Ramones: Ramona is a spy for the BBI. Who are they?

Cafe Society
1

Sweet sweet little Ramona
I think I’ll try and phone her
I let her in if you’re wondering why
Cause she’s a spy for the BBI

In their 1977 release Rocket to Russia, the Ramones penned an ode to what I thought was one of their groupies – the name of the cut is Ramona.

They accuse Ramona (if that is her real name) of being a spy for the BBI.

Who are the BBI? Acronym Attic lists a few candidates. These include the following:

BBI Berlin Brandenburg International ****
BBI Blue Box International ****
BBI Bowman Birk Inhibitor ***
BBI Brandeis Bardin Institute ***
BBI Bath Beyond Inc ***
BBI Boston Biomedica Inc ***
BBI Bijzonder Beheer Incasso ***
BBI British Broadcasting ***
BBI Bhubaneswar Biak ***
BBI Batu Besar Indonesia ***

There are others.

So who are the BBI? And why all the cloak and dagger stuff? I thought that the Ramones were just a rock band.

2

Bump. It’s been over six years, has anyone figured out the answer yet?

3

I’d pick Bath Beyond or British Broadcasting just because they’re the funniest.

4

Beckett Brown International (BBI), the now defunct private security and investigations firm that spied on Greenpeace and other targets on behalf of corporate clients.

5

Brooklyn Bureau of Investigation?

6

It’s the Beggars Banquet Imprint.

7

British Bureau of Investigation according to this authoritative sourse: Best Songs by The Ramones | Beat

I love the history of this thread. One post. 6 years later, two replies. Fast forward 7 years and it’s bumped again. 13 years and now I’m post 7.

8

BPI

9

I wonder if she’s working with Julie.