Ramones – "I'm Against It" (1978)

Well, I'm against it!

I'm against it!

Me, too!

(I could stop right there, making this the shortest 2 or 3 lines post ever.  But brevity has never been the soul of 2 or 3 lines’s wit, so that ain’t happenin’ – not today, and probably not ever.)

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The Ramones were having a very bad day when they wrote the lyrics to “I’m Against It.”

Here’s the first verse:

I don’t like politics

I don’t like Communists

I don’t like games and fun

I don’t like anyone

I don’t like politics either – or Communists.  

But I’m a big fan of games and fun.  (Perhaps the Ramones were being just a tad tongue in cheek here?)

The next verse goes like this:

I don’t like Jesus freaks

I don’t like circus geeks

I don’t like summer and spring

I don’t like anything

I can take Jesus freaks or leave them – the same goes for circus geeks.  (Speaking of Jesus freaks, when’s the last time you saw a Jesus freak?  They used to be a dime a dozen, but I haven’t run across a good Jesus freak in ages.)

Summer and spring are M-O-N-E-Y!  (More tongue-in-cheekiness, I suspect.)

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I don’t like sex and drugs

I don’t like water bugs

I don’t care about poverty

All I care about is me

The Ramones didn’t like sex and drugs?  Hahahahaha!  (You can’t kid a kidder, boys.)

Water bugs are certainly a nuisance – but the Ramones were probably talking about cockroaches, who many people refer to as water bugs.  (True water bugs – Lethocerus americanus – are unrelated to cockroaches.)

Lethocerus americanus

I know I should care about poverty.  But I can’t honestly say it’s a priority for me.

“All I care about is me”?  (For most of us, that’s the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.)

I don’t like playing ping pong

I don’t like the Viet Cong

I don’t like Burger King

I don’t like anything

Ping pong isn’t a great game – but it’s not the worst.

The Ramones got it right about the Viet Cong – they were nasty little bast*rds.  And Burger King has always been second-best to McDonald’s.

“I don’t like anything” seems a little extreme.  I suspect the Ramones are serving us a heapin’ helpin’ of hyperbole.  (And if anyone knows hyperbole when he sees it, it’s yours truly.) 

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There’s another song titled “I’m Against It” that you need to know about.  We’re talk about it in the next 2 or 3 lines.  

In the mean time, click here to enjoy “I’m Against It,” Ramones-style.

Click here to buy the record from Amazon.