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 Ramones album Animal Boy released in May 1986. 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.

Ramones Aid

"Something To Believe In" was also the background track for a music video called Ramones Aid which was frequently played on MTV. In the video the Ramones are depicted in a group of people who give money to charity. This video parodies 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 Animotion, Afrika Bambaataa, 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.

Inconsistent Lyrics

The some of the lines Dee Dee 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"have little to do with the video and are inconsistent with its theme. It remains unclear who the people who are such dicks that the song refers too, or what these mistakes could have been.

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". The album the song was on took New York City Music Awards best album, the other single track on the album took best single.

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 We're a Happy Family: A Tribute to Ramones. It features covers of the Ramones 17 greatest hits by artists such as Metallica, The Red Hot Chilli Pepers, Marylin Manson, and Green Day, featured a cover of "Something to Believe In", by the Pretenders.

Time Frame

Many people consider the early period in the history of the Ramones group to be the time period when most or all of their best songs were written. The album animal boy and the song Something to believe in comes closer to the end than to the start of the Ramones, when the band had already been in existence for 12 years, and Dee Dee would quit the band completely within two years. Significantly Animal Boy was the last album recorded before Dee Dee got into the rap scene. After that he may have still been a member of the group called the Ramones, but Dee Dee was no longer a Ramone. A year after the 1986 release, in 1987 Dee Dee Ramone abandoned his punk name and essentially quit being a Ramone and became Dee Dee King then released a rap single. He changed his hair style as well, abandoning the distinctive Ramones style haircut, and clothing, for a new look consistent with his new Hip-Hop persona. Fans remarked that the Ramones no longer existed, and had been replaced by Dee Dee King and the Ramones.

The song is on the second to last album that was recorded while increasingly disillusioned Dee Dee King was still recording with the band. Soon after his single Dee Dee King released 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".