"Five Minutes" is a song by Jerry Harrison,

Bootsy Collins William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist and singer. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s, and later with Parliament-Funkadelic, Collins established himself as one of the leading n ...

and producer Daniel Lazerus, and credited to Bonzo Goes to Washington. It was released on the

Sleeping Bag Records Sleeping Bag Records is a defunct New York City-based independent record label founded by musician Arthur Russell and entrepreneur Will Socolov. It was active between 1981 and 1992, and specialized in dance music and hip hop. Background and ...

label in 1984. The song begins with the recording made of then-US-President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

's "

We begin bombing in five minutes "We begin bombing in five minutes" is the last sentence of a controversial, off-the-record joke made by U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1984, during the Cold War. While preparing for a scheduled radio address from his vacation home in California ...

" joke speech, which is then sampled and looped throughout the remainder of the track. Harrison had considered the joke to be in bad taste; as he later recalled to author Dave Bowman:

Everyone has the right to kid around, but that was too public. I hated Reagan's gutting of people's civil rights. I thought everything he stood for was awful.

Before the record was released, most people had heard about the joke speech but very few had actually heard the speech itself. It was only spoken by Reagan as a microphone test, which was then inadvertently recorded. Harrison was able to locate a copy of the speech from a college radio station and sampled it. Using what would now be considered to be common hip-hop recording methods — despite the term only just being used at the time — Harrison mixed in Reagan's speech with synthesizers and drums, looping the phrases "I'm pleased", "outlaw Russia forever" and "five minutes" multiple times over. The title of the band references the films ''

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' is a 1939 American Political drama, political Comedy drama, comedy-drama film directed by Frank Capra, starring Jean Arthur and James Stewart, and featuring Claude Rains and Edward Arnold (actor), Edward Arnold. ...

'' and ''

Bedtime for Bonzo ''Bedtime for Bonzo'' is a 1951 American comedy film directed by Fred de Cordova and starring Ronald Reagan, Diana Lynn, and a chimpanzee named Tamba as Bonzo. Its central character, psychology professor Peter Boyd (Reagan), tries to teach human m ...

'', the latter of which starred Reagan, and also inspired the

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...

' song "

Bonzo Goes to Bitburg "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" is a song by American punk rock band the Ramones. It was issued as a single in the UK by Beggars Banquet Records in mid-1985. The song is an emotionally charged commentary on the Bitburg controversy from earlier that year, ...

". Despite the character of Bonzo being a chimpanzee in the film, in both songs Bonzo is taken to mean Reagan himself. When the song was completed, no major label could guarantee a release before the 1984 Presidential election so Harrison chose to release it on a micro-label called Sleeping Bag Records. The song reached number 36 on Billboard's Hot Dance/Disco chartBillboard, January 5, 1985, p. 58

References

{{authority control 1984 songs Protest songs Songs written by Bootsy Collins Songs written by Jerry Harrison Song recordings produced by Jerry Harrison Songs about Ronald Reagan Sleeping Bag Records singles

See also

References