Beat on the Brat

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"Beat on the Brat"
Song by Ramones
from the album Ramones
ReleasedFebruary 1976
RecordedJanuary 1976
GenrePunk rock
Length2:30
LabelSire/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.

— Joey Ramone[1]

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 parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic backed by punk supergroup Osaka Popstar as part of a Dr. Demento tribute album.[3] Combining an onslaught of guitar sounds from Osaka Popstar with stabs of Yankovic's accordion, Rolling Stone called it "a blistering, accordion-tinged cover."[4]

References[]

  1. ^ Rombes 2005 p. 73
  2. ^ McNeil and McCain 2009 p. 183
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Blistein, Jon (November 21, 2017). "Hear 'Weird Al' Play Accordion on Raging Ramones Cover". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 26, 2021.

External links[]

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