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"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 January 10, 1979.[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.

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 [hide*1 History

History[edit][]

"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[edit][]

The music video for the song, directed by Bill Fishman, was released in September, 1988[5] (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, nonchalantly reading and eating Corn Flakes. Meanwhile, the background room erupts into a meeting place for nunsacrobatsballerinasmonsterscheerleadersclownsdoctorsfetish 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. One of the video's characters is a young Courtney Love.[6]

Reception[edit][]

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

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.

Cover versions[edit][]

Media[edit][]

  • The song appears on the soundtrack to the 1980 movie Times Square.
  • On the show My So-Called Life, Rayanne makes a disastrous debut as the singer of a band while covering this song. Just before she is to come in, she panics and races off the stage, leaving Jordan to take over.
  • The song is featured on the trailer and the soundtrack for the comedy Scary Movie.
  • The song makes an appearance on the soundtrack featured in Burnout 3: Takedown.
  • The song is featured in the 2005 music video game Guitar Hero (as a cover), as well as Jam Sessions 2 and Rock Band 3 (as a master recording), five years later.
  • Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a big fan of the Ramones. This song is featured in the episode Crush. Spike 'tricks' Buffy into a date, and hums a few bars of it then asks her if she likes the Ramones.
  • The video has appeared on Beavis & Butt-head. It is extremely well received by the two and they say hardly anything the whole video out of enjoyment of the song so much.
  • An episode from the third season of Entourage is named after the song; in it, an old-school Hollywood producer pitches a script about the Ramones to E.
  • In the song 'Overstayer' by Every Time I Die, front man Kieth Buckley sings "'I want to be sedated' / Just like Joey said."
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