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We're Not Who You Think We Are

Certain Songs #1895: The Replacements – “Achin’ To Be (Matt Wallace Mix)”

August 19, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Dead Man’s Pop
Year: 1989

. . .

What comes out a mystery

I know, this is all very confusing.

Before we got to the Don’t Tell a Soul / Dead Man’s Pop, it was probably relatively easy to understand the order in which I was doing these: chronological by album and within the album, first track to last track. Even worse, after declaring that I definitively like the Dead Man’s Pop mixes better, I immediately launch into the original version of “I’ll Be You.”

And where the hell is “Talent Show?” Is a question someone else might be asking. Asking me lies.

Well, she’s kind of like an artist
Sittin’ on the floor
Never finishes, she abandons
Never shows a soul

And she’s kind of like a movie
Everyone rushes to see
And no one understands it
Sittin’ in their seats

“Achin’ To Be” is a near-perfect song, splitting the difference between the ballads and the rockers, and telling the story of what probably seems like a perfectly imperfect love object, though in Trouble Boys, Bob Mehr points out that Paul says it’s based upon several people, including his younger sister. Oh, and of course, himself.

Well, she dances alone in nightclubs
Every other day of the week
People look right through her
Baby doll, check your cheek

And she’s kind of like a poet
Who finds it hard to speak
Poems come so slowly
Like the colors down a sheet

Chock full of telling detail — a whole novel could be written around “she dances alone in nightclubs every other day of the week” (and a whole second novel could be written about the rhythm guitar on that verse) — and paced at a quasi-countryish lope, with echos of steel guitars and a harmonica solo, “Achin’ to Be” benefitted greatly from its straightforward sparseness, and of course, the lovely lovely chorus.

She opens her mouth to speak and (opens her mouth)
What comes out’s a mystery
Thought about, not understood
She’s achin’ to be

It’s all just aces, that chorus: from the call-and-response backing vocals to the space Paul leaves for the guitar hook in bewteen “achin'” and “to be,”, it’s eminently graceful and effortlessly great.

And so it went, through a quick bridge, and a longish harmonica solo, all along Chris Mars driving it forward — which was probably why it was one of the ‘Mats songs we chose to cover when we started Sedan Delivery (the other being “The Ledge“) in the spring of 1989 — as verse after insightful verse ambled by.

Well, she’s kind of like an artist
Who uses paints no more
You never show me what you’re doing
Never show a soul

Well, I saw one of your pictures
There was nothin’ that I could see
If no one’s on your canvas
Well, I’m achin’ to be

As befits a song like this, Paul’s using his indoor voice here, sublimating his natural rasp in kind of the same way he did in “Skyway,” instead relying on Tommy and Slim for any kind of vocal support, most noticably on the final chorus

She closes her mouth to speak and
Closes her eyes to see
Thought about an’ only loved
She’s achin’ to be

Love Tommy’s harmonies “thought about and only loved” which sets up Paul’s long “beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” which he follows with a telling “just like me.”

“Achin to Be” was the third single from Don’t Tell A Soul, after the awesome “I’ll Be You” and the dire “Back to Back,” but even an somewhat arty video couldn’t help it make any inroads anywhere outside of Modern Rock Radio, and it sank without a trace.

“Achin to Be”

“Achin to Be” Official Video

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Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Achin' To Be, Dead Man's Pop, Replacements

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Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2629: Talking Heads – “What A Day That Was (Los Angeles 12-1983)”
  • Certain Songs #2628: Talking Heads – “Slippery People (Los Angeles 12-1983)”
  • Certain Songs #2627: Talking Heads – “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)”
  • Certain Songs #2626: Talking Heads – “Burning Down The House”
  • Certain Songs #2625: Talking Heads – “Crosseyed and Painless (Cherry Hill 11-08-1980)”

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