Answering Machine

"Try and breathe some life into a letter...losin' hope we're never gonna be together....how do you say your ok to an answering machine?"  Or I guess now-a-days voicemail, since who has an answering machine anymore? Interestingly "Answering Machine" came out on the Replacements 1984 "Let It Be" record and Westerberg mumbles something about a cellular phone on a live version posted here ('89 I think), which is not in the lyrics but can be heard by listening intently.  And also who sends actual letters anymore? Emails. Same as Richard Blade, DJ on Sirius radio's 1st Wave said today before he played another one of my favorites, "I laughed about the title of this next song thinking that nobody sends postcards anymore, we just send our pictures via text or email these days...I used to sends postcards all of the time...here is 'Postcards From Paradise' from Flesh for Lulu." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaQAkZ3OoEE

 

Yes times have changed, but my love for The Replacements has never died. I first discovered The Replacements on MTV in early 1989. I was in 8th grade. I was a bit of a late bloomer to discover a band that was at that point just starting their decent into the land of broken up greats.  They just released the "Don't Tell a Soul" record and "I'll Be You" was the MTV single. Loved the song, bought the cassette tape (yes cassette), and saw, in Rolling Stone Magazine, they were playing in Milwaukee at the UW on June 2, 1989. I convinced by parents to take me and 3 other friends (see pic of Leah holding the 'Mats shirt & Jenny, in the back of my parents' '87 black Dodge Caravan) to the show. It was my first "punk" show. I didn't associate the term "punk" with the band until later when I listened to their early stuff. It was also my first "pit" in which we were so innocent and crushed by drunk college guys who knew many more Replacements songs than we did. Our position in front of Paul Westerberg did not last long but my memory of the show and all the memories of times associated with their songs did.

My Replacements fascination faded a bit with the only record I had until, lets call him "T," sat behind me in 10th grade Biology & started talking to me because he noticed I was wearing the very shirt pictured in the above photo.  He said something like "I really love them and have this great bootleg tape I got from Fred & Stan at Record Exchange downtown Appleton." He offered to bring it in the next day, which he did faithfully. That is when I heard THIS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr0xyjgHlws  THIS is the live version of "Answering Machine." This is the song that has resonated with me for the past 20 years and has made me cry, and has made me sing at the top of my lungs. I dubbed it from him and I think that live tape must be almost disintegrated during this song for how many times I played it. Alas, the crush I had on "T" never amounted to anything, even though 17 years later when I ran into him at a bar back in Wisconsin, he did leave me to believe was mutual at the time, and we had a good laugh about it. And yes, we talked about The Replacements.  

If someone were to ask me who my favorite band of all time was, I will gladly say The Replacements, aka, the 'Mats. They have consistently been there for me for over 2 decades. This song can be found on the above mentioned Twin Tone Records release "Let It Be." However, it is this live version that just sticks a knife in your gut and makes you ache and get fully immersed in its raw emotion. There are so many great albums by The Replacements and so many songs that suck you into their deepest depths and spit you out only asking for more. So many that I have great memories attached to. Yes Tara, my 2 Buck Chuck buddy, who will be reading this from her now home in Belgium, many of them relate to you good friend and lover of the 'Mats.

Enjoy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Replacements_(band)

http://www.twintone.com/