I Wanna Be Sedated

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"I Wanna Be Sedated"
Picture sleeve (Holland)
Single by the Ramones
from the album Road to Ruin
B-side	"I Don't Want You"
Released	1979
Format	7"
Recorded	1978
Genre	Punk rock
Length	2:29
Label	Sire (Holland)
Writer(s)	Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone
Producer	Tommy Erdelyi, Ed Stasium
the Ramones singles chronology
"Rockaway Beach" (1977) "I Wanna Be Sedated" (1978) "I'm Against It" (1978)

"I Wanna Be Sedated" is one of the best known^[1] songs by the punk rock group the Ramones. It was released in 1978 and appeared on their fourth album, Road to Ruin. The song was released as a single in the U.S. in 1980 by RSO Records from the Times Square soundtrack album.

[edit] History

"I Wanna Be Sedated" was written by Joey Ramone in 1978. In an interview about the song, Joey explains the chorus:

"It's a road song. I wrote it in 1977, through the 78. Well, Danny Fields was our first manager and he would work us to death. We would be on the road 360 days a year, and we went over to England, and we were there at Christmastime, and in Christmas time, London shuts down. There's nothing to do, nowhere to go. Here we were in London for the first time in our lives, and me and Dee Dee Ramone were sharing a room in the hotel, and we were watching The Guns of Navarone. So there was nothing to do, I mean, here we are in London finally, and this is what we are doing, watching American movies in the hotel room."

[edit] Music video

The music video for the song, directed by Bill Fishman, was released in September, 1988 (ten years after the song was originally released)[1] to promote the compilation album Ramones Mania. The iconic video features the Ramones sitting at a table, nonchalantly reading and eating Corn Flakes. Meanwhile, the background room erupts into a meeting place for nuns, acrobats, ballerinas, monsters, cheerleaders, clowns, doctors, fetish nurses, and smoking schoolgirls. The film is intentionally sped up to show the excitement of the background and the soporific nature of the band. One of the video's characters is a young Courtney Love.^[2]

[edit] Reception

"I Wanna Be Sedated" was number 144 on the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

In 1999, National Public Radio included the song in the "NPR 100", in which NPR's music editors sought to compile the one hundred most important American musical works of the 20th century.

[edit] Cover versions

• The Offspring covered the song for the Ramones tribute album We're a Happy Family. The band also performed the song in the film Idle Hands.
• Shonen Knife has recorded a version of the song for the 1995 Japanese re-release of Burning Farm.
• Juliana Hatfield's band Blake Babies recorded a cover for their 2002 EP Epilogue.
• moe. covered the song on their live album Warts and All.
• The heavy metal band Viper covered the song on the album Maniacs in Japan.
• The Bones covered the song on their album Partners in Crime vol. 1.
• The parody/lounge/performance art troupe The Swinging Erudites recorded a "jazz" version of the song in 1984
• Brazilian rock singer Rita Lee covered this song in her 2004 album MTV Ao Vivo (MTV Live).
• Donut Kings covered this song in her 1999 album FAPLUNK but changed the lyrics to make it a Christmas song.
• The instrumental version by Belgian electroband Neven features in the movie "I could never be your woman" by Amy Heckerling.
• The Adicts also covered the song for their 1982 album Sound of Music.
• Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band covered it on his second night Boston April 22 2009, after it was requested by an audience member.
• The electropunk band The Nazis from Mars covered the song on their self-titled album.
• The New York Dolls perform the song live in concert.
• The band 'Ricochet' performed the song at the Dripstone Day Talent Quest 2009.
• Vince Neil covered this song on the B-side of the single Sister of Pain.

[edit] In popular culture

• The song appears on the soundtrack to the 1980 movie Times Square.
• On the show My So-Called Life, Rayanne makes a disastrous debut as the singer of a band while covering this song. Just before she is to come in, she panics and races off the stage, leaving Jordan to take over.
• The song makes an appearance on the soundtrack featured in Burnout 3: Takedown.
• The song is featured in the 2005 music video game Guitar Hero.
• Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a big fan of the Ramones. This song is featured in the episode Crush. Spike 'tricks' Buffy into a date, and hums a few bars of it then asks her if she likes the Ramones.
• The video has appeared on Beavis & Butt-head. It is extremely well-received by the two and they say hardly anything the whole video.
• The all girl-band Lo-Ball (no longer together) make a probable reference to this song in one of their own, 'Rock Star'- "You know I wanna be sedated/ With twenty-twenty-four hours to go".
• An episode from the third season of Entourage is named after the song; in it, an old-school Hollywood producer pitches a script about the Ramones to E.
• The song was featured in the 1996 film Carpool.
• In the final episode of Titus, Insanity Genetic Part 2, the song is used in a montage depicting Christopher's self-destructive behavior.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Video Classics: 'I Wanna Be Sedated'