Bob Stinson – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

A Replacements Revival

Thanks, Dave, for asking me to participate. Dave wanted us to pick a band we would like to see reunited based on reality and not bringing people back to life. A lot of bands that I would love to get back together, but most have deceased members, and under his rules, we cannot raise them again. Allman Brothers, The Band, Big Star, and many others where one or a few are alive. I considered The Kinks because Ray and Dave Davies are still alive, along with Mick Avory, the drummer. I also considered REM, CCR, J Geils, and The James Gang. Even if Dave had said we could resurrect people, I still would not pick The Beatles. I’m forever grateful they didn’t try it before Lennon passed. There is no way they would have lived up to people’s expectations.

The Replacements, Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson, and Chris Mars are still doing well. Their lead guitar player, Bob Stinson, passed away in 1995. He was replaced by Slim Dunlap in the ’80s when Bob quit. Slim passed away in 2024. He didn’t tour with them in the teens when they DID reunite because of a stroke he had in 2012.

They reunited in 2012 and started to tour, which lasted until 2015. They sold out huge arenas, made more money, and played in front of more fans than they did in their prime. Although their last show in Chicago drew over 50,000 people in 1991.

They had a penchant for shooting themselves in the foot in the ’80s over and over. Grabbing their new producer and tearing his clothes off and throwing him in the hall, saying the F word on Saturday Night Live and then getting banned, guest hosting a radio show and picking old blues records they knew had cuss words, and getting kicked out of there, and opening up for Tom Petty and breaking in Petty’s dressing room and stealing and wearing his wife’s clothes on stage (they finished the tour though…Petty had a sense of humor), refusing to make videos, knowing that record executives from big labels were coming to watch them and getting drunk playing TV theme songs plus KISS covers all night long. No need to add more things…you get the point.

I’ve heard from people who saw them in their prime. They usually have two things to say about them if they have seen them at least twice. “The best rock and roll band I’ve ever seen or heard” OR “The most drunken display I’ve ever seen” but even when they said that…they said they liked them and they still beat most bands. It does make sense, though. They started off as a punk band and slowly developed into a rock band when Westerberg developed as a songwriter. They had a rebellious spirit to the end.

Personally, I think if they had played the music company game like REM, they could have been popular in the mainstream. They had some of the strongest songs of the 1980s because of Paul Westerberg, and I put his songwriting on the level of Springsteen. Now let’s get into the songs of the band. I think many of their songs rival The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Stones, or anyone you could throw out there. Bastards of Young, Here Comes A Regular, Alex Chilton, Androgynous, Can’t Hardly Wait, I Will Dare, Left Of The Dial, Unsatisfied, Kiss Me on the Bus, Skyway, Color Me Impressed, The Ledge, and so many more. If they had gotten proper airplay, I have no doubt they would have been hits.

Most indie bands were out of touch with the mainstream at the time, and that is the reason they all had such a large fan base. It started to cross over, though in the late eighties or early nineties at last, but by that time…The Replacements were winding down. This is a band I would want to see again, clicking on all cylinders. From the reviews of all of their reunion shows…they were on.

So Paul and Tommy…how about one more go around? Please include some TV Themes and KISS cover songs…just because you can. If you guys are happy…we will be.

…

Replacements – Little Mascara

Great name for a song or a band…and that guitar is what I was sorely missing around this time in the 1980s. This album was in the stretch of great albums by the band. Let It Be, Tim, and Please To Meet Me. Personally, I never knew how big this song was with fans. One search on YouTube and you can find bands covering this song everywhere.

Everyone who knows me… knows I’m not a huge fan of the Top 40 in the 1980s but alternative rock is a different story. In my opinion, the two best American alternative rock bands to come out of the 80s were The Replacements and R.E.M. The Replacements were the generation’s Big Star influencing 1990s and 2000s bands. They had a secret weapon in Westerberg as a songwriter. I would safely say they were two of my favorite bands in the 80s.

This song was on their 1985 album Tim. Why was the album called Tim? There was no reference to the name on the album. The band’s manager said that he asked Paul Westerberg what the name of the album would be. Paul told him “Tim,” and the manager asked why. Paul said, “because it’s such a nice name.”

This album was their first major label release on Sire Records in 1984. This would be the last album by the original band because Bob Stinson would be kicked out a couple of years later. Stinson did a great solo in this song…very Keith Richards-like.

Tim was placed 136th on Rolling Stone’s 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and 137 in a 2012 revised list. The album peaked at #186 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1986.

I couldn’t find any footage of them originally doing this song live so here they are when they regrouped in the teens.

Little Mascara

You and I fall togetherYou and I sleep aloneAfter all, things might be betterAfter one, and there’s one that’s long gone

For the moon you keep shootin’Throw your rope up in the airFor the kids you stay togetherYou nap ’em and you slap ’em in a highchairAll you ever wanted was someone to take care of yaAll you’re ever losin’ is a little mascaraLittle mascaraLittle mascara

Afternoon, things are quietSettle back now if you canStations clip by like a rocketDon’t you worry if you wonder why he ran

All you ever wanted was someone to take care of yaAll you’re ever losin’ is a little mascaraLittle mascaraLittle mascaraThat you cry, cryThat you cryYour eyes outThat you cryThat you cryThat you cryYour eyes out

All you ever wanted was someone Ma’d be scared ofAll you’re ever losin’ isA little mascaraLittle mascaraLittle mascaraThat you cryThat you cryThat you cryYour eyes outThat you cryThat you cryThat you cryYour eyes outThat you cryThat you cryThat you cry…

…

Replacements – Favorite Thing

Pure rock and roll from the 1980s. One of the few who was producing raw rock at that time. I love the riff that Bob Stinson played in this song. Paul Westerberg remembered: “Bob started on the wrong note so he bent it [up] to make it fit.”

Let It Be was the third full album by the band’s original lineup: lead singer and songwriter Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bassist Tommy Stinson, and drummer Chris Mars.

This was their last album on the small label Twin Tone Records and one of their best. The name of the album was Let It Be and it has a typical Replacements story. In the spring of 1984 the band was en route to a gig in Madison when inspiration struck. “We were riding around . . . kicking around silly album names and we thought, ‘The next song that comes on the radio, we’ll name it after that,’” said Westerberg.

Just then…the sound of Paul McCartney’s voice came out through the speakers: “When I find myself in times of trouble . . . ” It was fate… Let It Be would be the title of The Replacements’ new album.

This song is credited to all of the members of the band.

Paul Westerberg: We were supposed to stop, and I guess somebody didn’t stop, so we said, ‘Take it down to hell after the lead’—we weren’t sure what to do, you can hear me yell, ‘C!’ and everybody ended back on the C chord. It was a lucky guess. Then Chris started slowing it down. He was thinking, Aw, fuck this, let’s end it. Then we picked it back up. Later we overdubbed the piano and finger snaps.“Bob started on the wrong note so he bent it [up] to make it fit.”

Favorite Thing

Yeah!

Yeah, kid, it’s a really hipWith plenty of flash and you know itYeah, dad, you’re rocking real badDon’t break your neck when you fall down laughingDonna, wanna, Donna

Yeah, I know I look like hellI smoke and I drink and I’m feeling swellYeah, I hear you think it’s weirdBut I don’t give a single shit

Yeah, man, it’s a-hip, you know what I’m sayingIt’s a-hip, you know what I’m sayingAnd I hear itMy heart aches, it’s a-looking for a dollyLooking for a dolly, can’t you hear itWant to be something, want to be anything

Yeah, I know I feel this wayBut I ain’t gonna never changeYeah, I hear, I think, I knowRock don’t give a shit, you know

You’re my favorite thingYou’re my favorite thingBar nothing

You’re my favorite thingYou’re my favorite thingYou’re my favorite thingYou’re my, you’re my, you’re my, you’re myThing, thing,Thing, thing,Thing, thing, once in a whileThing, thing,Thing, thing,Thing, thing, once in a whileThing, thing, thingThing, thing, thingThing, thing, once in a while

Replacements – Black Diamond

If you are a KISS fan…yes you are reading this right. On their 1984 album Let It Be the always unpredictable Replacements put a KISS cover in the middle of their album. It felt out of place on the album but was a fun cut. The Replacements and Big Star were similar…not music as much but as an influence. Every punk band that got huge in the ’90s, especially Nirvana and Green Day owes a major debt to the Replacements.

The Replacements have been described as being one of the best live rock and roll bands ever witnessed…or if they were in a playful or pissed-off mood…they might play covers all night long and some very bad on purpose. They started off as a punk band and doing KISS covers was not high on the punk list…neither was guitar player Bob Stinson idolizing Yes’s prog rock guitar player Steve Howe.

They gradually morphed into a great rock band after their second album. I’ve known people who saw them in the 80s…say that yes they could compete with the best rock band on earth when they were on. When they were not on…they would at least entertain you.

In the mid-80s they were playing at CBGB’s and near the set’s end, Kiss bassist Gene Simmons walked in. Peter Jesperson (Replacements manager) was at the soundboard. “They had a talkback system at CBGB where you could communicate from the booth into the monitors.” He alerted Paul Westerberg to Simmon’s presence, and the band went right into “Black Diamond.” “Simmons was looking all around like ‘How did they know I was here?’” recalled Jesperson. The ’Mats’ “suck ass version” quickly chased Simmons from the venue. The band followed up with an X-rated version of the “Ballad of Jed Clampett,” then whistled their way through the theme from The Andy Griffith Show before finally leaving the stage. Someone was watching them from the audience that night…the one and only Alex Chilton.

When the Replacements went through their routine, Chilton had a grin plastered on his face. After the show, both Jesperson and Chilton were waiting to get paid by CBGB owner Hilly Kristal. Jesperson offered to buy breakfast the next morning. Chilton accepted. That started a friendship between Chilton and the band.

Seymour Stein was the head of Sire records which was owned by Warner Brothers. He was interested in the band and listened to their albums and finally got to see them a few nights after the CBGB disaster…he was knocked out by how great they were. They went all out and were definitely on. That is how big the contrast was with their shows.

The song was written by Paul Stanley. Black Diamond is the closing track on the band’s eponymous first album, Kiss, released in 1974. Paul Stanley did the intro vocal and then Peter Criss takes over. This is a good example of why Criss’s voice is the one I like best of all of them. It has a raspy feel to it.

The Replacements version changes it somewhat and they make it more of their style…is it a great cover? No, but it is interesting. If you asked me my favorite rock band of the 80s…The Replacements would be my pick. They played rock with intelligent lyrics and they were armed with Westerberg who I would place among the best songwriters of his era.

Paul Westerberg: ““That was, in 1974, dangerous, exciting rock-and-roll for us, I was ashamed to admit it at that time, but now I’m smart enough to know that that music was the thing that got me going.”

Paul Stanley (KISS): “‘Black Diamond’ was a song that I wrote about New York. New York was very dear to us, and life there was all we could write about. Seeing hookers on the street, whether we lived it, we saw it and it kind of gave us something to fantasize about.”

Black Diamond

Out on the street for a livingYou know it’s only begunThey’ve got you under their thumb

Out on the street for a livingShits only begunDoing whatever killed himThey got you under their thumb

Oooh, black diamondOooh, black diamond

Out on the street for a countryAnd it’s only a dreamGot other people marchingAnd it’s only a way

Oooh, black diamondOooh, black diamond

Out on the street for a livingAnd it’s only begunRegardless a street or a countryThey got you under their thumb

Oooh, black diamondOooh, black diamond

Replacements – Waitress In The Sky

Songs like this are what made The Replacements the Replacements.

Waitress in the Sky” was written for one of Paul Westerberg’s sisters…Julie. She was a career flight attendant. In the song, Westerberg’s character came on like every stewardess’s nightmare passenger. “I was playing the character of the creep who demands to be treated like a king. I’d heard all the stories from my sister about how [passengers] would yell at the flight attendants and how then they’d ‘accidentally’ spill something on them.”

Later on, when they signed to Warner Bros and an executive told them to make a music video. That is something that they absolutely would not do. Westerberg was willing to compromise though.

He did joke with the executive with a quote worth remembering… ‘Tell you what… if you get The Replacements on Hee-Haw then I’ll lip-synch to ‘Waitress in the Sky.’

Warner Bros were not amused. The conversation did lead to a live TV gig though. Westerberg didn’t think Warner Brothers would be able to swing a deal for a TV spot so he agreed. He would soon regret his decision. Yes, Warner Bros got them not only a TV gig but a live one. They were then scheduled on SNL and that led to being permanently banned from the show after Westerberg uttered a naughty word on national television.

They were stuck on the 18th floor waiting all day for SNL. To soothe the band’s nerves, soundman Monty Lee Wilkes smuggled some alcohol into the studio in a little road case. As they began to dip in, the show’s host, Harry Dean Stanton, said hello. Harry ended up joining in and becoming quite intoxicated. Word began to circulate that the host was getting drunk mere hours before the live show. Panic ensued until a production assistant dragged Stanton out of the band’s dressing room.

Sufficiently lubricated, their rehearsal set went off smoothly. Bob Stinson shocked everyone by donning a striped lady’s unitard. The only hitch occurred during “Bastards of Young” — Bob was late coming in on the solo. Westerberg would make sure he didn’t miss his cue during the live broadcast. Make sure he did… he cued Bob by saying to Bob, just off mic: “Come on, f****r.”

This was a low point for SNL…Michael Lorne had just returned and the show was rumored to be canceled…so he didn’t take this well. They were permanently banned from playing there again…although Westerberg played there later during his solo career.

The song was on the Tim album released in 1985. Tim was the fourth studio album by The Replacements. It was released in October 1985 on Sire Records (a subsidiary of Warner Brothers). It was their first major-label release.

Looking back on their career…it gets maddening. They bucked at playing nice with industry figures, purposely tanked do-or-die shows, and antagonized producers until they quit. They wanted to make it on their own terms but ended up sabotaging themselves. They could have been up there with R.E.M. but they couldn’t get out of their own way.

Julie was indeed a lifelong flight attendant…or Waitress in the sky…she retired in 2019 from Delta Airlines

Their performance on SNL…sorry for the quality but this is the only one the SNL police will allow.

Waitress In The Sky

She don’t wear no pants and she don’t wear no tie
Always on the ball, she’s always on strike
Struttin’ up the aisle, big deal, you get to fly
You ain’t nothin’ but a waitress in the sky
You ain’t nothin’ but a waitress in the sky
Paid my fare, don’t want to complain
You get to me, you’re always outta champagne
Treat me like a bum, don’t wear no tie
‘Cause you ain’t nothin’ but a waitress in the sky
You ain’t nothin’ but a waitress in the sky, oh hoh
And the sign says, “Thank you very much for not smoking”
My own sign says, “I’m sorry, I’m smokin'”
Don’t treat me special or don’t kiss my ass
Treat me like the way they treat ’em up in first class

Sanitation expert and a maintenance engineer
Garbage man, a janitor and you my dear
A real union flight attendant, my oh my
You ain’t nothin’ but a waitress in the sky
You ain’t nothin’ but a waitress in the sky
You ain’t nothin’ but a waitress in the sky

Oh oh, ba ba, oh oh, ba ba, oh oh, ba, ba, oh oh

Replacements – Kiss Me On The Bus

This song is off of the album Tim released in 1985. This was their first album on Sire Records with Warner Brothers. They had left the indie Twin/Tone records after the album Let It Be. Another song title that I had to listen to and I’m glad I did.

Bob Stinson’s imprint was heavy on Kiss Me on the Bus, which he turned into a showcase for his breakneck riffing. When Bob was right…he could give you the quickest most perfect riffs…but when he was off…he was off. It could be from song to song some nights.

This would be Bob’s last album with the band. He would leave a little while after this. Slim Dunlap would take his place in 1988.

Being on a big label meant they got a slot on SNL. They sounded ragged but great on the show. They played two songs… Bastards of Young and Kiss Me On The Bus. Paul Westerberg muttered the F word during Bastards of Young and Lorne Michaels berated the band before they played this song as their last song.

It would be the last time because they were barred from future SNL performances.

After their performance, they went to a party and then back to the hotel. Bob Stinson who had some emotional along with chemical problems caused a lot of damage in his room at the hotel.

Later when Michaels got the $1,100 bill for the hotel damages, he hit the roof again. He was threatening to ban not just the Replacements but any Warner Bros. act from appearing on SNL. In one night, the Replacements had managed to destroy a decade of cozy relations between the show and the label.

Paul Westerberg: “Rock-and-roll doesn’t always make for great television, but we were trying to do whatever possible to make sure that was a memorable evening.”

I could not find the SNL video, but the below clip is a European television appearance. Bob’s guitar playing is the highlight of this video.

Kiss Me On The Bus

On the bus, that’s where we’re riding
On the bus, okay, don’t say “hi” then
Your tongue, your transfer
Your hand, your answer

On the bus, everyone’s looking forward
On the bus, I am looking forward
And it really ain’t okay
I might die before Monday
They’re all watching us

Kiss me on the bus
Kiss me on the bus
Oooo, if you knew how I felt now
You wouldn’t act so adult now
Hurry hurry, here comes my stop

On the bus, watch our reflection
On the bus, I can’t stand no rejection
C’mon let’s make a scene
Oh baby don’t be so mean
They’re all watching us

Kiss me on the bus
Kiss me on the bus
Oooo, if you knew how I felt now
You wouldn’t act so adult now
Hurry hurry, here comes my stop

Oooo, if you knew how I felt now
You wouldn’t act so adult now
They’re all watching us
Kiss me on the bus
Kiss me on the bus
Kiss me on the bus
Kiss me on the bus

Replacements – Sixteen Blue

Sixteen Blue was inspired by bassist Tommy Stinson. Tommy played his first gig with the Replacements in June of 1980 when he was just 13. The other members were 5-6 years older than Tommy.

Westerberg had witnessed how Stinson had been forced to grow up way faster than most kids, yet still faced the typical teenage issues and doubts. Westerberg also said it was about his lonely teenage years.

The song is on their Let It Be album released in 1984. Let It Be was the first of a three album stretch (Let It Be, Tim, Please To Meet Me) that they are probably best remembered for today.

Peter Jesperson (manager): “Hearing it the first time they did it, at a sound check in Boston, I thought, Jesus, he’s written a song about Tommy.”“Tommy was kind of the mascot of the band, and Paul had written about him in songs before. But this wasn’t just some goofy thing. This was serious and tender.”

Paul Westerberg on why they named the album Let It Be

“We were riding around . . . kicking around silly [album] names and we thought, ‘The next song that comes on the radio, we’ll name it after that.”

“We peed our pants [laughing], and Peter (manager and Beatles fan) is at the wheel, silent as hell, thinking, ‘They’re not going to do this, ““We did it pretty much to piss him off and pretty much to show the world, in a Ramones kind of way, how dumb-smart we were. . . . Just to figure how many feathers we can ruffle.”

Sixteen Blue

Drive yourself right up the wall
No one hears and no one calls
It’s a boring state
It’s a useless wait, I know

Brag about things you don’t understand
A girl and a woman, a boy and a man
Everything is sexually vague
Now you’re wondering to yourself
If you might be gay

Your age is the hardest age
Everything drags and drags
One day, baby, maybe help you through
Sixteen blue
Sixteen blue

Drive your ma to the bank
Tell your pa you got a date
You’re lying, now you’re lying on your back

Try to figure out, they wonder what next you’ll pull
You don’t understand anything sexual
I don’t understand
Tell my friends I’m doing fine

Your age is the hardest age
Everything drags and drags
You’re looking funny
You ain’t laughing, are you?
Sixteen blue
Sixteen blue…

Replacements – Answering Machine

This is raw, raw, and more raw. It didn’t fit in with the 80s mainstream and is one of the reasons I like it so much.

There are not as many answering machines anymore…although we still have one that is connected to our VOIP phone. We live in the middle of the country where cell phones are iffy sometimes.

Paul is the only Replacement on this song. He did the guitars, percussion, and vocals.

Westerberg liked a girl in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and would court her long-distance. Sometimes he’d call to talk her and get her answering machine instead. He said at the time that he wasn’t a modern person and that technology irritated him. If technology did in the 80s I can’t imagine what he feels today.

He poured that frustration into “Answering Machine.” He considers it one of the best songs he did with the Replacements. The song was on the album Let It Be released in 1984 and is considered one of their best albums. It was ranked number 241 on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

At the song’s conclusion, amid a wall of noise and effects, he would shout out Michigan’s 313 area code; he also threw out a couple others, including New York City’s 212, to cover his bases with a few other girls, just in case.

Paul Westerberg: “There was real passion, and there was a real person on the other end, and that made it all come to life.”

Answering Machine

Try and breathe some life into a letter
Losing hope, we’ll never be together
My courage is at its peak
You know what I mean
How do you say you’re okay
To an answering machine?
How do you say goodnight
To an answering machine?

Big time’s got its losers
Small town’s got its vices
A handful of friends
One needs a match, one needs some ice
Call-waiting phone in another time zone
How do you say I miss you
To an answering machine?
How do say good night
To an answering machine?

(If you’d like to make a call, please hang up and try again
If you need help, dial the number…)

I get enough of that

Try to free a slave of ignorance
Try and teach a whore about romance

How do you say I miss you
To an answering machine?
How do you say good night to
An answering machine?
How do you say I’m lonely to
An answering machine?
The message is very plain
Oh, I hate your answering machine
I hate your answering machine
I hate your answering machine…

(If you’d like to make a call, please hang up and try again…
If you need help…)

…

Replacements – Left Of The Dial ….80’s Underground Mondays

This is a perfect song to remember alternative radio with today. This is Paul Westerberg’s tribute to college radio in the 1980s. Of all the bands I’ve covered on Mondays…this band is my favorite of them all. They were more straight rock and roll with some quirks thrown in for good measure.

Left of the Dial celebrates the spirit of the eighties American indie rock scene and was a tribute to the tiny watt college stations populating the far end of the FM radio band—many let the Replacements crash after shows at campuses. Westerberg had said that is where they got most of their airtime…“We ended up going to college in an odd kind of way.”

The song is also about Westerberg’s infatuation with Lynn Blakey, singer-guitarist for North Carolina’s Let’s Active. They’d met when the bands shared a bill at San Francisco’s I-Beam in the fall of 1983. “He followed me around and bummed cigarettes off me,” recalled Blakey. The following night, after a show in Berkeley, the two spent hours walking together. They would exchange calls and letters as Blakey moved to Athens, Georgia, where she joined Michael Stipe’s sister Lynda in the band Oh-OK.

“I figured the only way I’d hear her voice was with her band on the radio . . . on a college station,” said Westerberg. “And one night we were passing through a town somewhere, and she was doing an interview on the radio. I heard her voice for the first time in six months for about a minute. Then the station faded out.” The moment provided the song’s lyric “If I don’t see ya, in a long, long while / I’ll try to find you / Left of the dial.”

The song was on the album Tim and it was released in 1985.

Left of the Dial

Read about your band in some local page
Didn’t mention your name, didn’t mention your name
The sweet Georgia breezes, safe, cool and warm
I headed up north, you headed north

On and on and on and on
What side are you on?
On and on and on and on
What side are you on?

Weary voice that’s laughin’, on the radio once
We sounded drunk, never made it on
Passin’ through and it’s late, the station started to fade
Picked another one up in the very next state

On and on and on and on
What side are you on?
On and on and on and on and

Pretty girl keep growin’ up, playin’ make-up, wearin’ guitar
Growin’ old in a bar, ya grow old in a bar
Headed out to San Francisco, definitely not L.A.
Didn’t mention your name, didn’t mention your name

And if I don’t see ya, in a long, long while
I’ll try to find you
Left of the dial
Left of the dial
Left of the dial
Left of the dial
Left of the dial
Left of the dial
Left of the dial
Left of the dial

…

Replacements – Swingin’ Party

Bring your own lampshade
Somewhere there’s a party

This song has just a slight early sixties vibe and shows their expanding repertoire.

Paul Westerberg has said Swingin Party drew on Sinatra’s version of Rodgers and Hart’s standard “Where or When” and The Springfield’s “Flying on the Ground Is Wrong.” It had a trace of Frank and Nancy Sinatra’s “Somethin’ Stupid” and Brian Hyland’s “The Joker Went Wild.” He said if you steal from everything nobody can put a finger on you.

The song’s oscillating rhythms and guitars provided a perfect backdrop for the lyrics.

This song was on their 4th studio album Tim. Yes, they named the album Tim which is pretty funny. It would be the last album founding member and lead guitarist Bob Stinson worked on.

Paul Westerberg: “We named it Tim for no reason at all”.This was the first time we named an album after it was done.We sat around a bar,we were gonna call it Whistler’s Mammy,Van Gogh’s Ear,or England Schmingland.”I think I said Tim and we sat and laughed for a few minutes and then we said,”Why not?”

Paul Westerberg: “One of the reasons we used to drink so much is that it was scary going up onstage. That’s one of the things ‘Swingin Party’ is all about” “The funny thing is, people think you must have all this confidence to get up onstage.”

New Zealand singer Lorde covered Swingin Party”= as the B-side to her second single, “Tennis Court.” The song peaked at #10 in the New Zealand singles chart in 2013.

Swingin’ Party

Bring your own lampshade
Somewhere there’s a party
Here it’s never ending
Can’t remember when it started
Pass around the lampshade
There’ll be plenty enough room in jail

If being alone’s a crime I’m serving forever
Being strong’s your kind
I need help here with this feather
If being afraid is a crime
We hang side by side
At the swingin’ party down the line

On the prairie pavement
Losing proposition
Quitting school and going to work
And never going fishing
Water all around
Never learn how to swim now

If being alone’s a crime I’m serving forever
Being strong’s your kind
Then I need help here with this feather
If being afraid is a crime
We hang side by side
At the swingin’ party down the line
At the swingin’ party down the line

Bring your own lampshade
Somewhere there’s a party
Here it’s never ending
Can’t remember when it started
Pass around the lampshade
There’ll be plenty of room in jail

If being alone’s a crime I’m serving forever
Being strong is what you want
Then I need help here with this feather
If being afraid is a crime
We hang side by side
At the swingin’ party down the line
At the swingin’ party down the line
Catchin’ time
At the swingin’ party down the line

…

Replacements – Unsatisfied

This is the Replacements 3rd album “Let It Be.” They named it that to joke with their manager who was an obsessed Beatles fan. The song to me sounds like an early Rod Stewart song in style.

While most of the popular music in the world at the time were playing New Wave or Heavy Metal…the Replacements were themselves. No special stage clothes just whatever they were wearing at the time. The word “alternative” was used for the Replacements in the 1980s. Only college stations would play them regularly. They were not good with compromises…and that part took a toll on their popularity…and one of the reasons they are not as well known today.

A band that had one of the best songwriters of the 80s could not get out of their own way and to the masses.

“Unsatisfied” may have been inspired by Westerberg’s developing interest in palmistry. Every palm reader he saw told him that the lines of his hand meant he was doomed to be unhappy forever. The song was a testament to the band’s ad-lib approach. Westerberg barely had any lyrics, save for the “I’m so unsatisfied” hook, and improvised as he sang.

Bob Stinson hadn’t even heard the song before cutting it. “We ran through it one time. Then Bob came in and played along for about half of it. Steve rolled the tape, and that was it,” said Westerberg. “That one was really nice because there was no time to think. He played real well on that—reserved, but with emotion.”

Later on when the Replacements opened up for Keith Richards this song was dedicated to Keith who wrote Satisfaction.

Unsatisfied

Look me in the eye
Then, tell me that I’m satisfied
Was you satisfied?
Look me in the eye
Then, tell me that I’m satisfied
Hey, are you satisfied?

And it goes so slowly on
Everything I’ve ever wanted
Tell me what’s wrong

Look me in the eye
And tell me that I’m satisfied
Were you satisfied?
Look me in the eye
Then, tell me I’m satisfied
And now are you satisfied?

Everything goes
Well, anything goes all of the time
Everything you dream of
Is right in front of you
And everything is a lie (or) And liberty is a lie

Look me in the eye
And tell me that I’m satisfed
Look me in the eye
Unsatisfied
I’m so, I’m so unsatisfied
I’m so dissatisfied
I’m so, I’m so unsatisfied
I’m so unsatisfied
Well, I’m-a
I’m so, I’m so unsatisfied
I’m so dissatis, dissattis…
I’m so