She Don't Know Why I'm Here (MP3)
Bombing of London
(MP3)
(Backlash 001) - 11/7/77
She Don't Know Why I'm Here (MP3)
Bombing of London
(MP3)
(Bomp 119) - 1978

Both these songs appear as bonus tracks on the CD "LA Explosion"
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...

She Don't Know Why I'm Here (Joe Nolte, April 1977)

See that girl with the raven hair
I wish she were mine, but she don't care 'cause
She don't know why I'm here

So many others – and just the same
They all come out 'cause it's part of the game, but
That's only when they're here

Take a look around and you'll see what I mean
It never could have been ten years ago
The answer should be plain when you stumble back again
They never felt the kind of pain
The real world brings

See that girl with the soft blue eyes
They never seem to close or show surprise but
They don't believe they're here

She's looking at me, but I don't know
If I look back she'll run on home 'cause
She don't know why she's here...

This one's for you
You modified petrified hypocrites
God! To raise your children like goldfish
In plastic naugahyde cells

Are you coming out baby?
Who'll be my baby?
...

Most of the songs I wrote about girls were indeed about living, breathing, actual, specific girls. In most cases I'm going to identify said sirens by an initial, so as not to offend them. In this case, however, since the song is not specifically a torrid romantic diatribe but rather a socio-political observation, I'll name names.

Brother Mike had known these three girls from his glitter days, and introduced me to them January 1977. We all hung out, I would occasionally drive them to the all-too-rare-in-those-days punk rock show, etc. etc. It was watching their reaction to and fondness for the early punk bands, while being in the unfortunate situation of not being able to gig yet, that I began to feel like a glorified chauffeur ... the three girls were Helen, Mary and Trudi.

Trudi was the "girl with the raven hair" – she became the only non-musician in the scene to have a fanzine devoted to her, and is currently married (with children) to K.K. - drummer for the late lamented Screamers.

Mary was the "girl with the soft blue eyes" – she is better known to those who remember the glory days as Mary Rat.

Helen is better remembered as Helen Killer – the girl who punched Sid Vicious in the mouth by accident in '78.

Musically the song is an obvious homage to the Castaways' "Liar Liar."

—Joe Nolte

...
The Bombing of London (Joe Nolte, March 1977)

Bombs started knocking some heads downtown
Whole population fled underground
Heard the thunder – drove me deep into my bed
Closed my ears to what the people said

Roaring sirens just outside
Give me time – ready by nine
I'll join the people in the caverns deep
Say my prayers and go back to sleep

Flames are getting higher
Bombs still falling
Do I hear you screaming
Cool it down – don't touch the wall
It's coming down...

Tokyo Rose, babe, is just a name
Far away – across the sea
Somewhere where there is no planes
Submarines or battleships

Swear I'm gonna see it through
In years to come I'll settle down
But I won't forget...
...

More Beatle obsession, word-wise. Musically, this one started out in the early '70's. In 1971 I saw a film (don't remember the title) which was either about the Olympics or Drag Racing. In one scene they cut to a nightclub, where this Japanese band was playing what we would now term "Classic Punk Rock" – i.e. Seeds, Music Machine type stuff. It was oddly moving and inspiring, and indeed was one of the primary primal influences leading to the formation of The Last. I had a cheap electric guitar and amp at the time, and tried desperately to reconjure the song they played at home. Never could quite finish it.

(In retrospect, it's immediately obvious that, tune-wise, it owes a great deal to "The One Who Really Loves You", "Mother In Law" and "Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind" – there was something about that 1-1-1-6 melody that obsessed me throughout my childhood.)

Anyway, in 1977 I returned to it, and imagined the Ramones trying to do a Japanese band trying to do the Seeds, and Bombing resulted. Musically, it's pretty much what I wrote at the age of 15.

Lyrically, I was thinking about how being born during the Nazi bombings of England could have potentially affected the outlook and psyche of the various Beatles, and after that it pretty much wrote itself.

-Joe Nolte

[The film Joe saw in 1971 was The Games]

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