replaced  "Carbona Not Glue" on some pressings before they put "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" into that spot.  I seem to remember it appeared on a Sire Records B-side compilation. But this deserves better than B-side status.  It's a completely genius pop song, and much more of a traditional pop song than most early Ramones songs. Verse chorus verse bridge (!) (How many Ramones songs have a bridge? Not many!) Key change (!) verse chorus verse. And, a pretty straightforward, clever take on frustrated teen horniness.

12. "What's Your Game"--Pretty forgettable. Back to back with "Babysitter," it sounds like a less-developed version of that song.  I mean, I guess the lyrical pot shot at the popular kids is fine, but overall this is a bit lacking. Should've been a B-side.

13."You're Gonna Kill That Girl"--You know what's great about the Ramones? Many things, but one of them is that they can make an amped-up 60's-style singalong with a beautiful ballad intro about a murder. Dee Dee's backing "kill kill kill kill that girl" at the end is great.  Also--sounds in the headphones like there are two people doing that part. Who's the other one?

14."You Should Never Have Opened That Door"--Kind of another attempt to make a 2 and a half-mintue horror movie, but unlike "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement," this one falls flat.  Maybe it's Joey's delivery--I just don't buy him sacrificing someone on an altar. Wonder if this would work as a metal song. I think  it's a mistake to close the album with this, especially after the much stronger "You're Gonna Kill That Girl" which covers similar territory.

Well, there it is. See you next summer, or maybe sooner, for Rocket to Russia!