Buck Hill
By pzp | Filed under In Love With That Song | Comments (5)
For years, the inspiration behind the Mat’s magnum opus
But no more.
Good luck!
In honor of the new Poll, I’m gonna post this about Crackle & Drag
By Jodi | Filed under In Love With That Song | Comments (4)
The first time i heard Paul Westerberg’s “Crackle and Drag” I was sitting by myself in the Guthrie Theater wondering if he was ever gonna play “I Will Dare.”
You can tell just by listening to the MP3 that that audience was floored by the song. one, it was new, none of us had ever heard it before and two, it’s a fucking amazing song. It’s easily in the top three of my all-time favorite solo Westerberg songs.
I’m not sure at what point I realized the song was about Sylvia Plath, I knew it before the song was over. I think it might have been around the time he mentions her sleeping on the oven door. I know I didn’t recognize the title line from Sylvia’s poem. but the song just wrecked me from the very first time i heard it. I became a little obsessed, searching endlessly for the song on the Internet (later Paul would release two versions of the song on “Come Feel Me Tremble”).
I can say with pretty much no reservation that this is one of Paul’s most poetic songs. He’s the king of wordplay (can you stand me on my feet, anyone?), but this song is different because it’s filled with concrete imagery and these images he sings about are just beautiful in their stark exactness.
you could never fix her with a cold stare, she’s all broken inside
she made a good go for a weeping willow
her hair was dirty and she was 30
she stuffed some rags on the floor (this is my favorite one, it just slays me that she wanted to make sure her kids were gonna be okay)
she made a pillow on the oven door
now their zipping her up in a bag, can you hear her blacks crackle and drag
Tags: Crackle and Drag, paul westerberg, Sylvia Plath
pssst… sunrise…
By pzp | Filed under In Love With That Song | Comments (4)
Like lots of you out there in Westerbergia, I really wasn’t thrilled by Suicane the first time I heard it. Or the third.
But then something phunney happened on the way to Minnesota…
I love ‘Sunrise Always Listens.’ Love it. I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority here, seems a lot of folkers don’t like it. But to me it’s perfectly melancholy without being dirge-like. And when his voice cracks during ‘hear just what I said’? Gorgeous.
That’s all I got. Thanks for voting ‘PZP’ in New Hampshire yesterday!
I forgot my one line so I just said what I felt
By Jodi | Filed under In Love With That Song, Thx the mgmt | Comments (42)
Okay. I’m working on this funky project thing that is going to remain shrouded in semi-secret for a bit here. However, in the creation of this semi-secret project I need some help from you, the smartest, most best Westernerds ever.
What I need is a great gob of Westerberg/’Mats one-liners. You know the lyrics that really kicked you in the teeth/ass/heart. Let me hear ‘em.
Trick is they need to be short, short, short 10-12 words max. The shorter the better.
Some of the ones I came up with on my own:
I will dare.
I hate music
Hot ‘un
(shut up, they do go beyond song titles, okay)
Playing makeup, wearing guitar
Wild & Lethal
My heart could use some glasses
Got it? Get to it. I need between 50-75 of these short little quips.
Tags: 'Mats, lyrics, one-liners, paul westerberg, the replacements
Can’t Hardly Wait, A Retrospective: Covered
By Wolfdog | Filed under Can't Hardly Wait, In Love With That Song, Seen Your Video | Comments (5)
It’s time to wrap up my little nerdy journey through the history of one song. This week’s videos show that there are a lot of bands who are also fans of this song. The only one I have witnessed knocking out a Can’t Hardly Wait is Dash Rip Rock from New Orleans, but judging from what I found plenty have found inspiration to play it themselves.
But first, one more Paul Westerberg solo version. This is from the 2002 solo tour (the one I thought didn’t contain any CHW’s, thanks for the corrections).
…I’ll be home when I’m sleeping….
Here’s Marah
And more from bars across the nation. You have to respect the love in all of them.
Maybe Pete
Johnny Heidt News Experience
Fairmont
Buzz Bomb
The Kickz
Nine Fifty
Porchsleeper
Shock And Awe
A stunning reversal.
By pzp | Filed under In Love With That Song, Westbergesque | Comments (12)
A friend of mine who shall remain nameless (Blasty) has for sometime now fought a losing battle to convince us all that the fateful line in ‘I Will Dare’ is ‘bacon and cigarettes’, NOT ‘fingernails and cigarettes’. Like most others, I’ve been quietly amused by his hopeless inaccuracy (as well as his dated style of formal-wear). I’d even prepared a little column with the requisite pseudo opinion quotes:
But then, a phunney thing happened on the way to the interweb. I happened to listen to ‘I Will Dare’ on the ‘Don’t You Know…’ compilation. It’s the first time in ages I’d heard the tune that I wasn’t playing some concert bootleg. And I’ve never heard a live version where he doesn’t sing ‘cigarettes’. But on that original? Sweet Fancy Maureen, he says ‘bacon’ . Now, I’m not suggesting that he does. I’m not wondering if he does. He DOES. Case closed. Turn out the lights. Tip your waitress. The fat lady’s singing, curtains are falling, Smeagol’s burning, and the roadies are finishing ‘Hootenanny’.
So, a tip of the hat to my anonymous friend Blasty (real name & phone: Eduardo
Can’t Hardly Wait, A Retrospective: Sing-Along
By Wolfdog | Filed under Can't Hardly Wait, In Love With That Song | Comments (4)
The concept of the live show sing-along seems silly at times. Sometimes the song seems purposely written for drunken fans to shout the chorus. Kiss – Rock And Roll All Nite and pretty much every Bon Jovi song seem to fit that bill. But Kiss and Bon Jovi are stadium-headlining-rockstars. They have the ability to hold the mic stand towards the crowd, cup their hand to their ear, and get their radio-friendly chorus shouted back at them in all the crowd’s monotone glory. (An aside: Ever seen an act try that and fail? It’s a sad occurance, and I do feel bad for them. But hey, they brought it on themselves.)
But when a sing-along is not expected, or coaxed, or specifically written to, it can be a glorious thing. Just the pure joy of a group of people that are so into the moment and the song that it just happens. No lead singer pointing to his left commanding, “Now just this side over here!”. No, “Come on, Quad Cities….I know you can sing louder than that!”
Paul Westerberg’s songs don’t usually lend themselves to sing-alongs. Or maybe his type of fan doesn’t risk making a local spectacle of themself. But it does happen. Folkery songs like If Only You Were Lonely and Waitress In The Sky can get some shout-along action. The solo 2002 tour also seemed to bring this out. Maybe the informal setting (cozy lamp and couch available) or maybe because quite often Paul needed a little help with the lyrics. (It’s ‘stupid hat and gloves’…subways and bums are in the 2nd verse).
Unfortunately, for my purposes, Can’t Hardly Wait was missing from the setlists on that tour. (did I miss one?) But in 2005, along with His Only Friends, CHW was in the set nightly and usually a cause for a joyous sing-along. And I’m not just talking the chorus, the crowd knows it all. And don’t they just sound damn happy to be there?
I may be slightly sappy or sentimental, but I live for moments like these during a show. A connection between people facilitated by music and words. For 4 minutes, everyone in the room is your best friend.
So sing along with the crowd in Kentucky in 2005.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Hold on loosely, but don’t let go
By Jodi | Filed under In Love With That Song, Thx the mgmt | Comments (1)
Here’s the thing about running a contest: it’s really a lot of fun to be able to offer people a chance to go see the invite-only Paul Westerberg MGD The Craft Show at First Ave. It’s really not any fun at all to only get to choose four people to go.
I didn’t expect the rewarding of tickets to suck so much. If I had to my way everyone who wants to go see the show would get to go. Sadly, I never ever get my way.
All the winners have been contacted. Three of the four passes have been claimed, and we’ve got one straggler who isn’t quite sure yet.
But that’s kind of awesome, that one straggler who shall remain nameless. Why is that awesome? Because The Straggler has a chance at another ticket and if he wins that one, he’s gonna let us re-draw for his winning ticket.
That’s the thing about Paul Westerberg fans, they just want to share the love. Everyone wants everyone who wants to go, to go. So instead of sucking up the ticket, he’s gonna wait to hear on the other deal and if that deal comes through we’ll contact one more person on Monday to let them know the good news.
Sweet, eh?
In the meantime you can up your odds of getting tickets by entering at Cities 97 and City Pages. Good Luck!
In the meantime, all you who wrote about your favorite song are welcome to come back and write about any Paul Westerberg or ‘Mats things you’d like. Go on, tell us about why “Let it Be” is so much better than “Tim.” I dare you.
On the Bus
By boyo46 | Filed under In Love With That Song | Comments (1)
So, I am a NY transplant loving the ease with which one can navigate this crumbling, verdant little city.
Like all great art, the ‘Mats are being discovered by gens x,y and z. The tech guy from my last job in NY, sent right from central casting, 28, almost tenured, brilliant, 19 lbs. and a real live Sherman from Mr. Peabody fame, said, are you moving to Minneapolis to be closer to PW. No, says I, crumbs on the keyboard, a squealing mouse stuck to a glue pad in the corner of my furnace-office, I am taking self an meager ownings there to ride the bus to work and listen to On the Bus on my generic mp3 player. Yes, not the first to think of it, but undoubtedly one of a handful of guys PW’s age to do so. And Fuck Apple, says I, which,of course, had him blushing.
Everything was going great until that tough-luck mouse came back to haunt me in the guise of a boss too small to be a rat but just the right size to walk in and out of one of those cartoon mouse holes in the wall. I couldn’t find it but was so convinced it existed and she was scurrying in and out all day with shreds of incriminating financial documents that I was beginning to resemble the Nick Nolte character in Affliction. At some point I had to be chemically mellowed with a drug so potent it was impossible not to get on the wrong bus from time to time and get to work around lunchtime. Apparently that kind of timing is frowned upon in the Midwest.
Yes, another fine mess, pickle, tight spot, etc., but my ex-colleague in NY thinks I am cool geezer. Just toggle your resume, says he.
A last TC hurrah with PW would make young Sherman awfully proud, especially with the advent of the camera phone.
Talent Show
By pl | Filed under In Love With That Song | Comments (0)
Today, Talent Show is my favorite song. Now I Wonder, A Star Is Bored, Can’t Hardly Wait, Love Untold, Sixteen Blue, Androgynous, Within Your Reach along with many others could easily take its place on any other day though. One of the reasons I like TS so much is the many ad-libs done in this song during live performances — from the “we won’t say nothing bad on TV”, “don’t look like Jah Wabble”, Send in the Clowns, Chuck Berry riffs to the “leave him alone you fuckhead” it just seems like they (Mats and post-Mats) always had fun with it — I know I do with all versions. Plus it includes a bit of another one of my favorite songs — Portland.
Loading ...
Hi, I'm 
