Archives for August 2020

Certain Songs #1894: The Replacements – “I’ll Be You”

August 18, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Don’t Tell a Soul
Year: 1989

. . .

Left a rebel without a clue

So, while like all right-thinking people, I much prefer Matt Wallace’s original mix of Don’t Tell A Soul that didn’t get released for 30 years than the mush-filled job that Chris Lord-Alge did.

With one exception, that is: the single, which was slick enough to get the Replacements on the radio where they’d never been on the radio and yet rough and sloppy enough to sound like a great ‘Mats song, which it well and truly was, from the opening bell, which featured an spidery guitar hook from Slim Dunlap, a chugging beat from Chris Mars and twinkling piano which was noticeable but never dominant, all of which leads into the first verse, Paul’s rhythm guitar leaving space right and left.

Certain Songs #1893: The Replacements – “Portland”

August 17, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Nothing For All
Year: 1988

. . .

It’s too late to turn back, here we go

Near the end of their 1987 tour, the Replacements played a gig in Portland, Oregon with the Young Fresh Fellows that was so drunken and debauched even by their standards, Paul Westerberg felt compelled to write an apology song about it.

Naturally, the song was acoustic and mellow, the other side to “Wake Up” in a strange, but also featured a melody line so strong that when the decided not to record it for the second round of sessions for Don’t Tell a Soul, he repurposed the chorus for the outro of “Talent Show.”

Certain Songs #1892: The Replacements – “Wake Up”

August 14, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Nothing For All
Year: 1988

. . .

Wake up and wonder where you are

While its importance has been somewhat muted by the various reissues, the 1997 release of All For Nothing / Nothing For All was a huge deal in ‘Mats land. While the All For Nothing disc was a pretty solid “best-of” overview of the Sire years — nearly all of the songs on on that records will be featured here — but it was the Nothing For All disc that well and truly got me.

Certain Songs #1891: The Replacements – “Cruella De Vil”

August 13, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films
Year: 1988

. . .

The 1980s was an interesting time for esoteric multi-artist tribute albums. And perhaps the most esoteric were put together by legendary producer Hal Wilner — who passed away earlier this earlier thanks to COVID-19 — who followed up on his tributes to Theolonious Monk and Kurt Weill with Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, a double album full of reinterpretations of songs from Disney films which climaxed with Ringo Starr singing “When You Wish Upon a Star,” because of course it did.

Certain Songs #1890: The Replacements – “Can’t Hardly Wait”

August 12, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Pleased to Meet Me
Year: 1987

. . .

Ain’t you had enough of this stuff?

“Can’t Hardly Wait” just might be the greatest song Paul Westerberg has ever written.

I’ve already written about the version they cut for Tim, and how putting it and “Nowhere is My Home” on that record (instead of “Dose of Thunder” and “Lay It Down Clown”) would made it absurdly great instead of just great.

Certain Songs #1889: The Replacements – “Skyway”

August 11, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Pleased to Meet Me
Year: 1987

. . .

There wasn’t a damn thing I could do or say

I’ve lived in California my whole life. And while there are places in California where it snows, none of the places I’ve lived — Fresno, The Bay Area and L.A. — are those places.

Certain Songs #1888: The Replacements – “Valentine”

August 10, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Pleased to Meet Me
Year: 1987

. . .

Well you wish upon a star that turns into a plane

The song that Skyway founder Matt Tomich still emails to us every year almost didn’t make it on Pleased to Meet Me. It seems insane now, but according to Bob Mehr’s Trouble Boys, “Valentine” was only added because the original version of the album was barely 28 minutes.

Certain Songs #1887: The Replacements – “Never Mind”

August 8, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Pleased to Meet Me
Year: 1987

. . .

The words I thought I brought I left behind

The second time I saw the Replacements was early in the summer of 1987, when the days were long and hot. It was also in Fresno, down the Ikeway at the Old Town.

Even cooler, I was able to secure yet another on-air interview for 90.7 KFSR. And so I wrote up a bunch of questions for Paul, hoping to get his thoughts on the two major-label albums, and Bob leaving, making videos, writing a song about Alex Chilton, etc. All the things you would have asked Paul Westerberg in 1987. I was sure he was going to be as awesome of an interview.

Certain Songs #1886: The Replacements – “The Ledge”

August 7, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Pleased to Meet Me
Year: 1987

. . .

I’m the boy they can’t ignore

I never realized this before, but Pleased to Meet Me opens up with four straight songs about being a musician — “I.O.U.“, “Alex Chilton“, “I Don’t Know” and “Nightclub Jitters” (sorry) — before finally turning to other subjects, in this case with an answer song to Big Fun’s massively popular “Teenage Suicide (Don’t Do It),” written from the perspective of the prospective suicide.

Certain Songs #1885: The Replacements – “I Don’t Know”

August 6, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Pleased to Meet Me
Year: 1987

. . .

One foot in the door, the other foot in the gutter

After the uncharacteristic sincerity of “Alex Chilton,” things were almost instantly back to normal with the raucous, rollicking “I Don’t Know,” which starts out with a fucked-up drum loop inserted by meddling producer Jim Dickinson over which was heard crazy laughter dominated by Tommy Stinson’s cackling. When the song proper started, it was another speedy rocker fueled by a series of shouted questions from Paul, each one answered the same way from Tommy and Chris.