"Rockaway Beach" is a song by the American punk rock band Ramones, released in 1977 from the band's third studio album Rocket to Russia. The song was written by bassist Dee Dee Ramone in the style of the Beach Boys and early surf rock bands. The song is about Rockaway Beach in Queens, where Dee Dee liked to spend time. Guitarist Johnny Ramone claimed that Dee Dee was "the only real beachgoer" in the group. Released in 1977, it was the Ramones' highest-charting single in their career, peaking at number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Background
"Rockaway Beach" was inspired by the actual Rockaway Beach located in New York, where lead singer Joey Ramone was raised. The song was written by bassist Dee Dee Ramone who frequently visited the beach.
Composition
"Rockaway Beach" is a punk rock song that runs for a duration of two minutes and six seconds. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Alfred Music, it is written in the time signature of common time with the exception of the interlude, which is in , with a driving punk rock tempo of 185 beats per minute. They celebrate a scene set in the middle of a hot summer in New York. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine cites "Rockaway Beach" as being among the "finest set of songs" Ramones had written for Rocket to Russia. Gina Boldman, from the same publication, praised the song's "mindless, bopping opening" and summarized, "One of the group's most carefree and breezy songs ... The imagery puts you right in the middle of a hot New York summer in the mid-to-late '70s, and it's easy to feel as jubilant as the song (and Ramone) does. In his review of the anniversary edition, Zachary Hopskins from Slant Magazine ranks the song one of the group's "stone-cold classics: as likely to put a smile on one’s face and a bounce in one’s Chucks in 2017 as they were 40 years ago".
Chart performance
"Rockaway Beach" has since become the Ramones' highest charting single, peaking at number sixty-six on Billboard Hot 100.