I Wanna Be Sedated

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This article is about the single by the Ramones. For the Entourage episode, see I Wanna Be Sedated (Entourage).

"I Wanna Be Sedated"
Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated cover.jpg
Picture sleeve (Netherlands)
Single by Ramones
from the album Road to Ruin
A-side"She's the One"
ReleasedSeptember 21, 1978
Recorded1978
GenrePunk rock
Length2:29
LabelSire
Songwriter(s)Dee Dee Ramone, Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone
Producer(s)Tommy Ramone, Ed Stasium
Ramones singles chronology
"Needles and Pins"
(1978) 		"I Wanna Be Sedated"
(1978) 		"Rock 'n' Roll High School"
(1979)
Music video
"I Wanna Be Sedated" on YouTube

"I Wanna Be Sedated" is a song by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It is one of the band's best known songs.[1] It was originally released on their fourth album, Road to Ruin, in September 1978 and was the B-side of the UK single "She's the One" released on September 21, 1978.[2] The song was later released as a single in the Netherlands in 1979,[3] then in the U.S. in 1980 by RSO Records from the Times Square soundtrack album.

History[]

"I Wanna Be Sedated" was written by Joey Ramone.[4] 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 Christmas time, 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.

Music video[]

The music video for the song, directed by Bill Fishman, was released in September 1988,[5] about ten years after the song was originally released, to promote the compilation album Ramones Mania. The iconic video features the Ramones sitting at a table (left to right: Johnny, Joey, Marky and Dee Dee), nonchalantly reading and eating generic corn flakes (branded "Corn Flakes") whilst the background hallway erupts into a venue 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, while the band's actions are in regular motion. This was achieved by having the band members move very slowly, while the crowd moved normally, and then speeding up the film. (Furthermore, one of the video's characters is a young Courtney Love).[6]

A still from the video was featured in the liner notes of the band’s 1989 album Brain Drain, though the song itself does not appear on that album.

It was featured in the Beavis and Butt-head episode "Give Blood" and is one of only two videos to get the ultimate praise from the duo of nothing but rocking out, as well as the ONLY video to be played in its entirety.

Reception[]

"I Wanna Be Sedated" was number 145 on the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[7] Marky Ramone is the drummer on this track.

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.

According to Alice Cooper, Joey Ramone acknowledged the similarity to Cooper's earlier 1972 song "Elected," explaining that the Ramones listened to a lot of Alice Cooper.[8]

Cover version[]

  • The Adicts covered the song in the mid-'80s when they were on Sire[9] although it wasn't released until the 1992 compilation Totally Adicted. It was later included as a bonus track on some versions of Sound of Music.

In popular culture[]

  • Ramones Time: At 12:00 am on December 31, 2019, many people posted that it was, "2020, 24 hours to go."[10]
  • The song was featured in the penultimate episode of The Magicians which aired on March 25, sung by most of the cast during a heist operation in a musical episode.[11]

Certifications[]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[12] Platinum 1,000,000double-dagger

double-dagger Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References[]

  1. ^ Gina Boldman. "I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones | Listen, Appearances, Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  2. ^ "History of the Ramones". Home.drenik.net. Archived from the original on February 20, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
  3. ^ "Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated (7", Single)". Discogs.com. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
  4. ^ "Joey Ramone: I wanna be sedated. Unplugged". YouTube. September 16, 2011. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  5. ^ "Ramones - "I Wanna Be Sedated"". Mvdbase.com. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
  6. ^ "Courtney Love - Other Works". IMDb.com. Retrieved March 14, 2007.
  7. ^ "500 Greatest Songs of All Time: Ramones, 'I Wanna Be Sedated'". Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  8. ^ "Episode 840 - Alice Cooper". WTF with Marc Maron Podcast. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  9. ^ The Collection (Media notes). The Adicts. Taang! Records. 2002.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  10. ^ "2020, Summed Up with a Simple and Perfect Ramones 'I Wanna Be Sedated' Meme". Rock Cellar. December 31, 2020.
  11. ^ "The Magicians Takes On the Ramones in Musical Episode".
  12. ^ "American album certifications – RAMONES – I Wanna Be Sedated". Recording Industry Association of America.

External links[]

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