Carbona Not Glue

Album: Leave Home (1977)
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Songfacts®:

  • On the 1976 Ramones debut album, they included a song called "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue." On their next album, they released this sequel of sorts, suggesting they sniff fumes from Carmona cleaning fluid instead of glue.

    Tommy Ramone explained in Hey! Ho! Let's Go! The Ramones Anthology by David Fricke: "Something like 'Carbona Not Glue' has to be tongue-in-cheek. It's absurd, like saying that you should try something more poisonous." >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Katie - Goulburn

Comments: 9

  • Tom from San Diego, CaThe Hoodoo Gurus do a great live cover of this song (and two other Ramones songs) on their Bubble and Squeak CD. This is one of three discs on their Bite the Bullet release.
  • Jason from Tampa, FlTo Ralph Newton: "Carbona Not Glue" was replaced by an abbreviated version of "Sheena is a Punk Rocker," which appeared in a full version on their third album Rocket to Russia. It can be found after track 17 on the Loco Live CD.
  • Todd from Toronto, Canadathe song was intended to be a joke, there was outbreak of glue sniffing glue in some fans and they didnt intend for that to happen so they released that saying 'Carbona! Not Glue!'
  • Bou from Bloomington, InOh, I do think it's rather tongue-in-cheek. If that were in doubt, "shooting glue" cinches it. However, Darrell is wrong about Carbona and getting high--or rather is anachronistic. Carbona's original formula was carbon tetrachloride (since the '90s, it's been trichloroethylene and petroleum distillates). Deliberately inhaling Carbona fumes was an extremely dangerous method of getting high, and I'm afraid that several decades ago, in my teens, I did just that, as did several friends.
  • Joe from Chicago, Ari have every ramones song on my computer and somehow i missed this one...... i have heard it before though and it is still a good song.
  • Darrell from EugeneEvan from Canyon Country, California, Carbona is a spot remover for fabric. I use it to clean the inside of my 1995 Alfa Romeo 164 4-Cam sedan and my 1978 Dodge Magnum as well as my carpet and my furniture, and if it was for rust, the insides of my cars, my carpet and my furniture would be riddled with holes and burns. The Ramones were wrong about Carbona being good for getting high. There seems to be few, if any fumes, and it has not bothered myself, my girlfriend or anyone else.
  • Evan from Canyoun Country, Ca, CaThey lyrics are cool, his parents get rid of all the stuff to get high off so he takes that metal rust remover(or something like that, never used it....) and goes ahead. The lyrics get deep for a moment before going back to being kinda funny and kinda WTF. It's awesome.
  • Ralph from Newton, MaThere were only a few hundred copies of Leave Home with this song on it. If you have one it's a keeper. (I do) I can't remember which song replaced it, but the Ramones thought this song was going to be their big breakthrough to the charts, which sadly never happened. When the record company told Seymour Stien their manager they had to pull one of the songs, he knew it was "Carbona" cuz that was the kind of luck they had. Hey Ho forever.
  • Don from Newmarket, CanadaThis song was banned for the longest time as the company that makes Carbona didn't like the tie-in to their product with glue. Originally released then withdrawn from The Ramones Leave Home. A great track!
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