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"Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" is a song by American punk rock band the Ramones. Initially issued as a single in the UK by Beggars Banquet Records in 1985, it did not receive an American single release. An emotionally charged protest of the visit by U.S. president Ronald Reagan to a German cemetery where World War II casualties, including Waffen-SS soldiers, were buried, it was a major critical success. Though it was available in the United States only as an import, it became a hit on college radio. The following year, retitled "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)", it appeared on the band's album ''Animal Boy''. The second version of the title is the one used on subsequent live and compilation albums. ==Background and inspiration== The song was written in reaction to the visit paid by U.S. president Ronald Reagan to a military cemetery in Bitburg, West Germany, on May 5, 1985. Reagan laid a wreath at the cemetery and then gave a public address at a nearby air base. The visit was part of a trip paying tribute to the victims of Nazism and celebrating West Germany's revival as a powerful, democratic ally of the U.S. Reagan's plan to visit the Bitburg cemetery had been criticized in the United States, Europe, and Israel because among the approximately 2,000 German soldiers buried there were 49 members of the Waffen-SS, the combat arm of the SS, which committed many other atrocities. Among those vehemently opposed to the trip were Jewish and veterans' groups and both houses of the U.S. Congress.〔 The phrase "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" was coined by protesters in the weeks leading up to Reagan's trip. Employed as an epithet for Reagan, Bonzo is actually the name of the chimpanzee title character in ''Bedtime for Bonzo'', a 1951 comedy starring Reagan. The phrase also echoes the title of the film's sequel, ''Bonzo Goes to College'' (1952), though Reagan did not appear in that picture. Before departing for Germany, Reagan ignited more controversy when he expressed his belief that the soldiers buried at Bitburg "were victims, just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps." In his remarks immediately after the cemetery visit, Reagan said that "the crimes of the SS must rank among the most heinous in human history", but noted that many of those interred at Bitburg were "simply soldiers in the German army... There were thousands of such soldiers for whom Nazism meant no more than a brutal end to a short life." Also, as Bitburg Mayor Theo Hallet pointed out, all German military cemeteries were likely to contain at least a few SS graves, as the rate of attrition for the service was so high, with up to 200,000 killed and a further 72,000 missing in action amounting to 6% of the entire German Armed Forces.〔According to a report from July 12, 1972 from the German bureau responsible for notifying next-of-kin of men killed in the former Wehrmacht, the total Waffen-SS casualties, including those who died in P.O.W. camps, amounted to 6% of the entire German Armed Forces. That included 181,000 men killed, 72,000 missing in action, totaling approximately 253,000 casualties. That constitutes 25-28% of the total strength of the Waffen SS. ''Wenn Alle Brűder schweigen.'' Nation Europa Verlag GmbH, Coburg (1973, 2003), ISBN 978-3-920677-06-4〕 Discussing the inspiration for the song, Ramones lead singer Joey Ramone, a Jew, explained that the president "sort of shit on everybody."〔 〕 Interviewed in 1986, he said,
Joey shares writing credit with Ramones bassist Dee Dee Ramone and Ramones producer and former Plasmatics bassist/keyboardist Jean Beauvoir. Commentators on the song tend to suggest that Joey was its primary author.〔 Mickey Leigh, Joey's brother, who was particularly close with Dee Dee, claims that while "everyone believed Joey had been the impetus to write the song ... it was actually Dee Dee."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bonzo Goes to Bitburg」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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