My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
"My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)"
"My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)" cover
Single by Ramones
Album Animal Boy
Released August 1986
Recorded December 1985
Genre Punk rock
Length 3:55

"My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)" is a song by the Ramones from their 1986 album Animal Boy.

The song was written by Dee Dee Ramone, Jean Beauvoir, and Joey Ramone in reaction to Ronald Reagan's visit to a soldiers' cemetery in Bitburg, West Germany in May 1985. Although intended as a reference to Reagan, the name Bonzo is not actually that of a person but was the name of the chimpanzee title character in one of Reagan's movies, Bedtime for Bonzo.

Reagan's visit to the Bitburg cemetery had been criticised in Europe as well as in the United States because 49 members of the SS, the Nazi paramilitary organization that helped run the extermination camps during World War II, were buried there. Some of SS members buried at Bitburg came from units that committed atrocities, including the murder of American POWs. According to White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan, Reagan viewed the majority of the soldiers buried at the cemetery as "simply soldiers of the German army.... There were thousands of such soldiers for whom Nazism meant nothing but the brutal end of a short life".

The song's lyrics are a departure from the Ramones' usual style, with a more outwardly serious content. Joey and Dee Dee Ramone had written the song with producer and former Plasmatics bassist/keyboardist Jean Beauvoir. Joey, who was Jewish, has stated that he started on the song lyrics after being almost physically sickened by the Reagan visit, feeling that the President had shown disrespect for the six million victims of the Holocaust by visiting Bitburg.

"Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" was originally meant to be the sole title of the song, but guitarist Johnny Ramone, a conservative Republican and Reagan supporter, insisted that the refrain of "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down" be the title on American releases of the song and that the reference to Reagan ("Bonzo") be in parentheses.

The song was used in the soundtrack of the film School of Rock.

Trashlight Vision did a cover of this song on their 2006 album, "Alibis and Ammunition".

Canadian punk band the Wednesday Night Heroes also cover the song on their 7", "Move to Press".

v • d • e
Ramones
Joey Ramone • Johnny Ramone • Dee Dee Ramone • Tommy Ramone • Marky Ramone
C. J. Ramone • Richie Ramone • Elvis Ramone
Studio albums Ramones (1976) • Leave Home (1977) • Rocket to Russia (1977) • Road to Ruin (1978) • End of the Century (1980) • Pleasant Dreams (1981) • Subterranean Jungle (1983) • Too Tough to Die (1984) • Animal Boy (1986) • Halfway to Sanity (1987) • Brain Drain (1989) • Mondo Bizarro (1992) • Acid Eaters (1993) • ¡Adios Amigos! (1995)
Live albums It's Alive (1979) • Loco Live (1991) • Greatest Hits Live (1996) • We're Outta Here! (1997) • You Don't Come Close (2001) • NYC 1978 (2003)
Compilations Ramones Mania (1988) • All The Stuff (And More!) Volume 1 (1990) • All The Stuff (And More!) Volume 2 (1990) • Hey Ho! Let's Go: The Anthology (1999) • Ramones Mania Vol. 2 (2000) • Masters of Rock: Ramones (2001) • Best of the Chrysalis Years (2002) • Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits (2002) • The Chrysalis Years (2002) • The Best of The Ramones (2004) • Weird Tales of the Ramones (2005) • Greatest Hits (2006)
Tribute albums Gabba Gabba Hey: A Tribute to the Ramones (1991) • Ramones (1992) • Rocket to Russia (1994) • Rocket to Ramonia (1996) • Road to Ruin (1998) • Leave Home (1998) • Blitzkrieg Over You (1998) • File Under Ramones (1999) • The Song Ramones The Same (2002) • We're a Happy Family - A Tribute to Ramones (2003)
Films Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979) • Lifestyles of the Ramones (1990) • Ramones - Around the World (1993) • We're Outta Here (1997) • End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (2003) • Ramones: Raw (2004) • It's Alive 1974-1996 (2007)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Brain_Is_Hanging_Upside_Down_%28Bonzo_Goes_to_Bitburg%29"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.