Play it Again, Sam #36b - "Time Has Come Today"

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Hang on to your seats! We are at #36b, the "cover" portion of today's Play it Again, Sam, and it's a good one, if I may say so myself: the Ramones' cover of The Chambers Brothers' "Time Has Come Today." The Ramones, simply put, were one of the all-time great punk bands, although they had a wicked pop music sensibility. In fact, some felt that that the band had become enamored with hearing themselves on the radio and were relying entirely too much on their love of pop music. For their 1983 album, Subterranean Jungle, guitarist Johnny Ramone seized control and steered the band back to their punk roots. Still, the Ramones certainly had a way with a cover, and "Time Has Come Today" was a perfect fit for the group, and their version ended up the eighth track on the album. The Ramones didn't like each other much as it was (in Legs McNeil and Gillan McCain's punk rock history book, Please Kill Me, it was revealed that the bandmembers wouldn't even speak to each other on the tour bus,) and there was much infighting happening at the time, a lot of it fueled by substance abuse. Vocalist Joey and drummer Marky were drinking heavily, and bassist Dee Dee had a major, well known coke habit. In fact, Marky Ramone's drinking had become such a problem that the band fired him before they got around to "Time Has Come Today," and recorded the song with Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers drummer Billy Rogers. Looking back, it's amazing that the Ramones lasted so long, if you think about it. But damn, what a great cover! (Info verified by Wikipedia)