Album: Ramones
Year: 1976
. . .
And then there are the lyrics on Ramones: darkly funny; smartly stoopid and of course, just incredibly wrong, especially by today’s standards. And of course, looking at the guys on the cover, leather-jacketed, jeans ripped — and was that one guy giving us the finger? — you could only wonder what kind of depravity they were getting up to.
Which is all to say that I can’t imagine any band today even trying to write a song like “Beat on The Brat,” Joey’s response to what Dee Dee claims was a real-life incident.
Beat on the brat, beat on the brat
Beat on the brat with a baseball bat
Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-oh
Beat on the brat, beat on the brat
Beat on the brat with a baseball bat
Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-oh
Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-oh
What’s so dangerous and subversive about this lyric is just how much fun Joey is having while he sings it, alternating a clipped, faux-upper-class accent one “beat on the brat” with the joyful “oh yeah.” And then he really slips into character, trying desperately to justify his actions.
What can you do?
What can you do?
With a brat like that always on your back
What can you lose?
What can you do?
What can you do?
With a brat like that always on your back
What can you lose, lose?
Why is this Ramones song different from all other Ramones songs?
This is the first of the darkly humorous Ramones songs, one of the things that they became known for.
And while quite a few Ramones songs deal with incredibly disturbing things, this might be the only one about child abuse. Also, Johnny’s clipped guitar on the verses — or is it the chorus — was another flavor of Johnny’s world-changing style.
Finally, he doesn’t remember this, but I seem to think my brother John thought this song was funny and enjoyable when he was around 10 or so, meaning that he instinctively got the satire they were going for.
“Beat on the Brat”
“Beat on the Brat” live at the US Festival (!), 1982
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Was John the younger or older brother? That would affect his perspective 😉
He was — is — eight years younger!