I Heard Ramona Sing

This is indeed a Ramones tribute, and I heard it straight from Frank Black's mouth. I was having dinner with him in 1993 as part of a promotional tour he was doing for his first solo album. He told me that "I Heard Ramona Sing" was about his fondness for the Ramones growing up. He also said his sugestion that they "pull another Menudo" is not a reference to the Ramones changing band members so often, as was suggested in another post, but was him hoping that the Ramones as a bnad would never end and that, like Menudo, when someone got too old to be in the band, they be replaced a new member. Theoretically Joey would be replaced with a new Joey, Johnny with a new Johnny, and so on. Sadly, that was not the case and was not practical either. I saw Frank again in 1994 in Texas when he was touring in support of the Ramones. In 1993 I had given him his own personally autographed Ramones photo, and I knew he was a big fan so he was obviously happy to be around the Ramones. He invited me on his tour bus and gave me an advanced copy of Teenager of the Year. I saw him a few times after that, and was always impressed with him and his love of the Ramones.

Maybe this wasn't mentioned because it's too obvious, but the "pull another menudo" part kind of refers to The Ramones' tendency to quickly replace band members over the years. Menudo were a latin pop boy band and the idea was that any time a member turned 16 they had to leave and get replaced by someone else.

I heard once that this song is about The Ramones.

Yeah, it's a Ramones tribute. Frank Black is one of a seemingly endless list of musicians inspired by that group. What makes this song so interesting is that it doesn't actually sound like a Ramones-influenced song at all.

Lol.. about the latin group. hot 1, ey? ;)

Yup, a Ramones tribute. "The speed they're traveling, they are the only thing". A wonderful song.