All of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname "Ramone", though none of them were related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years. In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played a farewell concert and disbanded. By a little more than eight years after the breakup, the band's three founding members—lead singer Joey Ramone, guitarist Johnny Ramone, and bassist Dee Dee Ramone—had died. Drummer Tommy Ramone, the last surviving original member, died in 2014.
Their only record with enough U.S. sales to be certified gold was the compilation album Ramones Mania. However, recognition of the band's importance built over the years, and they are now cited in many assessments of all-time great rock music, such as the Rolling Stone list of the 50 Greatest Artists of All Time and VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. In 2002, the Ramones were ranked the second-greatest band of all time by Spin magazine, trailing only The Beatles. On March 18, 2002, the Ramones—including the three founders and drummers Marky and Tommy Ramone—were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2011, the group was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Formation: 1974–1975
Forest Hills High School, attended by the four original members of the Ramones
The original members of the band met in and around the middle-class neighborhood of Forest Hills in the New York City borough of Queens. John Cummings and Tamás Erdélyi had both been in a high-school garage band from 1966 to 1967 known as the Tangerine Puppets. They became friends with Douglas Colvin, who had recently moved to the area from Germany, and Jeffry Hyman, who was the initial lead singer of the glam rock band Sniper, founded in 1972.
The Ramones began taking shape in early 1974, when Cummings and Colvin invited Hyman to join them in a band. The initial lineup featured Colvin on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Cummings on lead guitar, and Hyman on drums. Colvin, who soon switched from rhythm guitar to bass, was the first to adopt the name "Ramone", calling himself Dee Dee Ramone. He was inspired by Paul McCartney's use of the pseudonym Paul Ramon during his Silver Beatles days. Dee Dee convinced the other members to take on the name and came up with the idea of calling the band the Ramones. Hyman and Cummings became Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone, respectively.
A friend of the band, Monte A. Melnick (later their tour manager), helped to arrange rehearsal time for them at Manhattan's Performance Studios, where he worked. Johnny's former bandmate Erdélyi was set to become their manager. Soon after the band was formed, Dee Dee realized that he could not sing and play his bass guitar simultaneously; with Erdélyi's encouragement, Joey became the band's new lead singer.
Dee Dee would continue, however, to count off each song's tempo with his signature rapid-fire shout of "1-2-3-4!" Joey soon similarly realized that he could not sing and play drums simultaneously and left the position of drummer. While auditioning prospective replacements, Erdélyi would often take to the drums and demonstrate how to play the songs. It became apparent that he was able to perform the group's music better than anyone else, and he joined the band as Tommy Ramone.
The Ramones played before an audience for the first time on March 30, 1974, at Performance Studios. The songs they played were very fast and very short; most clocked in at under two minutes. Around this time, a new music scene was emerging in New York centered around two clubs in downtown Manhattan—Max's Kansas City and, more famously, CBGB (usually referred to as CBGB's). The Ramones made their CBGB debut on August 16. Legs McNeil, who cofounded Punk magazine the following year, later described the impact of that performance: "They were all wearing these black leather jackets. And they counted off this song...and it was just this wall of noise.... They looked so striking. These guys were not hippies. This was something completely new."
The band swiftly became regulars at the club, playing there seventy-four times by the end of the year. After garnering considerable attention for their performances—which averaged about seventeen minutes from beginning to end—the group was signed to a recording contract in late 1975 by Seymour Stein of Sire Records. Stein's wife, Linda Stein, had seen the band play at CBGB; she would later co-manage them along with Danny Fields. By this time, the Ramones were recognized as leaders of the new scene that was increasingly being referred to as "punk". The group's unusual frontman had a lot to do with their impact. As Dee Dee explained, "All the other singers [in New York] were copying David Johansen [of The New York Dolls], who was copying Mick Jagger.... But Joey was unique, totally unique."
Pet Sematary LIVE
Ramones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ancient goblins, and warlords,
Come out of the ground, not making a sound,
The smell of death is all around,
And the night when the cold wind blows, No one cares, nobody knows.
I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary,
I don't want to live my life again.
I don't want to live my life again.
Follow Victor to the sacred place,
This ain't a dream, I can't escape,
Molars and fangs, the clicking of bones,
Spirits moaning among the tombstones,
And the night, when the moon is bright,
Someone cries, something ain't right.
The moon is full, the air is still,
All of a sudden I feel a chill,
Victor is grinning, flesh rotting away,
Skeletons dance, I curse this day,
And the night when the wolves cry out,
Listen close and you can hear me shout.
I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary,
I don't want to live my life again.
I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary,
I don't want to live my life again, oh no, oh no
I don't want to live my life again, oh no, oh oh,
I don't want to live my life again, oh no no no
I don't want to live my life again, oh oh
The lyrics of "Pet Sematary" by Ramones are a haunting description of a burial ground where ancient goblins and warlords come out of the ground, the smell of death is all around, and the cold wind blows without concern. The singer expresses his fear of being buried in such a place and living his life again. The chorus repeats the lines, "I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary, I don't want to live my life again," emphasizing the horror of the situation.
The second verse follows Victor to a sacred place where the singer sees and hears moaning spirits among the tombstones. He describes the chilling scene and Victor's flesh rotting away while skeletons dance. The wolves cry out in the night, and the singer calls out that he does not want to be buried in the Pet Sematary.
The song's lyrics are an adaptation of Stephen King's novel "Pet Sematary," which explores the theme of death, grief, and the human desire to escape mortality. The song perfectly captures the ominous atmosphere of the book and conveys the fear of what might happen after we die. The repeated chorus of "I don't want to live my life again" emphasizes the singer's fear of coming back from the dead and reliving his past.
Line by Line Meaning
Under the arc of a weather stain boards,
Beneath the worn and weathered boards,
Ancient goblins, and warlords,
The memories of long gone mystical creatures and warriors,
Come out of the ground, not making a sound,
Rising from their graves silently,
The smell of death is all around,
The scent of death fills the air,
And the night when the cold wind blows, No one cares, nobody knows.
On the night when the frigid wind blows, no one pays attention or knows.
I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary,
I do not desire my remains to be interred in a cursed place,
I don't want to live my life again.
I do not want to repeat my existence.
Follow Victor to the sacred place,
Accompany Victor to the hallowed locale,
This ain't a dream, I can't escape,
This is not a mere nightmare, I cannot flee,
Molars and fangs, the clicking of bones,
The sound of teeth and bones,
Spirits moaning among the tombstones,
Ghosts lamenting amidst the gravestones,
And the night, when the moon is bright,
At night, when the moon is luminous,
Someone cries, something ain't right.
Someone weeps, something is amiss.
The moon is full, the air is still,
The moon is full and the air is calm,
All of a sudden I feel a chill,
Suddenly, I feel a shiver run through me,
Victor is grinning, flesh rotting away,
Victor smiles, his flesh decaying,
Skeletons dance, I curse this day,
Skeletons dance and I regret this day,
And the night when the wolves cry out,
On the night when the wolves howl,
Listen close and you can hear me shout.
If you listen carefully, you can hear me scream.
I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary,
I do not want to be laid to rest in a cursed burial ground,
I don't want to live my life again,
I do not want to experience existence again,
oh no, oh no
Oh no!
I don't want to live my life again,
I do not want to exist again,
oh no, oh oh,
Oh no, oh no,
I don't want to live my life again,
I do not want to experience life again,
oh no no no
Oh no, no way,
I don't want to live my life again,
I do not want to exist again,
oh oh
Oh no!
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DANIEL REY, DEE DEE RAMONE, DOUGLAS COLVIN, JEFFREY HYMAN, JOEY RAMONE, JOHN (RAMONE) CUMMINGS, JOHNNY RAMONE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Joel Rodrigues dos Santos
Esses caras foram os melhores porque eram uma banda no pleno sentido da palavra ,sensacional
deebee76
Joey sounds fantastic.
Eduardo Cervantes
One of my favourite Ramones songs. Great delivery here
Trucks of Brazil🇧🇷
A música será eternamente grata. Muito obrigado, Ramones!
Chinita 1973
Autentic pure punk rock
Júlios-IA
Os Ramones são eternos ❤!
Patrick McGoran
greatest TV memory ever .. visiting family in Michigan in the 80s, turning on MTV, and seeing this live .. I remember making the connection that it was the same band from the movie where they burned down the high school, and I remember thinking "this is awesome"
TFSFireman
Absolutely fantastic tune! Excellent live performance.
JuanJo Sebastián
best pet sematary live ever!
Gasto Chirino
LOS MAS GRANDES.......INOLVIDABLES