The author Stephen King was a big fan of The Ramones and invited the band to his home in Bangor, Maine before making the film adaptation of his best-selling 1983 horror novel. Sematary of animals. At one point during their meeting, King handed over the bass player Dee Dee Ramone a copy of the book. Dee Dee retreated to King’s basement and had the song for “Pet Sematary” ready about an hour later.
“Pet Sematary” was released on the Ramones’ 11th album Brain drain and was even used in the 1989 film based on King’s iconic book.
Co-written by the band’s longtime producer, Daniel Rey, who helped realize the song, “Pet Sematary” is also co-produced by Jean Beauvoir of the Plasmatics.
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The Sense
The film (and book) follows the story of the Creed family, who move from Chicago to the rural town of Ludlow, Maine, and must survive a legion of animals that have returned from the dead.
The Ramones’ “Pet Sematary” is a ghost free-for-all, ancient goblins and warlords. The lyrics also refer to King’s Sematary of animals The character Victor Pascow, a college student who died in a fatal car accident and visits Louis Creed to warn him about the haunted burial site.
Follow Victor to the sacred place
This is not a dream, I can’t escape
Molars and teeth, the click of bones
Spirits wailing among the tombstones
And at night, when the moon is bright
Someone is crying, something is not right
The chorus is a prayer against any form of reincarnation – and, of course, a burial in an animal cemetery.
I don’t want to be buried in a pet cemetery
I don’t want to live my life again
I don’t want to be buried in a pet cemetery
I don’t want to live my life again
The Video
Directed by Bill Fishman, who also helmed the group’s video for “I Wanna Be Sedated,” the visuals around “Pet Sematary” were set at an actual grave site. Filmed at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, the video shows the Ramones walking the grounds in black and white, with color footage of the band performing as they slowly lay in their grave.
blonde‘s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, members of the Dead Boys, and more friends of the band have guest cameos throughout the video. Everyone drove to the cemetery in the middle of a cold night to shoot the video, which turned into a big party, in a cemetery.
“It was fun,” Rey said, who also has a cameo wearing an Abraham Lincoln hat and a white medical trench coat. “It was cold, but it was fun. I think they decided to have a party and invited all their friends because they all like scary monsters. It was like Halloween but it wasn’t Halloween.”
The Hit
“Pet Sematary” became the band’s biggest hit, peaking at number 4 for the group. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
“Sheena is a punk rocker”
Along with “Pet Sematary”, the 1977 song by the Ramones “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker” also appears in the film in a scene where a speeding truck driver who is about to hit a child, is distracted by singing to him while he . unit.
Marky In, Dee Dee Out
“Pet Sematary” and the release of Brain drain it also marked the end of an era and the continuation of another for the band. Former drummer Marky, who was asked to leave the band in 1983 due to his drinking problem, returned to the Ramones and stayed with them until they disbanded in 1996.
Shortly after the release of Brain drain In 1989, Dee Dee also left the band and was replaced by CJ Ramone. The “Pet Sematary” video was Dee Dee’s last appearance with the band before her death in 2002.
Photo: YouTube / “Pet Sematary” Video
