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What sense does it make for The Ramones to release another album in 1995, while everyone is talking about punk again and plenty of kids swear that the genre was invented by Green Day? The days of photos on the back of CBGB's are two decades past, and their three chords played at hyperbolic speeds from that era are no longer enough. Moreover, losing Dee Dee along the way, who was too attached to drug stories on 53rd & 3rd, was a blow too hard for the Ramone brand, and sales are lagging.
The albums from the late eighties, despite the lavish production that doesn't quite jibe with their spartan style, have shown a frightening lack of material of significant substance, and even the hit "Pet Semetary" driven by Stephen King's movie isn't enough to regain inspiration. In short, there's a sense of winding down in this ironically titled album right from the cover, with those dinosaurs that witness the poignant consistency of retracing the steps of an extraordinary past that now sees them heading towards extinction. So there is also a need for old Dee Dee's writing to make people understand how important a testimony from these prehistoric survivors is at a time when young bands, thanks to MTV, can reach the top of the charts selling punk even to the wealthy yuppies who weren't even born in '77.
It's no coincidence that the best moment of the album is the cover of a Tom Waits tune "I Don't Want to Grow Up", which is a bit of a manifesto for their career: I don't want to grow up. Thus the usual sequence of tracks ranging from two to three minutes that recall the old stories of the best years of their lives, like the other beautiful cover, "I Love You", by another splendid loser of the extinct New York fauna: Johnny Thunders (R.I.P.). After all, the formula of gabba gabba hey is always the same: breathtaking rhythm and easy melody.
In this album, the brothers perform much better than their recent efforts; they seem to be saying to the likes of Offspring, Green Day, Rancid: we are the Ramones, learn.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 I Don't Want to Grow Up (02:46)
When I'm lying in my bed at night
I don't wanna grow up
Nothing ever seems to turn out right
I don't wanna grow up
How do you move in a world of fog that's
Always changing things
Makes wish that I could be a dog
When I see the price that you pay
I don't wanna grow up
I don't ever want to be that way
I don't wanna grow up
Seems that folks turn into things
That they never want
The only thing to live for is today...
I'm gonna put a hole in my T.V. set
I don't wanna grow up
Open up the medicine chest
I don't wanna grow up
I don't wanna have to shout it out
I don't want my hair to fall out
I don't wanna be filled with doubt
I don't wanna be a good boy scout
I don't wanna have to learn to count
I don't wanna have the biggest amount
I don't wanna grow up
Well when I see my parents fight
I don't wanna grow up
They all go out and drinkin' all night
I don't wanna grow up
I'd rather stay here in my room
Nothin' out there but sad and gloom
I don't wanna live in a big old tomb on grand street
When I see the 5 o'clock news
I don't wanna grow up
Comb their hair and shine their shoes
I don't wanna grow up
02 Makin' Monsters for My Friends (02:35)
Everybody said so man you could see it on T.V.
They stood there ashamed with nowhere to go
Nobody wants them now the kids are alright
Every day is a holiday and pushin' people around
I'm making monsters for my friends
I'm making monsters for my friends
Someone caught one I could see so myself
I had to call 254 so they wouldn't blame me
We wanted to know how much trouble there was
When we asked our daddy he said it's just because
I'm making monsters for my friends
I'm making monsters for my friends
I don't wanna open a can of worms and I don't want any Spagetti-O's
And I could always tell when someone is holding a grudge
I'm making monsters for my friends
I'm making monsters for my friends
I'm making monsters for my friends
I'm making monsters for my friends
04 The Crusher (02:27)
Now I wanna wrestle in the garden
I'm on my way to stardom
I know I'm ready I know I'm great
But first I have to get in shape
Cause I've got my eyes on the Russian Bear
Gonna tear him up I swear
This guy thinks he's the champion
Gonna take his belt and beat him!
I'm the crusher king of the ring
I'm the crusher king of the ring
I'm the crusher king of the ring
I'm the crusher king of the ring
I'm ready for a match with the Russian Bear
Gonna pile drive him pull his hair
I might have a foreign object in my trunks
I might have to use on that punk
Got the hardest hold you can put on anyone
If you're my victim you're beaten
I'm a lean mean fighting machine
Powerful and strong like King Kong
I'm the crusher king of the ring
I'm the crusher king of the ring
I'm the crusher king of the ring
I'm the crusher king of the ring
Started having second thought I was scared as hell
The last thing I wanted was to hear them ring the bell
I mean the Russian Bear could probably
tear me limb from limb
He'd probably grin be real happy with himself
This is not good for my health
I'm not coming out of the dressing room
And get beaten up by that goon
Go back to Russia go back home!
Don't wanna get a broken bone
Or a lump on my head
Ain't gonna hide under the bed
I'm the crusher king of the ring
I'm the crusher king of the ring
I'm the crusher king of the ring
I'm the crusher king of the ring
I'm the crusher (crusher)
I'm the Crusher
05 Life's a Gas (03:34)
Life's a gas, Life's a gas, Life's a gas, a gas, oh yea
Life's a gas, Life's a gas, Life's a gas, a gas, oh yea
So don't be sad cause I'll be there
Don't be sad at all
Life's a gas, Life's a gas, Life's a gas, a gas, a gas, oh yea
Life's a gas, Life's a gas, Life's a gas, a gas, a gas, oh yea
So don't be sad cause I'll be there
Don't be sad at all
Life's a gas, Life's a gas, Life's a gas, a gas, oh yea
Life's a gas, Life's a gas, Life's a gas, a gas, oh yea
So don't be sad cause I'll be there
Don't be sad at all
09 Have a Nice Day (01:39)
I heard it from the gangster I heard it from the priest
I heard it from my best friend Way down in the middle east
Have a nice day. That's all I hear every day
Have a nice day. I don't believe a word you say
I heard from the landlord When he kicked me out
I heard it from the spirits As they possessed my house
Have a nice day. That's all I hear every day
Have a nice day. I don't believe a word you say
When they look me in the eye I turn the other way
It's just a trained reaction something they gotta say... yeah
I heard it from New Zealand I heard it at the club
I heard it from my doctor Before he pulled the plug
Have a nice day. That's all I hear every day
Have a nice day. I don't believe a word you say
Have a nice day. That's all I hear every day
Have a nice day. I don't believe a word you say
10 Scattergun (02:30)
Smooth bore, scattergun, you are the only one To cover me
When I sleep, cover me in my dreams carry a smooth bore
Scattergun, steal from me there'll be no time to run I got
The bead on you, she fires true Take what you want and I'll
Do what I have to do Smooth bore, scattergun, scattergun, scattergun
Triple-O bucks the only shot for me Cut any man right off at the knees
Don't need to bother the police, I've got my Mossberg 590
Smooth bore, scattergun, you are the only one To cover me when
I sleep, cover me in my dreams carry a smooth bore Scattergun,
steal from me there'll be no time to run I got the bead on you,
She fires true Take what you want and I'll do what I have to do
Smooth bore, scattergun, scattergun, scattergun
Smooth bore, scattergun, you are the only one
To cover me when I sleep, cover me in my dreams carry
A smooth bore Scattergun, scattergun, scattergun
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