Ramones - "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg" C/D

So, is it based on a Christmas song or what?

i luv it. (the song, that is)

During his presidency Reagan infamously placed flowers on the graves of SS officers in Bitburg, (then West) Germany.

Classic verses, chorus is kinda weak tho.

Classic. Must have irritated Johnny Ramone immensely performing this one.

Beautiful in School of Rock.

If we get a new Ramones out of this, perhaps it will have been worth it

I agree with Albert r broccoli. The chorus is completely disposable. They could have gone harder on Reagan, but instead it shifts the focus to the narrator's own anxiety/mental health. I mean, it loosely ties together but I've always felt like it could use a little work. Still, am unbelievably catchy song.

I love the chorus precisely for its resigned ambivalence. The Ramones had never been overtly political before "Bonzo" (I don't think)--lots of songs where you could read politics into them, but even "The KKK Took My Baby Away" had that layer of Ramones jokiness. I think "As I watched him on TV/Somehow it really bothered me"--the "somehow"--is just perfect for a band making tentative steps towards somewhere they'd never gone before.

^^^ yep

Johnny Ramone wouldn't permit them to do an overtly anti-Reagan song so that's why there's the ambivalence there. Joey presented the chorus as a song about himself and slid the verses passed him.

Also the "KKK" is Joey's name for Johnny (who's wife was formerly Joey's girlfriend.)

Just read this morning that Robyn Hitcock's "The President" is also about Reagan's Bitburg visit.

Johnny was known within the punk rock community as one of its notable conservatives, and was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party. Johnny made his political affiliation known to the world in 2002, when the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After thanking all who made the honor possible—clad in his trademark T-shirt, ripped blue jeans and leather jacket—he said "God bless President Bush, and God bless America".[24] He said in an interview, when questioned on his conservatism, "I think Ronald Reagan was the best President of my lifetime." This was evident in 1985 when the band released the UK single "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg"; Johnny pressed for a name change, finding the title insulting to Reagan, and the song was retitled on American releases as "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)" after a line from the song's chorus. In this same interview he claimed that "Punk is right wing".[25]

Johnny is quoted by The Observer as saying: "People drift towards liberalism at a young age, and I always hope they change when they see how the world really is."[26]

Just read this morning that Robyn Hitcock's "The President" is also about Reagan's Bitburg visit.

Yeah, great song. "He's the President of Europe and he's talking to the dead/ They're the only ones who'll listen or believe a word he said"

(xposts) Knew about the autobiographical symbolism of "KKK," knew the title of "Bonzo" had been changed, not sure if I knew Johnny wanted "Bonzo" softened. None of that alters my feelings about the chorus, though--I'm moved by the singer not being able to articulate what's bothering him.

I wonder if there's some confusion here because this song has two choruses! Are some people referring to the "Bonzo goes to Bitburg and goes down for a cup of tea" part and some to the "My brain is hanging upside down" part?

I think they're both choruses, anyway. I guess you could call the first one a pre-chorus but it's pretty self-sufficient and fully formed.

I like the rhyme about understanding foreign policy. (:

Hah, yeah the former. It's such a melodic letdown between the verses and the "Brain" part.

This song is really something. There IS a pre-chorus, but it's the one that comes in before the last chorus after the modulation. Those musical materials are not heard before.

Wow.

The reason this song is so effective is that it doesn’t fall into the punk rock cliche of screaming “Reagan sucks!” Joey seems genuinely confused and desperate for answers. And there are few songs that sound better when cranked to the max.

Yeah, to be clear, I love the pre-chorus. It's 'My brain is hanging upside down/I need something to slow me down' that feels half-baked to me.

Marky Ramone goes into this song (and "The KKK...") quite a bit in his autobiography. Unfortunately I can't recall the details at all but I think he says the "My brain" bit was an unfinished fragment by Dee Dee, welded to Joey's song. And there was a bit of skullduggery to deal with Johnny - again, can't recall how that went.

Totally recommend Marky's autobiography. It's the best of the three I've read (Johnny's and Dee Dee's being the other two.) He has more detail about how the band worked and a clearer perspective on the group dynamics, being both an outsider, coming late to the band and an insider during their most popular period. Plus tons of great stories and tidbits.

lol, i've always loved the chorus because the first few times i heard the song i was sure joey was singing "reagan's hanging upside-down"

i agree w/ clemenza. the ramones were so un-apolitical/anti-political most of the time that the honest confusion and anger of this song feels really genuine, not just another paint-by-numbers attack on reagan. joey's vocal really puts it across, too.

I'm no expert on all their material but they had a pretty unabashedly anti-/post-Vietnam song early on, that even as a young teenager came off to me as pretty political. I'll need to do some googling...

"Commando"? You have to assume a lot to think it's anti-Vietnam. Half the first album is "political" just not party politics.

Nah, it's "Let's Go" from End Of The Century:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiJ9xyxc-xk

Don't want to study on the G.I. bill
Want more action, haven't had my fill
Mercenary, fight for anyone
Fight for money
Fight for fun

Let's go
Let's go
Let's go
Let's go

Got a country you want to protect
But your army is more likely to defect
Hire my SMG with a full clip
On automatic it's guaranteed hit

Let's go
Let's go
Let's go
Let's go

Gee it's kinda scary out here
Mosquitoes are happy tonight
Mommy, Daddy, can I please come home
Even if just for one night

Let's go
Let's go
Let's go
Let's go

Shocked how deadly we fight back
Troublemakers who attack
Mercenary, fight for anyone
Fight for money, fight for fun

Let's go
Let's go
Let's go
Let's go

they certainly weren't political the way a band like the Clash were political. But it's hard to deny the sociopolitical elements in stuff like 53rd and 3rd or Today Your Love Tomorrow the World

Totally recommend Marky's autobiography. It's the best of the three I've read (Johnny's and Dee Dee's being the other two.)

thanks for the recommendation... i'll read that for sure. yeah those other two books aren't so great.

Johnny's is OK because it's from his perspective.

I enjoyed Johnny's and Dee Dee's books partly because they are so personal and subjective. Marky's is much broader and he goes into detail about how the business of the Ramones actually works - stipends, getting to gigs, where and what they ate, where they lived, what kind of cars they all drove and so on - all of that stuff is pretty revealing about their lives. Viewing Joey, DeeDee and Johnny through their relationship with him, they become much fuller characters than they have in any other book or doc about the Ramones. The earlier part of the book is about working the early 70s bar scene with Dust. Then he was in the Voidoids and drummed with Wayne County's band before he joined the Ramones. He's done a lot!

@tim ellison and other music comp dudes:

I'm on the road and currently don't have any musical equipment with me, but there seems to be something unusual with the G in the verses, sounds like a Gadd11 or a Gsus4?

Yeah, there's definitely a suspended fourth in there. The more common thing to do, of course, is to release that suspension at some point while you're still on that chord, but the guitar on this seems to hold on to it the whole time.

There are suspensions at the end of the "Brain is hanging" chorus too.

Tim, is it this one:
http://jguitar.com/images/chordshape/G-Suspended%204th-G-3,3,5,5,3,3.png

I would doubt that it has the suspension in the bass there on the fifth string. My guess would be just on the third string (and maybe only three-string chord or so - not all six strings played together).

Ancient revive for Tim, it's this one:
https://jguitar.com/images/chordshape/G-Suspended%204th-G-3,5,5,5,x,x.png

Cheers, Al. That's a hard chord to play, though! I'm gonna get my index finger over onto the A-string?

If it was me playing it, I'd just play it like an F chord on the first through fourth strings and use my pinky for the suspension on the third string.