The “absurd” song Ramones wrote to mock themselves
It is difficult to overstate the influence of the Ramones on the development of the punk rock genre. Although various other artists, like Patti Smith or The Stooges, had already laid the foundations for the punk revolution, it was the Ramones who largely defined the inherent sound and attitude of the movement. As opposed to certain other members of the CBGB scene, however, the Ramones were rarely at risk of taking themselves too seriously, and their unique sense of humour often bled over into their musical material.
By the time the Ramones came to release their eponymous debut album in 1976, they had already firmly established themselves as punk progenitors within the New York scene. Nevertheless, that was the first album which brought punk rock to the masses, arriving months before The Damned released ‘New Rose’, officially kicking off the UK wave of punk. One of the most popular tracks included on that first album was ‘Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue’, which influenced the ‘live fast, die young’ attitude that many punks subscribed to.
As the Ramones developed, however, their material became a little more tongue-in-cheek, particularly when it came to their sophomore album, Leave Home, released in 1977. Arguably the band’s finest record, the tracklisting offered an incredible development in the band’s material, featuring punk classics like ‘Pinhead’ and ‘Suzy Is A Headbanger’ and retro 1960s surf rock in their fantastic cover of Henry Glover’s ‘California Sun’. Much of the album’s appeal comes from its humour, with lyrics like “I met her in the Burger King, we fell in love by the soda machine,” making Leave Home a definite fan favourite.
A particular, yet contentious, highlight on the record is ‘Carbona Not Glue’, in many ways a sequel song to ‘Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue’. The song seems to satirise the Ramones themselves, suggesting that the household cleaning product Carbona gives a better high than glue when inhaled. Drummer Tommy Ramone later recalled, “Something like ‘Carbona Not Glue’ has to be tongue-in-cheek. It’s absurd, like saying that you should try something more poisonous.”
Solvent abuse was becoming increasingly popular within the punk movement, as it offered a cheap and abundant alternative to illegal drugs. The chorus of the Ramones’ original glue-sniffing anthem, “Now I wanna sniff some glue, now I wanna have something to do”, encapsulated the ‘no future’ disenfranchisement that many young people felt during the economically depressed and politically tumultuous period of the 1970s.
‘Carbona Not Glue’ added another layer to that by contrasting the household image of the cleaning product with the seedy glue-sniffing underbelly of New York City. Carbona, in particular, has connotations of commercialism, suburbia, and housewifery, which existed in opposition to virtually everything that the Ramones and the wider punk scene stood for. So, while the song was mocking the band on some level, on another, it was an excellent comment on the social divide within 1970s America.
Unfortunately, the Carbona brand did not view the Ramones song so generously. Given that the brand name was a registered corporate trademark, the already fragile finances of Sire Records could not risk a lawsuit. So, the song was cut from the album in favour of ‘Sheena Is A Punk Rocker’ for US pressings and ‘Babysitter’ for the UK market.
Thankfully, the song eventually resurfaced as a result of bootlegs, deluxe reissues, and the few original pressings that still featured the contentious track. Today, it remains a firm favourite among fans of the Ramones, typifying both their infectious punk sound and the unique sense of humour harboured by the iconic New York band.
