Replacements Albums, Best of the Worst: Don't Tell a Soul vs. All Shook Down

"Achin' to Be" is still a moronic song about a dude who can't write about a woman whose virtues have nothing to do with malehood.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, September 27, 2019 4:16 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

The musical structure of the chorus outweighs any lyrical weaknesses

"Achin' to Be" is still a moronic song about a dude who can't write about a woman whose virtues have nothing to do with malehood.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, September 27, 2019 3:16 PM (five days ago)

this song really truly spoke to me as a young woman (age 14) trying to figure out wtf was going on -- what strikes me as funny now is that i did want to be him. i did not want to be his woman-object, i wanted to be HIM (only still be myself). i still think it's poignant & good. maybe not the 'mats everyone wanted but they were the 'mats i needed at the time.

i was still a kid really, not a young woman. a girl.

Hey wait, what about if he was not really singing about someone else but was actually mostly singing about himself? Wouldn’t looking at it that way that bring the song into better focus and improve it?

Which is already built into the song, innit, DO U SEE?

I know that this slant has just improved the song for me.

this song really truly spoke to me as a young woman (age 14) trying to figure out wtf was going on -- what strikes me as funny now is that i did want to be him. i did not want to be his woman-object, i wanted to be HIM (only still be myself). i still think it's poignant & good. maybe not the 'mats everyone wanted but they were the 'mats i needed at the time.

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, October 2, 2019

this is awesome

what about if he was not really singing about someone else but was actually mostly singing about himself?

doesn't Westerberg say this outright in Trouble Boys?

Could well be, can’t remember. I was probably dazed from reading about another blown interview or tour bus trashing or maybe this piece of info was buried in between the two.

Also, new remixes and live versions breathing, um, new life into this stuff and lifting every boat, such as this previously underappreciated gem.

“Mostly singing about himself” sounds about right given what I know of the guy

Because who else would he bother to write or care about?

Tommy and Bob

Thats p much it tho

Alex Chilton?

Which would indicate a certain orneriness is needed. Seems like Slim might fit the bill but not aware of any songs written about him.

Too bad he never wrote a song about Lou Reed.

Still sniffing around the cheese baited in the trap by Alfred when he accused us of being guitar-centric rockists for wanting to hear the guitars on a Replacements record. We’re blind!

Mostly singing about himself” sounds about right given what I know of the guy

Yeah, well, I love that degree of ambiguity that is key in the Replacements. Not being really sure of whether he's writing about themselves or the others, happy or sad, angry or forsaken, serious or funny. Most likely all of it, at the same time.

This is a great record, so close to the sound of "Pleased to Meet Me". "We'll inherit the earth" sounds like the same band that did "The Ledge" this time! "Achin' to be" and "Back to back" do the same thing with "Never mind"! And putting "I'll be you" at #2 is a great choice, it ramps up the album just when it needs it (like "Alex Chilton" in PTMM). I was always uncomfortable with having "Back to Back".

hahaha if we're gonna start hunting down songwriters that mostly sing about themselves gonna need a big reeducation camp

Yeah well the ambiguity and confusion is what's key here; it's not as resonant or interesting if it's 100% clear.

You be me for a while and I’ll be you, why dontcha

finally i can call this my favorite replacements record and no one will look at me like i have two heads

― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, September 27, 2019 2:26 PM bookmarkflaglink

Well now your favorite replacements record has two heads!

lol

it's my not-so-secret theory that Westerburg's most poignant tunes are about and for Tommy.

Love the way Anywhere's Better ends now.

The only subject I know for sure is his sister, who inspired "Waitress in the Sky." I think some are about Lori Bizer, who worked at Twin/Tone?

it's my not-so-secret theory that Westerburg's most poignant tunes are about and for Tommy.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, October 3, 2019 9:24 AM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I always tear up about those lost tonsils

Other Subjects:
Johnny Thunders "Johnny's Gonna Die"
Bob Stinson "Good Day"

"Lay It Down, Clown" was about Peter Buck's reluctance to share his speed stash.

Don’t forget Gary!

“Left of the Dial,” one of the members of Let’s Active (Faye?)

Left of the Dial” is the story of this girl, a guitar player, Lynn Blakey, who toured with Mitch Easter’s Let’s Active. We got to be friends. She wanted me to write her a letter, but I never write letters. I figured the only way I’d hear her voice was with her band on the radio, left of the dial on a college station. And one night we did. We were passing through a town somewhere, and she was doing an interview on the radio, left of the dial. I heard her voice for the first time in six months for about a minute. Then the station faded out.

yep
it's almost like this theory he only wrote about himself was total bullshit!

also I tell you what I don't know how many artists would give their blessing to a book that makes them look that bad, then give the author the plum gig of writing liner notes to a big box set

also isn't Achin' to Be about his sister Mary Lucia?? I swear that was in the book

What did it take to twist Paul’s arm to get this to come out?

It was funny. I think he left it up to management and Bob Mehr, like, “If you guys want to do this. Fine. Fuck it.” And he’s kind of checked out on it. I don’t know if there was anything bad about it. He just doesn’t like going backwards in time. He doesn’t like the whole idea of, “We released this and that.” Like, what about this painting I’m making right now? I get it. The fans like that kind of stuff. He’s enough of a music fan to know that.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/replacements-tommy-stinson-dead-mans-pop-interview-889797/

Well, damn. According to Mehr’s liner notes, Westerberg wanted Pete Townshend to produce DTAS. I’m absolutely certain that my 16-year-old brain would’ve exploded had that come to fruition.

This was only an opinion, but didn't Chuck or somebody draw the conclusion that "Achin' To Be" was about a Natalie Merchant-type?

What’s a Natalie Merchant type?

Girl.

Too Liberal To Function

Kidding aside, I guess artistic, kind of shy, earnest, partial to granny dresses and thrift stores.

Manic Pixie Song Character

Kidding aside, I guess artistic, kind of shy, earnest, partial to granny dresses and thrift stores.

So he WAS singing to little 14 year old me?? Whoa

"She's kind of like an artist, and kind of like a movie, but mostly Saoirse Ronan is... ACHIN' TO BE"

There’s a little part in the recent oral history of Lilith Fair where Liz Phair remembered having water splashed in her face by Natalie Merchant that made me lol
It made me think Natalie Merchant had/has more impish spirit than I gave her credit for!

I very distinctly remember the Natalie Merchant connection coming from this article in Spin where the writer says Achin' To Be is about a "girl who you know looks like Natalie Merchant." (Totally recommend flipping through that issue btw)

I'm pretty sure in the book it specifically says it was about his sister but maybe I'm misremembering

That issue had a reasonably significant impact on me. While Sex Machine isn’t quite as great as they make it out to be (though an un-futzed-with version is coming out next month), many of the other lists sent me on investigating scurries.

And the Winger ad is all-time.

> That issue had a reasonably significant impact on me.

Me too! I still have my copy