Amigos Video Songs
Ronald Frison
In his 2012 autobiography, Commando, Johnny Ramone awarded the album a "B+" grade, stating, "Some of our albums would have three or four really strong songs, and then the rest would be pretty weak. But on this one, even the lesser stuff is decent."[2]
While bassist and songwriter Dee Dee Ramone had left the band following 1989's Brain Drain, Adios Amigos! features six of his compositions, including three previously released: "The Crusher" was originally recorded for his 1989 debut solo album, Standing in the Spotlight (a rap album released under the name Dee Dee King), while "Making Monsters for My Friends" and "It's Not for Me to Know" were originally recorded for the 1994 album I Hate Freaks Like You, which he performed with I.C.L.C. Adios Amigos! also contains cover versions of Tom Waits' "I Don't Want to Grow Up" and Johnny Thunders' "I Love You".
The American version of the album features a hidden track, "Spiderman", slightly different from the version the Ramones originally recorded for the Saturday Morning tribute album. The Japanese version and Captain Oi reissue of the album feature the bonus track "R.A.M.O.N.E.S.", originally recorded by Motrhead as a tribute to the Ramones on their 1991 album 1916.
C.J. Ramone sings lead vocals on the album tracks "Makin Monsters for My Friends", "The Crusher", "Cretin Family" and "Scattergun", as well as the bonus track "R.A.M.O.N.E.S."[3] Dee Dee Ramone makes his first appearance on a Ramones album since 1989 during the bridge of the closing track "Born to Die in Berlin", singing in German and recorded via telephone.[citation needed]
The album cover of Adios Amigos!, which features two Allosaurus wearing sombreros, is a digitally altered version of a painting by artist Mark Kostabi, named Enasaurs, which features the dinosaurs wearing yellow witch hats.[4] Johnny Ramone added that the dinosaurs were "what we felt like."[2] Kostabi's painting was in turn modified from a painting by George Geselschap.[5]
The back cover shows the band tied and bound before being executed by a firing squad. Johnny said that he stipulated that the band not be photographed from the front, reasoning, "I was very protective of how we looked at that point, and some of us looked worse than others." He added, "I had asked that they put the name of the record company on the backs of the firing squad executing us, and they wouldn't go with that."[2]
The sleeping Mexican man seated next to the band is their longtime road manager Monte Melnick. Melnick explained, "They'd always have a Mexican sleeping on the floor in the old cowboy movies so they thought it'd be a nice touch. Shooting the back cover was a gas. A lot of people hate the front though."[1] According to Melnick, Marky Ramone loved the album, due to Daniel Rey's production, but thought the cover was "terrible".[1] "I can relate to a little bit 'cos I felt like a dinosaur," said Johnny, "but I don't know where they fit in with the Mexican hats and all that."[1]
Melnick explained that several of the Ramones' later album covers were designed by manager Gary Kurfirst, with no input from the band, due to a dispute over merchandising royalties. Kurfirst was an art collector and "would buy the art and stick it on the cover and figured it would increase the value of his painting."[1]
In contrast to the Ramones' long-running inability to break through on singles charts, the band's cover of Tom Waits' "I Don't Want to Grow Up" became a minor hit for the group, breaching the top 40 of Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart and peaking at No. 30.[12]
Friendship is at the heart of this joyful collaboration between Mexican songstress, Sonia De Los Santos, and the Americana folk duo, The Okee Dokee Brothers. This bilingual program includes both old and new songs that span the musical traditions of North America and illustrate the collective power of singing together and learning from each other. With an adventurous spirit and a common vision of peace and understanding, Somos Amigos encourages young and old to explore, dance, sing and laugh together, hand-in-hand.
Esta alegre colaboracin musical nace de la amistad entre la cantante mexicana, Sonia De Los Santos, y el do de folk estadounidense, The Okee Dokee Brothers. Un programa bilinge que incluye canciones antiguas y nuevas que abarcan las tradiciones musicales de Amrica del Norte, ilustrando el poder colectivo de cantar juntos y aprender unos de otros. Con espritu aventurero y una visin en comn de paz y aceptacin, Somos Amigos anima a personas de todas las edades a explorar, bailar, cantar y rer juntos.
Three Amigos! is a 1986 American Western comedy film directed by John Landis, written by Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin, and Randy Newman (who also wrote the film's songs), and starring Chevy Chase, Martin Short, Steve Martin, Alfonso Arau, Tony Plana, Patrice Martinez, and Joe Mantegna. It is the story of three American silent film stars who are mistaken for real heroes by the suffering people of a small Mexican village. The actors must find a way to live up to their reputation and stop a malevolent group of bandits.
In 1916, the bandit El Guapo and his gang collect protection money from the Mexican village of Santa Poco. Carmen, daughter of the village leader, searches for someone who can rescue her townspeople. Visiting a village church, she sees a silent film featuring The Three Amigos, a trio of gunfighters who protect the vulnerable from villains. Believing them to be real heroes, Carmen sends a telegram asking them to come and stop El Guapo.
Lucky Day, Dusty Bottoms, and Ned Nederlander, the actors who portray the Amigos, demand a salary increase for their next project and are fired by their boss Harry Flugelman. He has them evicted from the studio mansion, banned from his lot, and the clothes they borrowed from wardrobe repossessed. They soon receive Carmen's telegram, misinterpreting it as a job offer to perform a show in Santa Poco. The Amigos break into the studio to retrieve their costumes and head for Mexico.
Stopping at a cantina near Santa Poco, they are mistaken for associates of a German pilot who is a fast draw and arrived in town shortly before, also in search of El Guapo. The Amigos perform "My Little Buttercup" at the cantina, confusing the locals. After they leave, the German's real associates arrive at the cantina, proving themselves lethal with their pistols when everybody laughs at them. Relieved, Carmen picks up the Amigos and takes them to the village, where they are pampered in the best house in town.
The next morning, when three of El Guapo's men raid the village, the Amigos do a Hollywood-style stunt show that leaves the men bemused. The bandits ride off, making the villagers think they have defeated the enemy. In reality, the men inform El Guapo of what has happened and he decides to return the next day to kill the Amigos.
The village throws a victory party for the Amigos. The next morning, El Guapo and his gang come to Santa Poco and call them out, but they think it's another show. After Lucky is shot, they realize they are confronting real bandits and beg for mercy, clarifying to everyone that they are just harmless actors. Since he "only kills men", El Guapo allows the Amigos to live, then has his men loot the village and kidnaps Carmen. Losing the respect of the villagers, the Amigos leave Santa Poco in disgrace.
Ned persuades Lucky and Dusty to go after El Guapo as they have nothing worth going back to in America and this is their chance to be real heroes. After trying and failing to find El Guapo's hideout, the Amigos spot a plane and follow it. The plane is flown by the German, who has brought a shipment of rifles for the gang. El Guapo's 40th birthday party is being prepared and he plans to bed Carmen that night. The Amigos swing down from the outer wall to infiltrate the hideout with mixed results: Lucky is immediately captured and chained in a dungeon, Dusty crashes into Carmen's room, and Ned ends up suspended from a piata.
Lucky frees himself, but Dusty and Ned are discovered and held captive. The German, having idolized Ned's quick-draw and gun-spinning pistol skills in childhood, challenges him to a shootout. Ned kills the German and Lucky holds El Guapo at gunpoint long enough for Carmen and the Amigos to escape in the German's plane.
Returning to Santa Poco with El Guapo's army in pursuit, the Amigos rally the villagers to stand up for themselves. The villagers are uncertain as all they are good at is sewing. Drawing inspiration from one of their films, they have the villagers create improvised Amigos costumes. The bandits arrive, are shot at by Amigos from all sides, and fall into hidden trenches. El Guapo's men either ride off or are shot, and he takes a fatal wound. Before he dies, the villagers, dressed as Amigos, step out to confront him. El Guapo congratulates them, then shoots Lucky in the foot before dying.
The film was written by Steve Martin, Lorne Michaels, and Randy Newman. According to Michaels, Martin approached him with the idea for the film and asked him to co-write it.[5] Martin originally had the working title Three Caballeros, the same as the Disney cartoon.
Newman contributed three original songs: "The Ballad of the Three Amigos", "My Little Buttercup", and "Blue Shadows on the Trail", and the musical score was composed by Elmer Bernstein. It was shot outside Grants, New Mexico, and in Simi Valley, California; Coronado National Forest; Old Tucson Studios; Culver City and Hollywood.[citation needed]
The production went through many cast changes before filming. Martin had been attached to the project since 1980 and he, Dan Aykroyd, and John Belushi were originally going to star. At one point, Steven Spielberg was slated to direct; he wanted Martin, Bill Murray, and Robin Williams to play Lucky, Dusty, and Ned, respectively.[8] Landis has said that Rick Moranis would have been cast as Ned had Short been unavailable.[9] When Aykroyd became unavailable, Chase replaced him. John Candy was set for the role originally intended for Belushi, but was too large to ride a horse. Candy recommended Short to Martin, as they had worked together at SCTV. Martin and Short became close friends and continue to perform together.[10] Candy was later seen riding a horse in the 1991 film Delirious. While Steve Martin has top billing in some posters as well as DVD covers today, Chevy Chase has top billing in the film itself.
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