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Write what you know, they say - so the Ramones, four leather-jacketed punk ho-dads nursing a Beach Boys jones 3,000 miles from the sun and fun of Southern California, chose to salute Rockaway Beach, a sandbar at the southern end of Queens, New York. The song was written by bassist Dee Dee Ramone. "Dee Dee used to take the bus down there - he was more of a beach goer than the rest of us," recalls Tommy Erdelyi, the single's co-producer and drummer (under his nom de rock, Tommy Ramone). "I was there maybe three times in my life. It was a long schlep from Forest Hills [Queens]." Vocalist Joey Ramone concurs. "Dee Dee spent a lot more time there than I did," he says. "It was more of a hangout for him and Johnny [Ramone]."

"Rockaway Beach" was recorded in late summer '77 for the Ramones' third album, Rocket to Russia. Tommy - who co-produced it with Tony Bongiovi (Jon Bon Jovi's cousin) - guesses that they did it in "maybe two takes." Ed Stasium, who engineered the album, notes that Rocket to Russia was the first album ever mixed at New York's famous Power Station: "The third floor was bare except for the control room. We had no outboard gear, no effects, no nothing. We used the stairwell for reverb." At his home in Southern California, Stasium listens to a tape of "Rockaway Beach." "That's definitely me singing background vocals," he says. Then the acute ears of a studio perfectionist detect a long-forgotten flaw. "There's a bad punch-in there, on the line "down in the playground.' I've always wanted to fix that," he adds with a laugh. With extraordinary economy - the lyrics of "Rockaway Beach" run to a mere ten lines, one of which boasts the snappy image of "chewing out a rhythm on my bubble gum" - the song captures the sweaty excitement of summer in the city. Tommy's infrequent but epochal cymbal crashes are as good a proxy for the sound of waves breaking as any synthesizer program. "I think Brian Wilson would be proud," says Joey of the song - all 2:06 of it.

Joey and Tommy both reckon that "Rockaway Beach" stood a chance of becoming a summer hit - if it had been released in the summer. In fact, the single came out in peak off-season: November '77. "It was out of our control," says Joey. "A lot of things were ridiculous when it came to our releases." The single reached Number Sixty-six in Billboard, edging out the Ramones' equally irresistible "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" in domestic-chart success.

"There should be a plaque at Rockaway Beach," Joey suggests. "They should have Dee Dee's head bronzed or something."

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By Ira Robbins