‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ is a song by American punk rock band Ramones, originally released on the band's fourth studio album, Road to Ruin (1978), in September 1978. The B-side of the UK single ‘She's the One’ was released on September 21, 1978. The song was later released as a single in the Netherlands in 1979, then in the U.S. in 1980 by RSO Records from the Times Square soundtrack album. The song has since then remained one of the band's best-known songs.
‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ was written by Joey Ramone. In an interview about the song, Joey explains the chorus: “It's a road song. I wrote it in 1977, through the 78'. Well, Danny Fields was our first manager and he would work us to death. We would be on the road 360 days a year, and we went over to England, and we were there at Christmas time, and in Christmas time, London shuts down. There's nothing to do, nowhere to go. Here we were in London for the first time in our lives, and me and Dee Dee Ramone were sharing a room in the hotel, and we were watching The Guns of Navarone. So there was nothing to do, I mean, here we are in London finally, and this is what we are doing, watching American movies in the hotel room.”
This was the first song that Marky Ramone recorded with the band (he took over on drums for Tommy Ramone, who stayed on as a producer). He says the song was completed very quickly in the studio, and his part took just two takes. Regarding the musical inspiration for the song, he explained in an interview: "We always loved the '60s groups: The Kinks, The Who, The Beatles, The Stones, Dave Clark Five, etcetera. And we loved what was done by The Searchers, a band from the '60s from part of that British Invasion. So, we attempted to do our way of doing it, our style, which came out great."
Ten years after the song was first released, the Ramones made a video for it. Directed by Bill Fishman, it's one continuous shot of the band sitting at a table while various characters try to distract them. Fishman would later direct the group's video for ‘Pet Sematary.’ ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ was number 145 on the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 1999, National Public Radio included the song in the "NPR 100", in which NPR's music editors sought to compile the one hundred most important American musical works of the 20th century. According to Alice Cooper, Joey Ramone acknowledged the similarity to Cooper's earlier 1972 song ‘Elected,’ explaining that the Ramones listened to a lot of Alice Cooper.
Label – Sire Records
Songwriters – Dee Dee Ramone, Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone
Producers – Tommy Ramone, Ed Stasium
SONG LYRICS
[Chorus]Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do, nowhere to go-o-oh
I wanna be sedated
[Verse 1]
Just get me to the airport, put me on a plane
Hurry, hurry, hurry before I go insane
I can't control my fingers, I can't control my brain
Oh no-o-o-o-o
[Chorus]
Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do, nowhere to go-o-oh
I wanna be sedated
[Verse 2]
Just put me in a wheelchair, get me on a plane
Hurry, hurry, hurry before I go insane
I can't control my fingers, I can't control my brain
Oh no-o-o-o-o
[Instrumental Break]
[Chorus]
Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do, nowhere to go-o-oh
I wanna be sedated
[Verse 3]
Just put me in a wheelchair, get me to the show
Hurry, hurry, hurry before I go loco
I can't control my fingers, I can't control my toes
Oh no-o-o-o-o
[Chorus]
Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do, nowhere to go-o-oh
I wanna be sedated
[Verse 4]
Just put me in a wheelchair, get me to the show
Hurry, hurry, hurry before I go loco
I can't control my fingers, I can't control my toes
Oh no-o-o-o-o
[Chorus]
Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do, nowhere to go-o-oh
I wanna be sedated
[Verse 4]
Just put me in a wheelchair, get me to the show
Hurry, hurry, hurry before I go loco
I can't control my fingers, I can't control my toes
Oh no-o-o-o-o
[Outro]
Bam bam, ba-bam, ba-bam bam ba-bam
I wanna be sedated
Bam bam, ba-bam, ba-bam bam ba-bam
I wanna be sedated
Bam bam, ba-bam, ba-bam bam ba-bam
I wanna be sedated
Bam bam, ba-bam, ba-bam bam ba-bam
I wanna be sedated