I know, I know. Another music blogger talking about The Replacements and how they could’ve been the best thing ever if it wasn’t for their self-destruction, chemistry issues, and songs about boners.
It seems impossible for music writers today to write about the band without heaping all kinds of gushy praise all over them; building up their achievements, giggling about their mistakes and glorifying their consumption.
I don’t wanna do that. Instead, this is merely a few paragraphs about a song I just started to love on an album I just started to enjoy. That’s right, I’m 31 and and just getting to The Replacements’ Let it Be.
I’ve had a copy of Tim for years and I like it ok. Some great songs, some not so great. Then a few weeks ago I picked up a new biography of the band at the library because I’ve always been interested in their story (maybe more so than their songs up to this point) and because it was at the library (read: free). That, along with every critic ever’s opinion that Let it Be is THE BEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME forced me to revisit a copy Scott made for me a few years back and “Unsatisfied.”
What’s immediately striking about the song is where it sits on the album – right after a cover of Kiss’ “Black Diamond.” Yes. That Kiss. The band Kiss. And the cover is serious. So you’re thrown for a loop wondering if this is for real and you get hit with this melancholy 12-string guitar intro that kicks into a classic chugging, chiming riff that’s both very 60s and very 80s.
Then the great opening chorus:
Look me in the eye and tell me that I’m satisfied. Are you satisfied?
It really doesn’t get more direct and conversational than that. It’s a beautiful line delivered with Paul Westerberg’s scraping, smoked-out voice as if he’s hit the breaking point in the argument and it’s the last thing he can say before walking away. What argument? Who knows? It’s so universal that it can mean anything to anybody. Who isn’t unsatisfied about something?
I’m a sucker for that romantic/affected but drunk and ragged songwriting style that Westerberg helped to patent and this song really reflects that.
We finally get to the verse at 1:24 and by then it sounds like a half-written bridge because every piece of this song that’s not the chorus just feels like it’s rushing to get back to it. It’s just that strong. In fact, I don’t even need the freakin’ verses.
Westerberg gets to the chorus again with more authority and each time he repeats it, he’s breaking down more until he’s finally screaming, “I’m so! I’m so! Unsatisfied!”. He’s trying to be punk rock and folky at the same time but neither will let the other take over. Sounds terrible, right? It’s not.
He’s just so damned earnest and real that you can’t help but be moved.
And that’s kind of the point for me with this song. It’s rare that a songwriter can put that one definitive line together with the perfect beat and arrangement and make it so interesting that you could listen to that one bit for 4 minutes. That what this song is for me. Musically, you’ve heard it once, you’ve got it. Without the chorus, it’s any rock & roll song.
But man, I could listen to that chorus all day.
P.S.: One of the all-time great album covers.
Great band photo, by the way. Is that Paul pointing up like “Yeah, you! Come here. My friends and I want to ask you about that ridiculous shirt you’re wearing.”
Ha! I actually think that’s a 13 or 14 year old Tommy Stinson. Can you believe dude was that young?!
They used to drag him away from playing with his friends to come to practice.
He was like 21 or 22 when the band broke up. Daaaah Tommy Stinson.