Song of the Day, Part One: The Ramones, I Wanna Be Sedated

Well, this will be fun. (For me. Definitely not you!) My friend Diane from the wonderful Ladies Who Lunch blog nominated me for the Song a Day Challenge.

I’ve just totally copied out the rules of this challenge from her, but I’m supposed to post the lyrics of a favorite song for five days in a row, explain what the song lyrics mean to me, and add the video if available. I’m also supposed to pass the challenge along to two other people. Now, I actually don’t know any bloggers other than Diane who post that often. And I can’t afford to make any more enemies. So, instead, I’m going to take the lazy person’s way out bold and brave step of letting any blog reader self-nominate. If you want to do the Song a Day Challenge, consider yourself nominated by me. Go for it!

These five songs aren’t actually my all-time favorite songs. I don’t think. I like a lot of songs. I just thought of five songs that I love but that I’m not sure I’ve mentioned on the blog before.

The first is “I Wanna Be Sedated” by the Ramones. A real oldie, this one came out in 1978 on the classic album Road to Ruin. Who are the Ramones? A punk band from Queens, New York City.

To shorthand that for my friend, Jim, yes, that means, “they can’t play their instruments.” See also the Clash and the Replacements. The Ramones are a stand-in for all those bands. But that’s okay! That genre, the favorite of my youth and teenage years, still holds up. It seems pretty contemporary, actually.

What do the lyrics of “I Wanna Be Sedated” mean to me? Well, that’s self-explanatory. Usually, I don’t pay much attention to lyrics; I’m more about the beat, the music and the feel of the song, while the words just trail off into, like, “congratulations on the mess, hmm, hmm, hmmm, ba ba.” But these lyrics are imprinted on my brain.

The lyrics are simple, sure — that’s why I can remember them. Hilarious. Exaggerated. But true! I must feel this way (not literally) dozens of times a week, even now. At the airport, standing in the longest line at the grocery store, listening to my own teenagers, checking the news. Actually, no: in the last two situations, I do literally want to be sedated.

So, not profound, perhaps, but wonderful nonetheless, is “I Wanna Be Sedated” by the late, great American band, the Ramones.

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin’ to do and no where to go-o-oh I wanna be sedated
Just get me to the airport put me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can’t control my fingers I can’t control my brain
Oh no no no no no

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go….
Just put me in a wheelchair, get me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can’t control my fingers I can’t control my brain
Oh no no no no no

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin’ to do and no where to go-o-o I wanna be sedated
Just put me in a wheelchair get me to the show
Hurry hurry hurry before I go loco
I can’t control my fingers I can’t control my toes
Oh no no no no no

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go…
Just put me in a wheelchair…
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated