Something to Believe In (Ramones song)

"Something To Believe In" is a song that was originally released as a single called the "Sire Single Version", and then re-recorded as a song on the 1986 Ramones album Animal Boy. There are also live video versions of the song. It was written by Dee Dee Ramone and Jean Beauvoir. The "Sire Single Version" was re-released as track 14 of the second disk of the Ramones Anthology. The song was re-released in 2005 by Rhino/Warner Bros, on the album Weird Tales of the Ramones.

The song is more gentle sounding than most Ramones songs, particularly with the pretenders version produced by Johnny which is sung at an extremely slow tempo for a Ramones song.

Ramone$ Aid

"Something To Believe In" also the background track for a MTV music video called Ramones Aid in which the Ramones are in a group of people who give money to charity. This video is a parodys Hands Across America , by featuring t-shirts with the logo hands across your face. A large number of people appear in Ramones Aid including the Circle Jerks, The B-52's, Ted Nugent, Spinal Tap, Weird Al Yankovich and The Untouchables. The video included lookalikes from the 1985 USA for Africa video titled "We Are the World" (Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, and Cyndi Lauper). When juxtaposed with images in parody of other aid videos the songs hook line, "I just want something to believe in", is frequently interpreted as making fun of true believers who's identity is derived from embracing a cause.

Awards

"Something to Believe In" was nominated for the New York City Music Award, for best video clip, and was only surpassed by Peter Gabriel's " Sledgehammer".

Pretenders Version

The final version which was one of the last production accomplishments of Johnny Ramone, and was done shortly before his death, was a cover version by the pretenders.

Included on the album Were a Happy family:Tribute to the Ramones . It features covers of the Ramones 17 greatest hits by artists such as Metallica, The Red Hot Chilli Pepers, and Marylin Manson, and Green Day, featured a cover of Something To Believe In, by the Pretenders.

Dee Dee's disillusionment

The song is on the second to last album that was recorded while increasingly disillusioned Dee Dee was still in the band. The lines Dee Dee's pend in the song something to believe in, like for example, "If people weren't such dicks and I never made mistakes Then I could find forgiveness" portended poorly for Dee Dee's future with the punk scene, the band, his wife, and even his psychiatrist. A year after the songs 1986 release, in 1987 Dee Dee Ramone abandoned his punk name and became Dee Dee King then released a rap single, and soon after an entire rap album, much to Johnny's consternation. After releasing Brian Drain, in 1989 "overcome with exhaustion and bloated with antidepressants, Dee Dee left the band, his wife and his psychiatrist".