zook
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Post by zook on Jan 26, 2004 13:24:00 GMT -5
Listening to "Someone Take the Wheel" over the weekend and these lyrics in particular...
Someone take the wheel and I don't care where we're going anybody say what you feel everybody's sad, but nobody's showing
It got me thinking about Paul be the leader of the Replacements. I don't necessary think of Paul BEING the Mats but he was the main songwriter and as singer was the face of the band. The last Mats album was supposively going to be a PW solo effort too so it appears that he was the leader/decision maker of the band. Is this true?
When you read the lyrics to STTW it appears he is referring to life on the road with the band. But might it be Paul saying he's tired of being the "leader" of the band and anyone who wants to take the lead can do it? Has anyone read of where Paul was tired of being the head Replacement or being the one who decided what avenue to take the band? Did he consider it his band or was there a time where he started to do take the reins? Tell me what you know.
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Post by liam studebaker on Jan 26, 2004 13:45:54 GMT -5
Listening to "Someone Take the Wheel" over the weekend and these lyrics in particular... Someone take the wheel and I don't care where we're going anybody say what you feel everybody's sad, but nobody's showing It got me thinking about Paul be the leader of the Replacements. I don't necessary think of Paul BEING the Mats but he was the main songwriter and as singer was the face of the band. The last Mats album was supposively going to be a PW solo effort too so it appears that he was the leader/decision maker of the band. Is this true? When you read the lyrics to STTW it appears he is referring to life on the road with the band. But might it be Paul saying he's tired of being the "leader" of the band and anyone who wants to take the lead can do it? Has anyone read of where Paul was tired of being the head Replacement or being the one who decided what avenue to take the band? Did he consider it his band or was there a time where he started to do take the reins? Tell me what you know. Judging from some recent quotes by Tommy, I doubt that Paul would let anyone besides himself "lead" the Replacements.
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Marc
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Post by Marc on Jan 26, 2004 13:47:27 GMT -5
Without question, Westerberg was the leader of the Replacements.
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zook
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Post by zook on Jan 26, 2004 15:01:02 GMT -5
I remember reading that when Bob was kicked out of the band, it was a band decision and not just a Paul decision. I always thought of Paul as the leader but have read very little of it being an issue or of Tommy orChris being upset at the lack of power. So many bands go through power struggles but it seemed that the Mats were leaderless at least in the beginning and then later on Paul emerged as not only the leader but the Mats themselves. Just wondering if there was much written about decision-making within the band.
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Post by landshark on Jan 26, 2004 15:10:15 GMT -5
He was the leader, but didn't have the guts to do it. So instead of saying, "let's get out of the car guys, it's over," he says "someone take the wheel," knowing no one else will.
STTW is such a great song of passivity ("windows are dirty/let's hope it rains" --- my personal fave), it's a follow up to "I Don't Know," when "what you gonna do with your life --- nothing!" just isn't that funny any more.
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Post by bhay42 on Jan 26, 2004 16:08:53 GMT -5
Yeah, Paul was definitely the leader. I remember reading (where I don't know) that way back when Tommy, Bob & Chris were Dogbreath with a different lead singer, Paul forced his way in by starting trouble between that lead singer and his fellow future 'mats. When they kicked the lead singer out, Paul offered himself up as the new singer and history was made.
Like I said, I just remember reading this. I could be wrong...
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Post by torethatbridgeout on Jan 26, 2004 17:00:58 GMT -5
He was the leader, but didn't have the guts to do it. So instead of saying, "let's get out of the car guys, it's over," he says "someone take the wheel," knowing no one else will. STTW is such a great song of passivity ("windows are dirty/let's hope it rains" --- my personal fave), it's a follow up to "I Don't Know," when "what you gonna do with your life --- nothing!" just isn't that funny any more. - nicely put, landshark - for some reason i also always heard it in political terms, but that was prolly just reading into it - I associate STTW with Bent Out of Shape ... same mood somehow?
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Post by ClamsCasino on Jan 26, 2004 18:21:11 GMT -5
for some reason i also always heard it in political terms, but that was prolly just reading into it It definitely can be read that way. The line about the newspaper ("we're fighting again, in some f*ckin' land" ) puts it in a political context. As for the giving up the reigns of leadership thing, "I'll Be You" definitely expresses the same sentiment. I agree though that it was probably less about giving up the reigns than it was a passive-aggressive way to dissolve the band.
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Post by landshark on Jan 26, 2004 22:59:03 GMT -5
- I associate STTW with Bent Out of Shape ... same mood somehow? for sure ... the mood of the entire album holds together better than anything else he/they ever did. So many songs about lost love/lost opportunity -- you can read it as a personal break up, the band breaking up, or both, and then it's all summed up with the vaudeville of "The Last" ... last drink, last love, last album, last gasp ... whatever, it's brilliant, and terminal.
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Post by thetwilitekid on Jan 27, 2004 0:52:46 GMT -5
I thought the reason Tommy's "Satellite" was recorded was to be the beginning of all of them contributing songs and the focus not to be on Paul, and it's partly because of this that Chris left because Chris thought Paul was taking control of the band with this decision.
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duckfoot
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Post by duckfoot on Jan 27, 2004 11:47:47 GMT -5
I think it is safe to say Paul became the leader. If you read "Our Band Could Be Your Life", it indicates that Paul fired Bob and their original manager, Peter Jesperson. Also, I read where Bob was not thrilled with Westerbergs fanaticism on Chilton, nor did he care for some of the tunes on Let it Be. He and Paul seemed to be at odds after Let it Be came out. I think a telling thing was for Hootenany, Paul had the tune, "Your Getting Married Someday" which was a ballad.(I think it became "Don't Get Married" which was an outake and good tune IMHO). Bob didn't like it and told Paul to save it for his solo album since it was not representative of the band.
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Post by elgoodo on Jan 27, 2004 12:35:50 GMT -5
alright, this one gets my vote for stupidest thread... (sorry zook)
OF COURSE Paul was the leader... he wrote the songs... he called the shots...
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zook
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Post by zook on Jan 27, 2004 13:01:30 GMT -5
That's ok El G - no offensive taken. I would agree with you too - about the leader part not necessarily about the dumbest thread (you forget about the board boyfriend thread.) But while I always just assumed that it was so, I just wondered if it had always been that way and if Paulie acknowledged it as so. It's easy to say he was the leader now 20 years after it began but was it always so and does he admit it.
The Mats always seemed to me to be anti-corporate, anti-establishment, screw you types who didn't like the people in charge. If that was so then I would think no one member would want to be in charge of the band and be compared to the types of guys they hated. I don't know that Paul was always the leader but he always had leverage as songwriter and singer and he certainly seem to become leader after Bob was kicked out. But did he want control and did he really take control. Or did no one else step up and he did he take the role by default.
When it comes to musical leader there is little doubt that Paul was in control. But as BAND leader - making decisions on the direction of the band, when to tour, who to go out with on tour, what move should they make next to be successful - is there evidence to suggest that he was that person? El Goo, I didn't discover the band until All Shook Down so I didn't have a chance to follow their career as it was happening. I always assumed Paul was the Mats and toward the end of their playing days it was him calling the shots. I hadn't thought about him NOT wanting that role until I listened to the lyrics of STTW. I just want to be edumacated by those who have been there and know much more than I do.
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Post by scoOter on Jan 27, 2004 13:30:43 GMT -5
for the record, i've always read the lyrics to sttw as paul not wanting to be the focus of attention anymore.
among other things....
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Post by elgoodo on Jan 27, 2004 13:54:26 GMT -5
zook, I have always liked STTW too...
I like to view it this way: when you are in any kind of relationship/arrangement, and you feel that your passionate, whole-hearted belief is what is driving that relationship, it can be a real love/hate affair...
when you get to the point where you feel that these efforts have become futile (or have been all along), it is easy to go in the opposite direction, where you just say fuck it, throw your hands up and wait for someone else to take over...
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Post by prozach on Jan 27, 2004 14:33:49 GMT -5
zook, I have always liked STTW too... I like to view it this way: when you are in any kind of relationship/arrangement, and you feel that your passionate, whole-hearted belief is what is driving that relationship, it can be a real love/hate affair... when you get to the point where you feel that these efforts have become futile (or have been all along), it is easy to go in the opposite direction, where you just say f*ck it, throw your hands up and wait for someone else to take over... And prozach's head finally exploads. Coming from a background where lyrics meant little if not nothing, this man/band continues to confound me. So many of the songs come off at first as mere toss-offs, then after humming them for awhile I discover what they're really about. Contrast this with Paul on the DVD talking about tunes like Kicking the Stall. Will the real PW please stand up? Many of my confusions came on ASD: Take the Wheel? above Happytown? Suburbia? Attitude? Drinkin? I know half the fun is figuring out if he's being serious/sarcastic/brilliant/moronic/uninterested, but a guy has to sleep. Sting, help me
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gravy
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Post by gravy on Jan 27, 2004 14:38:56 GMT -5
Attitude, is a punk song with a Rock a billy beat. It was also the last song the 4 members recorded together as a band, and the only song on ASD that all 4 play on together. It aslo sums up the what they were about quite nicely. "what I think is on the tip, of my tongue, do i let it slip?"
f'ing brilliant!
gravy
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Post by landshark on Jan 27, 2004 14:53:19 GMT -5
"Happy Town" is about the band, right? Plain sarcasm, since they were definitely in unhappy town by the time the song was cut:
"Plan was to sweep the world off its feet ..."
but instead of the "world" the audience turns out to be "liars, junkies and thieves" or something like that and the only thing they ever swept was the garage
(Theme repeats in "We May Be the Ones" --- "to set this world on its ear")
(Later Paul sweeps his kitchen floor in "once around the weekend," he never got that janitorial thing out of his system)
For what it's worth, I got a t-shirt from the DTAS tour that says "Welcome Funeral Directors" on the front and "We're coming to your Happy Town" on the back
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Post by prozach on Jan 27, 2004 15:06:47 GMT -5
"Happy Town" is about the band, right? Plain sarcasm, since they were definitely in unhappy town by the time the song was cut: "Plan was to sweep the world off its feet ..." but instead of the "world" the audience turns out to be "liars, junkies and thieves" or something like that and the only thing they ever swept was the garage I acknowledge I'm in amateur land here, but I always took this as a tune about approaching middle earth (er, middle-age) and accepting how little you eventually differed from everyone else; how people with all these wild, daring, grandiose dreams of what their lives would be end up in a cul-de-sac alongside neighbors that scowled at you if the garage wasn't kept clean. Am I close? Bueller?
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zook
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Post by zook on Jan 27, 2004 15:09:57 GMT -5
I think of Happy Town as the place where all the losers meet after having their dreams squashed. He's talking about the band and talking to all the other up and coming dreamers who think they're hot sh*t and end up at home sweeping the garage. Nice contrast of upbeat music and chorus - singing "Happy Town" just makes you smile - and depressing lyrics. That's the thing about Paulie - you can find something new in his songs many listens later when you thought you had it.
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