Hey Joni

The seventh song on Daydream Nation is called "Hey Joni."

Lee actually sings more than one song on a record! This does not happen very often, in fact, Lee sings one other, which we will get to soon!

Inspired by the movie "Neuromancer," the titles takes a play on the song "Hey Joe."

This song comes at you with force. After the noises and drones from Total Trash, Hey Joni starts immediately, no time for an intro or extended parts. Lee and Thurston play very similar parts on this song and even share tunings. This is rare, which leads me to believe this song came together quickly, leaving no time for thought. 'Hey Joni" also features more of Lee's intricate signature harmonics.

This is also one of the few Sonic Youth songs that feature a very stable verse/chorus/verse/chorus. Thurston and Kim have stated that around this time they digging on Dinosaur Jr, and J's songs influenced much of the writing. I would be more inclined to believe this on Goo or Dirty, but in 1988, Dinosaur was hot sheet on the indie scene.

This is my freind Jason Manley's favorite song.

This song got retired in 1990. It makes sense because Eric's Trip was the staple Lee song until 1995. Hey Joni was revived for a few shows in 2006 but brought back into the set nightly during the 2007 Daydream Nation re-release tour. Hey Joni also managed to get regular play after that tour during all the sporatic dates in 2008. It was play in Nashville back in April...and it was awesome!!