The Ramones' willingness to do certain things poll

That's two songs conflated by a misplaced parentheses, but I suppose one could sit in one's room humming a sickening tune while eating vegetables and thinking of you all at the same time.

I'm reading "I Slept With Joey Ramone" by his brother Mickey Leigh right now, and it doesn't actually seem like that much of a stretch to imagine that Joey did exactly that at some point. Poor Joey - he really was not well.

yes that. conflation = otm poll option.

uh, xpost. (p.s. yuk)

hadn't heard of that book - do tell!

It's pretty good - no big revelations about the band if you've seen End Of The Century or read some of the other books (especially Monte Melnick's one) - but a lot about Joey as a kid and teenager that's pretty interesting if you're a fan. Seems really honest too - reveals that Joey was obsessed with James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James" album!

genius poll

gotta be "wanna"

do want

They also didn't wanna be learned - or, indeed, tamed.

I'm voting things they told you to do.

They didnt wanna rock after 1980 or so.

wanna

they wanted the airwaves.

Voted don't wanna, because before the Ramones song, I don't think anyone had publicly acknowledged their lack of desire to be buried in a pet sematary.

"wanna" has probably the strongest lineup here although a few of the individual entries on the others are very compelling. Also, the sequence for "wanna" almost reads like they plan to do them in that order, like they could all be strung together as one song.

Be your boyfriend, sniff some glue, dance, be a good boy, go out west where they belong, Carbona, be well, have something to do, be sedated, live, grow up.

hahahahahahaaa yes totally

Except "grow up" should have been under things the Ramones did not want to do.

And wasn't going out west where they belong more of an inevitability than a wish? But these are all overriden because we also know they want "everything."

they also didn't wanna be a pinhead no more, dudes

No, they "wanted" everything, suggesting they have long ceased wanting anything. Therefore that whole option should be ignored.

New & improved but still incomplete version:

Things The Ramones did want to do: Be your boyfriend, sniff some glue, dance, be a good boy, Carbona, be well, have something to do, be sedated, live.

Things The Ramones did NOT want to do: Walk around with you, be learned, be tamed, be a pinhead no more, be buried in a pet semetary, fight tonight (on Christmas), grow up.

Things The Ramones could not, would not, or did not do: Be, care, give you anything, make it on time, let it happen, seem to make you theirs, control themselves.

Things The Ramones did do: Make a living by peelin' a banana, go out west where they belong, remember you, go mental, be affected, sit in their room (humming a sickening tune), think of you (everytime they ate vegetables), believe in miracles, love you.

Things The Ramones told you to do: Shut it up, Beat on a brat with a baseball bat, ring up the FBI to find out if their baby's alive, give them shock treatment.

Things The Ramones warned you about doing: Shutting it up, killing that girl, talking to commies, opening that door.

http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:YHOO
http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:AOLWI
I want to know...
http://www.google.com/finance?q=INTC
http://www.google.com/finance?q=AMZN
I want to know...

what's with the stockz?

DONT WANNA

Maria Bartiromo (a Joey solo song)

I don't remember the last time I checked, but if you had bought those stocks like Joey said when that record came out, you'd be doing pretty well...

No, they "wanted" everything, suggesting they have long ceased wanting anything.

This is fallacious; it's possible, after all, that while they once wanted everything, they now only want some things.

Man, "did do" is looking a lot better now, the "Havana Affair" bit is pretty irrefutable.

Oh! They also took out their razor blade, doing what God forbade.

Other things the Ramones did: got the glory like Charles Manson, tried to turn a trick, chewed out a rhythm on their bubblegum, watched Get Smart on TV.

haha, was just about to bring up getting the glory like Charles Manson - are we assuming they did go ahead and fire that one bullet in the cylinder?

Somewhere along the line they also lived on a Chinese Rock.

My favorite Ramones song suggests that I can't do something (keep a secret with my concrete skull), then suggests that everyone is something (a secret nerd), before finally revealing that the Ramones don't want to work in a hot dog stand. So it's "Don't Wanna".

Brilliant thread.

...which was too good not to share.

thanks, man. too bad i forgot to add going down to the basement to the don't wannas.

wait, i thot they lived pickin a banana

haha, was just about to bring up getting the glory like Charles Manson - are we assuming they did go ahead and fire that one bullet in the cylinder?

Wow, I've spent more than half my life thinking they were singing "Hit the door/Light the match and..."

It has to be don't wanna. They came fist in the repertoire, and helped form the core songwriting concepts. And, for the most part, the songs are better.

I don't care about this board, I don't care about this poll.
I DON'T CARE. (he don't care!)

I was convinced it was peelin' a banana all these years. Pickin' does make more sense.

is s.l.u.g. a warning about actual slugs?

deluxe version:

Things The Ramones did want to do: Be your boyfriend, sniff some glue, dance, be a good boy, Carbona, be well, have something to do, have some fun, have some kicks, get some chicks, be sedated, live.

Things The Ramones did NOT want to do: Walk around with you, be learned, be tamed, go down to the basement, be a pinhead no more, be taught to be no fool, live this life anymore, be buried in a pet semetary, fight tonight (on Christmas), grow up.

Things The Ramones could not, would not, or did not do: Be, care, give you anything, make it on time, care about history, know why she wrote that letter, go surfing 'cause its twenty below, let it happen, seem to make you theirs, control themselves.

Things The Ramones did do: Make a living by pickin' a banana, serve as green berets in Vietnam, go out west where they belonged, swallow their pride, know your name, know your game, remember you, want you around, go mental, be affected, live on Chinese rock, hate the teachers and the principal, watch Get Smart on TV, want the airwaves, want everything, sit in their room (humming a sickening tune), think of you (everytime they ate vegetables), believe in miracles, love you.

Things The Ramones told you to do: Shut it up, Beat on a brat with a baseball bat, ring up the FBI to find out if their baby's alive, eat that rat, give them shock treatment.

Things The Ramones warned you about doing: Shutting it up, killing that girl, talking to commies, opening that door.

Things The Ramones did not like and were against: politics, communists, games, fun, anyone, Jesus freaks, circus geeks, summer, spring, sex, drugs, waterbugs, playing ping pong, the Viet Cong, Burger King, anything. Also crummy stuff.

Things you didn't for The Ramones: come close. mean anything to them.

Things The Ramones would do next time: listen to their hearts.

want to

God, "I'm Against It" is so great. This thread is a really solid argument for their lyrical invention, I have to say.

Brio, I just wanna give you the props that I think you know you deserve for such an awesome poll concept. Tremendous heapings of kudos, my friend.

There needs to be a new option: THINGS THE RAMONES USED TO DO:
Want everything, be an A student, be a truant, go to parties, drink champagne, be in showbiz, have fortune and fame, have pleasure and pain, have a name, have the world on their shoulder, make a living by pickin' the banana, feel sick and lose their minds, lie awake at night and think just of you, have a job done on them by DDT, lie in bed with the covers pulled up over their heads, think it was all for their own good

BTW ... greatest poll ever, and as Doctor Casino notes, makes you think about how great the lyrics were (on the first four albums, at least). First thing I did this morning after getting dressed was stop the kids watching Harry Potter and play I'm Against It.

You're making a strong case for "Bad Brain" as competition though. "I used to have a name" in particular - jesus, things have really gone south for that guy.

Things The Ramones wondered about: why you want to walk around with them, why things are always this way, if you've heard about the bird, what you want to talk to them for, if you remember rock n roll radio.

did NOT want to be learned

Have we covered, in the achievements category, sitting here in Queens (eating refried beans)?

Yeah, they kept busy in We're A Happy Family: sitting in Queens, eating refried beans, gulping down thorazine, being in all the magazines, being friendly w/ The President and Pope, making fortunes selling Daddy's dope, and what not.

Things The Ramones ate: refried beans, chicken vindaloo, that rat.

Likely, some portion of that banana.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

They took the law, and threw it away, cause there's nothing wrong, it's just for play. There's no law, no law anymore, they wanna steal from the rich and give to the poor.

^^^
YES

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

well, that settles it

great thread.

My favorite Ramones song suggests that I can't do something (keep a secret with my concrete skull), then suggests that everyone is something (a secret nerd), before finally revealing that the Ramones don't want to work in a hot dog stand. So it's "Don't Wanna".

― bendy, Friday, December 4, 2009 2:18 PM Bookmark

so great

Sadly, this poll missed "Things the Ramones couldn't do: Go surfin' cos it's 20 below'

Still a great thread.

danny says is so sad and beautiful

best ilx poll ever. genius.

Things that you may not know, but probably did...

That Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan wrote "I don't wanna grow up" for they. And did a version of "The return of Jackie and Julie" themselves.

xpost Danny Says is just about the best Ramones song, I think. Not the most fun but the one where you really feel what it must have been like being trapped in a cartoon.

http://blog.wfmu.org/.a/6a00d83451c29169e20147e1c8a356970b-800wi

someone made a quiz! http://www.sporcle.com/games/category/music

how did joey wanting to steal from the rich and give to the poor ("howling at the moon") sit with johnny, a republican?

as well as anything else Joey cared about

"It's called "My brain is hanging upside down", Johnny, Honest!"

I used to be an A student
I never used to complain
I used to be a truant
But I'm still the same
Bad, bad brain

Excerpt From Richard Hell's I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp:

The band had gathered at Arturo Vega’s loft for the interview. Arturo was the Ramones’ art director and best friend and main booster. I turned on the tape recorder and started asking questions. In a minute, Dee Dee was explaining the group’s songs and he said the first one they’d written was “I Don’t Wanna Walk Around with You,” and the next one was “I Don’t Wanna Get Involved with You,” and then “I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement.” I don’t wanna this and I don’t wanna that. Finally he offered, “We didn’t write a positive song until ‘Now I Want to Sniff Some Glue.’” Someone who was actually dumb would never be able to think of that, which of course makes it even funnier.”

“We didn’t write a positive song until ‘Now I Want to Sniff Some Glue.’”

love that quote so much