Why doesn't "I'll Be You" get more respect?

[headlightbeams]

"I'll Be You" doesn't seem to get much discussed much. How come? Wasn't it like their biggest hit? Possibly their most seen video? Is it just because it's because of the album it's on? Or is fondness for the song lukewarm because the song doesn't deserve any better?

[GoddamnJob290]

Some fans of the Replacements/underground music in general tend to see "I'll Be You" as their "sell out". You know, that pandering to mainstream radio in order to acheive fame of R.E.M.-sized porportions.

Weirdly enough, I think this is the song on Don't Tell A Soul that is most in the vein of their earlier work. In fact, I would venture to say that it may be a bit too similar to "Left of the Dial" and "Alex Chilton"--all three songs have that (relatively) quiet section before the band comes back guns-a-blazing for the songs roaring finale.

It's certainly a good song. I like the melody/riff, the lyrics (proto-slacker anthem? I think so), and the whole thing could be/has been read as Paul's trepidation about his impending transference to solo artist status ("I could purge my soul perhaps/for the imminent collapse") and perhaps a plea for mutual understanding ("You be me for a while/And i'll be you").

Of course, I read somewhere that Paul said the whole thing was just an in-joke with Slim, but that could just be Paul selling himself short again. Who knows.

[cford]

riverr said:

"I'll Be You" doesn't seem to get much discussed much. How come? Wasn't it like their biggest hit? Possibly their most seen video? Is it just because it's because of the album it's on? Or is fondness for the song lukewarm because the song doesn't deserve any better?

Since it was a hit of sorts, fans probably do not feel compelled to praise it more... I find it to be a solid tune that holds up well over time.

CF

[allshookup]

from www.allmusic.com

The Replacements' sole "hit" single (it actually reached the middle of Billboard's Hot 100 in the spring of 1989, helped no doubt by the band's first non-sarcastic, non-confrontational video, which got a lot of MTV play), "I'll Be You" is unfortunately at best a second-tier Paul Westerberg song. Although the song has one terrific one-liner ("a rebel without a clue," a line that Tom Petty -- the headlining act on the Replacements' sole national tour on the arena level -- blatantly stole a few years later in "Into the Great Wide Open") and an intriguingly off-kilter structure that doesn't get around to the first chorus until the song is half over, it's much less lyrically incisive than earlier Westerberg masterpieces like "Sixteen Blue" and "Can't Hardly Wait," and the tune isn't one of Westerberg's most memorable, being built on a clanking rhythm guitar riff that lacks both forward motion and melodic invention. Sure, it sounded better than most of what was on MTV in the spring of 1989, but compared to newer, younger, and hungrier bands like, say, the Pixies (whose near-mainstream breakthrough with Doolittle happened around the same time as this single), it was starting to look like the Replacements had missed their moment.

[who?]

Huh.

[TomT]

I never really liked the song. Actually hate the piano.

I was thinking that it would be a good thing for them to re - release DTAS with a new rougher mix. Or do like Cheap Trick did with the In Color CD. (Steve Albini sessions)

[thetwilitekid]

tomt said:

Actually hate the piano.

I've never even noticed the paino before.

[headlightbeams]

That allmusic.com states the case pretty well. I like "I'll Be You" a lot but it does foreshadow "Dyslexic Heart."

[thetwilitekid]

thetwilitekid said:

tomt said:

Actually hate the piano.

I've never even noticed the paino before.

Ah, so that's what that high pitch sound is near the beginning - a single piano key being hit 30 times, before another is hit a single time. Always thought it was guitar feedback or something.

Overall there isn't much piano - and none after the first minute. And like I said never even noticed it before. Huh

[nazareth]

i like it fine. but i always like Achin' to Be better. In fact i actually like that album a lot.....I know a lot of folks don't, but there are some great songs. Talent Show, Asking Me Lies

[KingArchie]

nazareth said:

i like it fine. but i always like Achin' to Be better. In fact i actually like that album a lot.....I know a lot of folks don't, but there are some great songs. Talent Show, Asking Me Lies

I am in the same camp as you pal. I think Dont Tell A Soul is a hell of an album. I think I'll Be You, will always rank up there in my top 10 list as well.

[FreeRider]

I have to say that I liked DTAS too. Sure, it had an overproduced sound. Yes, there was too much gloss on it and I don't care for the chorus effect on the guitars. But I still liked the songs.

[GoddamnJob290]

The DTAS songs I've heard on bootlegs all sound great, especially "Achin'", "I'll Be You", and "Darlin' One". But then, that's true of most Replacements songs. As good (or not good) as their studio recordings are, there's almost always a better live recording out there somewhere.

I don't mind the DTAS sound at all, but then again I was raised on glossy music, having grown up in the 90s and such. DTAS actually doesn't sound that bad (if not, like the other Sire releases, in need of a good loudening (for lack of a better fake word). It just has a different feel than the expected Replacements record.

[bigbak]

I like DTAS, though it's fifth in my Replacements rankings. I like "I'll Be You" but it's not a top ten, or even a top twenty 'mats tune.

Interestingly enough, "I'll Be You", and DTAS, are generally the only Replacements identifiers most of the people I know are familiar with - I have two fortyish friends who have no real interest in the Replacements as a band, but own DTAS and like "I'll Be You" - I know this because on the first few occassions I paid visits to their respective homes, I checked out their respective CD collections (A bad nosey habit, but one I can't seem to drop) and noticed DTAS in both, made mention of it to both friends, and both of them told me, as if it was rehearsed, that they bought the disc for "I'll Be You".

[grickle]

I have a place in my heart for 'I'll be You', as it was the first Replacements song I (knowingly) heard. When I came time for me to investigate more mats DTAS was my first purchase, because of that and "Achin to Be". I think it is overproduced, but I very very strongly like the album. The song writing to me is great. besides it popped my Replacements cherry. You always have a special place for your first glimmer of light.

[headlightbeams]

I was lazy and got this from McLyrics:

If ... it's a temporary lull
why'm I bored right outta my skull?
Man I'm dressin' sharp an' feelin' dull

Lonely, I guess that's where I'm from
If I was from Canada
then I'd best be called lonesome

And if it's just a game
Then I'll break down just in case
Oh yeah, we're runnin' in our last race

Well laughed half the way to Tokyo
I dreamt I was Surfer Joe
And what that means, I don't know

A dream too tired to come true
Left (like?) a rebel without a clue
And I'm searching for somethin' to do

And if it's just a game
Then we'll hold hands just the same
So what, we're bleeding but we ain't cut

And I could purge my soul perhaps
Before the imminent collapse
Oh yeah, I'll tell you what we could do
You be me for a while
I'll be you

A dream too tired to come true
Left a rebel without a clue
Won't you tell me what I should do?

And if it's just a lull
why'm I bored right outta my skull?
Oh yeah, keep me from feeling so dull

And if it's just a game
Then we'll break down just in case
Then again, I'll tell you what we could do
You be me for a while
You be me for a while
and I'll be you

----

so subject matter-wise, is this indeed about the band, a la HeyDay, Treatment Bound, Talent Show etc.?

[GoddamnJob290]

riverr said:

I was lazy and got this from McLyrics:

If ... it's a temporary lull
why'm I bored right outta my skull?
Man I'm dressin' sharp an' feelin' dull

Lonely, I guess that's where I'm from
If I was from Canada
then I'd best be called lonesome

And if it's just a game
Then I'll break down just in case
Oh yeah, we're runnin' in our last race

Well laughed half the way to Tokyo
I dreamt I was Surfer Joe
And what that means, I don't know

A dream too tired to come true
Left (like?) a rebel without a clue
And I'm searching for somethin' to do

And if it's just a game
Then we'll hold hands just the same
So what, we're bleeding but we ain't cut

And I could purge my soul perhaps
Before the imminent collapse
Oh yeah, I'll tell you what we could do
You be me for a while
I'll be you

A dream too tired to come true
Left a rebel without a clue
Won't you tell me what I should do?

And if it's just a lull
why'm I bored right outta my skull?
Oh yeah, keep me from feeling so dull

And if it's just a game
Then we'll break down just in case
Then again, I'll tell you what we could do
You be me for a while
You be me for a while
and I'll be you

----

so subject matter-wise, is this indeed about the band, a la HeyDay, Treatment Bound, Talent Show etc.?

Definitely, but there's also traditional love song elements ("if this is just a game/we'll hold hands just the same", which might not mean exactly what it says on the surface, and the allusions to loneliness").

In a way, it's pretty blatantly typical Replacements that they would make a song with such oblique lyrics the single.

[scoOter]

straight love the song.

[A Regular]

scooterboy said:

straight love the song.

as compared to gay love for the song?

Great vocals (Dreams, too tired to come true) but always thought the lyrics were sort of tossed off. "What that means, I don't know" could be applied to my understanding of the song.

[allshookup]

unsatisfied2 said:

Great vocals (Dreams, too tired to come true)...

Good point. I have always thought PW does a good job with the "tortured" vocal. So many singers take it an extra step or two (or in Michael Bolton's case, say, 500...) and end up in Histrionic City.

This fuels my fantasy of PW doing an R&B-influenced record with a muscular rhythm section and horns. Imagine a whole album of "Can't Hardly Wait"-style songs.