Medialoper

Certain Songs #1876: The Replacements – “Little Mascara”

July 27, 2020 by Jim Connelly 2 Comments

Album: Tim
Year: 1985

. . .

For the moon, you keep shooting

It takes a pretty strong song to not be totally crushed by being in the middle of “Left of The Dial” and “Here Comes a Regular,” but in a weird way, “Little Mascara” keeps from being being crushed by being the most normal Replacements song on Tim, with one huge exception.

It doesn’t have any acoustic guitars, it’s powered by a Stonesy riff it’s got a great Bob Stinson guitar solo and — here’s the exception — it’s not about Paul Westerberg spouting his angst all over the place. I guess “Androgynous” was kinda like that, too, though it was inspired by real-life events. But “Little Mascara” is more of a character study, about a character that he made up, but at the same time, you could also imagine the woman who is at the center of the story being somebody he knew in 1981 who got all settled down by 1983, and was already disliking it.

Certain Songs #1875: The Replacements – “Left of the Dial”

July 24, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Tim
Year: 1985

. . .

You grow old in a bar

“Left of the Dial” just might be the greatest song Paul Westerberg has ever written. Shit, “Left of the Dial” just might be the greatest song anybody has ever written, and I’m not even sure that it isn’t my all-time favorite song by anybody, and that includes “Answering Machine.”

Let’s put it this way: when the ‘Mats reunited to play Riot Fest in 2013, and people were putting videos up on the web (thank you!) of the show, the song that made me cry was “Left of The Dial.” That’s one. Also, there’s this: as a teenager, I always told people that if I had to explain to aliens exactly what rock ‘n’ roll music was, I’d play them “I Can See For Miles” by The Who. But now, I think it be “Left of The Dial,” a recording that never gets old, a song that never fails to bring up all the emotions and memories.

Certain Songs #1874: The Replacements – “Bastards of Young”

July 23, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Tim
Year: 1985

. . .

Trash that baby boom

This might be heresy, but occasionally I do wonder how much higher I would have rated Tim had it, you know, sounded better. You know, as good as Let It Be. That said, while it’s not as bad as the wall of fuzz Spot imposed on Zen Arcade and New Day Rising, it’s still kind of a shame that Tommy’s production detracted from some of the songs. Obviously, I didn’t need Tim to sound pristine — yuk! — but rather more in my face.

I think that was at the heart of my initial resistance to “Bastards of Young,” which is — rightfully — a lot of people’s favorite Replacements song. So before we get into it, let’s stipulate that I love “Bastards of Young,” otherwise I wouldn’t be writing about it, but I’ve always thought it should somehow be better. Like higher than my 6th favorite song on Tim. I wonder if I can figure out why.

Certain Songs #1873: The Replacements – “Waitress in the Sky”

July 22, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Tim
Year: 1985

. . .

Big deal, you get to fly

Does Paul Westerberg have a meaner song than “Waitress in the Sky?”

Given that most of his cheapest shots were usually at himself or his band, then one might argue that “Waitress in the Sky” is kind of punching down, a criticism that can be deflected on two fronts: he’s singing the song in the character and his sister was a flight attendant, so it was kind of an inside joke.

Certain Songs #1872: The Replacements – “Kiss Me on The Bus”

July 21, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Tim
Year: 1985

. . .

If you knew how I felt now, you wouldn’t act so adult now

Like a lot of teenagers who got their minds blown by the original cast of Saturday Night Live, I stopped watching the show between the time Bill Murray left and the time Eddie Murphy became a superstar, though I would tune in when say, the motherfucking Clash were playing. I mean, c’mon.

And I went all in on that season that featured Christopher Guest, Billy Crystal, Martin Short and Harry Shearer, because it was fun to see these ringers bring in pre-established bits in a different context. But that was only for one year, and I was once again, fully ignoring SNL when in January of 1986, NBC announced that the musical guest that week was going to be The Replacements.

Certain Songs #1871: The Replacements – “Hold My Life”

July 20, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Tim
Year: 1985

. . .

Time for decision to be made

So there I was, eager as all hell to hear the follow-up album to Let It Be — a record that hadn’t left my turntable for a year — a little bit worried about what the major label debut by The Replacements was going to sound like.

Certain Songs #1870: The Replacements – “Can’t Hardly Wait (Tim Version)”

July 18, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Nothing For All
Year: 1985

. . .

I’ll be sad in heaven

The question was always going to be which version of “Can’t Hardly Wait” would I write about. I first heard it as the highlight as The Shit Hits The Fans, the cassette-only live album which documented one of their disintegration shows.

After that, of course, it was the final song on Pleased to Meet Me, all tarted up with horns and strings, a production move that still pisses people off, but I loved. And — SPOILER ALERT — will be writing about in a couple of weeks, at which point “Can’t Hardly Wait” will join the rarefied ranks of “Tonight’s The Night” and “Bad Day:” songs by artists where there are two disparate versions I love so much I refuse to choose between them.

Certain Songs #1869: The Replacements – “Answering Machine”

July 17, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Let it Be
Year: 1984

. . .

How do you say “I’m lonely” to an answering machine?

“Answering Machine” just might be the greatest song Paul Westerberg has ever written.

And it’s my official All-Time Favorite Song. But, how do you say a song, any song, is your all-time favorite song?

Certain Songs #1868: The Replacements – “Sixteen Blue”

July 16, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Let It Be
Year: 1984

. . .

Your age is the hardest age

Out of all of the major songs on Let It Be, the hardest one for me to get into was “Sixteen Blue.” Sometimes it just happens that way: you know on every objective level that a song is great, but it just doesn’t resonate with you.

Maybe because I was 21, and didn’t want to try to relate to teenagers, having just escaped being one for what felt like an eternity, and so it didn’t quite resonate with me the same way that the more adult themes “I Will Dare” or “Unsatisfied” or, heh, “Answering Machine” did.

Certain Songs #1867: The Replacements – “Seen Your Video”

July 15, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Let It Be
Year: 1984

. . .

We don’t wanna know

April 19, 1985.

That was the first time I saw the Replacements. At the Star Palace in Fresno, CA, a 500-seat club that our college radio station, KFSR, managed to sell out for a band based 2000 miles away that only we played. There were a lot of other things going on that day: the same radio station was choosing a new station manager, and the band that would eventually become The Miss Alans — who just released their first album in nearly a quarter-century — was playing their first gig ever that night.

But the most important thing to me: I was getting to interview Paul Westerberg. Live, on the air, in the KFSR studio. Just him, answering my questions (with, of course, a bunch of people hanging around the station.)