Certain Songs

Certain Songs #1853: The Replacements – “I’m In Trouble”

June 26, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out The Trash
Year: 1981

. . .

If you’re in love then I’m in trouble

“I’m In Trouble” just might be the greatest song Paul Westerberg ever wrote.

It’s easily the best (i.e. “my favorite”) song on Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash, and clearly I wasn’t the only one, as they chose it as the single from teh album.

And they really didn’t release a lot of singles during the Twin/Tone era: most of the sources I could find just had “I Will Dare” as the only other pre-Sire single, though Wikipedia lists “Color Me Impressed” as a single, which, yeah, it coulda/woulda/shoulda been the single from Hootenanny!, but I never saw any evidence of it existing. Unlike “I’m In Trouble,” the actual physical 7″ single of which I’ll discuss more tomorrow.

Certain Songs #1852: The Replacements – “Shiftless When Idle”

June 25, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out The Trash
Year: 1981

. . .

I ain’t got no idols

Of course, after writing a long song about one of his idols, in the very next song Paul Westerberg denies having such a vulgar thing as an idol. Because that’s just how he rolls.

And speaking of contradictions, “Shiftless When Idle” is one of the poppiest songs on Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash, but at the same time, it sounds like like it was recorded inside of a portable AM radio at the bottom of a garbage can.

Certain Songs #1851: The Replacements – “Johnny’s Gonna Die”

June 24, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out The Trash
Year: 1981

. . .

Nah nah nah nah nah nah

Sticking out like a sore thumb in the midst of all the short, sharp, speedy songs, “Johnny’s Gonna Die” was a definite harbinger of things to come, both musically and lyrically.

Musically, “Johnny’s Gonna Die” was the first sign that The Replacements were more that just a band that was gonna pummel you to death, as its slower, bass-heavy groove — Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars in utter lockstep, especially Mars’s snare drum — was a template for slower ones for the rest of their Twin/Tone years, from which sprang quite a few songs I’ll be writing about in the next couple of weeks. For example, “Go” and “Willpower” repurpose the beat, and the mildly phased guitar comes into full fruition on “Within Your Reach.”

Certain Songs #1850: The Replacements – “Careless”

June 23, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out The Trash
Year: 1981

. . .

Irresponsibility’s my closest friend

You’d barely even caught your breath from Paul’s final scream of “takin a ride” when with a scream of “Yeaaaahhhh,” the somehow even more manic “Careless” comes blasting out of your speakers, muddy and near-incomprehensable and at :68 — the shortest song in their catalog — practically over before it began.

Certain Songs #1849: The Replacements – “Takin’ A Ride”

June 22, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash
Year: 1981

. . .

The radio’s blastin, turn that shit off!

OK, here we go!!!

If The Replacements hadn’t existed, then I would have had to invent them.

Luckily, they did. An ever-changing confluence of balls and brains; cockiness and insecurity; stellar musicianship and drunken incompetence, The Replacements didn’t so much change my life but affirm it. Affirm that I could stupidly rock the fuck out while also crying my eyes out, affirm that I could alternate the most profound thoughts with silly dick jokes, and most importantly, affirm that rock ‘n’ roll could save me right this second even as it was killing me slowly.

Certain Songs #1848: REO Speedwagon – “Roll With The Changes”

June 21, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish
Year: 1978

. . .

Having once again solidified their lineup with the success of You Get What You Play For, REO Speedwagon then put out 1978’s “wackily” titled You Can Tune A Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish, which became a double-platinum best-seller, mostly on the radio saturation of the album’s two singles, the dread “Time For Me to Fly” and the awesome “Roll With The Changes.”

Certain Songs #1847: REO Speedwagon – “Ridin’ The Storm Out (Live)”

June 20, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: You Get What You Play For
Year: 1977

. . .

This is just how it worked in the 1970s: you were a meat-and-potatoes rock and roll band who loved to do Chuck Berry covers and maybe a little boogie. You had a pretty decent lead guitar player, a singer who wasn’t too slick but still slick enough, and after you put out a bunch of yearly studio albums that only sold well in the part of the country you were based, you released a live album which somehow got nation-wide airplay and because a bunch of teenagers loved the song or songs they heard on the radio they bought that live album, and that was your breakthrough.

I didn’t make the rules — how could I, as I was one of those teenagers — but that’s just how it was.

Certain Songs #1846: The Reivers – “Ragamuffin Man”

June 18, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Saturday
Year: 1987

. . .

After settling the lawsuit that caused them to change their name from Zeitgeist, The Revivers put out their major-label debut, Saturday, in late 1987. And while it got some decent reviews, it left me kind of cold, which might have been part and parcel of a shitty time in my life, but there you go.

That said, it did produce one of my favorite songs on one of my favorite years in music, the gorgeous, lilting “Ragamuffin Man,” which singer-guitarist John Croslin has said is about his home city of Austin, TX.

Certain Songs #1845: The Reivers – “She Digs Ornette”

June 17, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Translate Slowly
Year: 1985

. . .

In 1985, when Translate Slowly came out, The Reivers had a bit of the “next big thing” buzz around them. Of course, they were called Zeitgeist at that point, a name they lost in a lawsuit, so a couple of years after this album came out, they changed their name to The Reviers and retconned this record. Meanwhile, as you all know, the other Zeitgeist, had several massive records after they got the name.

In any event, while I didn’t think that Translate Slowly quite lived up to the pre-release hype — often based around the vocal harmonies of John Croslin and Kim Longacre — I fell deeply in love with an instrumental on the first side, with ever-intriguing title of “She Digs Ornette.”

Certain Songs #1844: The Reducers – “Let’s Go”

June 16, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Let’s Go!
Year: 1984

The Reducers second album, 1984’s Let’s Go!, came only a few months after their self-titled debut, and it was pretty much the same formula: short, catchy songs that had a bit too much classic rock in their DNA to be punk, but too influenced by punk to be played anywhere but on college radio.

And play it we did. While I think I ended up preferring the debut, Let’s Go! got a bunch of airplay on KFSR, especially the hilarious rollicking title track — powered by the unforgiving drums of Tom Trombley — which is basically a glorified list of all of the places they wanted to go, as sung by guitarist Peter Detmold.