It may be difficult imagining anyone but Bruce Springsteen singing “Hungry Heart,” but that’s how it would have been – if Springsteen had gotten his way.

The Boss says he wrote the 1980 song for the Ramones after attending one of the band’s concerts. “I saw the Ramones in Asbury Park,” Springsteen says. “And we were talking for a while, and I was like, ‘Man, I’ve got to write the Ramones a song.’ So I went home and I sat at my table and I wrote it in about the time it took me to sing it.” However, the Ramones weren’t interested, he recalls. “I brought it in and played it for Johnny Ramone,” Springsteen says. “And he said, ‘Nah, you better keep that one.’ He was right about that. It did pretty well.”

In fact, “Hungry Heart” — the lead single from The River — became Springsteen’s first chart-spanning hit, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100.