Beat on the Brat
| "Beat on the Brat" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Ramones | |
| from the album Ramones | |
| Released | February 1976 |
| Recorded | January 1976 |
| Genre | Punk rock |
| Length | 2:30 |
| Label | Sire/ABC |
| Songwriter(s) | Joey Ramone |
| Producer(s) | Craig Leon |
"Beat on the Brat" is a song by American punk rock band Ramones, from their eponymous debut album. The song was featured in the 1995 film Billy Madison.
Story
"Beat on the Brat" was said by Joey to have origins relating to the lower classes of New York City.
When I lived in Birchwood Towers in Forest Hills with my mom and brother. It was a lower-class neighborhood, with a lot of trashy lower class women who had horrible brat kids who were obnoxious. There was a playground with women sitting around and a kid screaming, a horrible kid just running around rampant with no discipline whatsoever. The kind of kid you just want to kill. You know, 'beat on the brat with a baseball bat' just came out. I just wanted to kill him.
Dee Dee, however, explained that the song was about how "Joey saw some mother going after a kid with a bat in his lobby and wrote a song about it."[2]
In 2018, a cover of the song was performed by "Weird Al" Yankovic as part of a Dr. Demento tribute album.[3] It was later released on the rarities album "Medium Rarities" from the career-spanning boxset Squeeze Box.
References
- ^ Rombes 2005 p. 73
- ^ McNeil and McCain 2009 p. 183
- ^ Lewis, Randy (Jan 11, 2018). "Dr. Demento, comedic song hero and unsung punk rock legend, gets his due on new album". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. Retrieved Jan 17, 2018.
