The KKK Took My Baby Away
1981
The KKK Took My Baby Away is a song by the Ramones from the album 1981's Pleasant Dreams. It was written by Joey Ramone and was also the B- side of the single We Want the Airwaves.
Text
The narrator reports that his girlfriend was kidnapped on the way to Los Angeles from the Ku Klux Klan and he implores the audience that these inform the FBI, so they they should return it or at least find out if they still is alive.
To the history to myths. It was submitted that the text is to be an allusion to an internal tape dispute. Joey said to have meant by the Ku Klux Klan Johnny Ramone, who had stretched him his then girlfriend Linda. Johnny Ramone was known for his conservative views and he was annoyed Joey often so that it had a Jewish background.
Many, including Mickey Leigh, Joey's brother, disagreed with this theory. The song was written before the discovery of the affair. Rather, says Leigh, that the text is based on that Joey would have had a black girlfriend and his parents disapproved of the relationship. As Leigh him once it approached what became of this young love, this said in jest "the KKK took my baby away".
Music
Like almost all Ramones songs are at The KKK Took My Baby Away to a fast punk rock song in 4/4-time. The song consists of two verses and a chorus. Then the first verse and the chorus are repeated in a different key.
According to Joey Ramone, the reef of Cheap Tricks He's a Whore was affected.