The Replacements-Let It Be Song By Song Thread

I always thought it was "fave thing fave thing fave thing once in awhile "

 

I just listened and I am pretty sure it is a straight octave without a pedal.

 

"One more time, to get it half-right..."

 

This is their most hardcore song as opposed to just punk. Maybe even the only one that really crosses that line, although I guess some of the stuff on Stink kind of does.

 

I don't understand the difference?

 

We’re Coming Out - Wow. I’m not as partial to the Replacements hard-core stuff as I am of "Let it Be" onward... but I LOVE this song. So intense. Paul is frantic. The tempo change and subsequent build up to the grand finale is just legendary.

 

Genre stuff. I guess Were Coming Out is closer to Black Flag than The Ramones. I think that is what he meant.

 

I think I agree.

 

"We're Coming Out" Great early-type Replacements' song! Great song. Not one of my favorites on the album but I still love it! Killer rockin tune! They sound awesome on this track.

 

I can understand Westerberg just fine singing on a slow to midtempo song - when he starts barking out a rocker, all bets are off, especially on the earlier albums.

 

I don't know if I can define it. Hardcore is just a different sound. I guess it's mainly the drums but also the guitar. To my ears the stuff on Sorry Ma is punk rock and this is hardcore or at least close. . And I think some stuff on Stink gets close too. Like maybe Stuck in the Middle and Gimme Noise. But not quite as close as this one.

But yeah mostly it's the drums. I can't find the words to explain it but that sounds like a hardcore drum beat/pattern.

 

I have to say the solo in this is a bit too 'out' for me. I love Bob and appreciate his style for what it is but this one is a bit on the grating side.

 

Yeah, I think that's right.

At the time, of course, USA punk was largely hardcore--at its worst, shouting tuneless slogans over two chords played very fast. A bit unfair, but a deemphasis on melody, emphasis on setting land speed records. That kind of stuff took over punk rock, when? Around 1980? 81?

First-generation punk, Ramones, Sex Pistols, Damned, Dead Boys, and so on was slower, and had tunes.

I remember the first time I was really aware of hardcore in high school around 1980 was when a shaved-head guy I knew complained that the Ramones were too slow. That surprised me.

I think the closest the Replacements got to hardcore was, as you say, on Stink, those songs plus "Dope-Smoking *****" (which also had the hardcore, straight-edge angle).

Replacements never really did hardcore--I don't think they believed in it musically or otherwise. It was a scene they could tour through, though.

Even this song has too much melody for hardcore, though it has the speed. And there's the piano vamp that comes out of the chaos toward the end, a very un-hardcore thing to do.

I think they're playing with the hardcore idiom here instead of really doing it. I love the song.

 

I'm surprised so many here rank "Favorite Thing" so high. It's never been a standout track for me, just ok to moderately good.

 

You may be surprised. There never seems to be a consensus, even on slow songs where Paul seems to sing clearly. You may find that he actually sang something different than what you've been hearing for years.

 

That's possible! At least I certainly think I'm hearing him clearly when he's not rushing and is enunciating more clearly. Some of the early ranting compositions are sometimes truly difficult for me to decipher in any meaningful way what he's barking out.

 

Well said.

 

The drums in hardcore are mechanical. It's a repetitive beat with no variation or creativity, like the sound of a jackhammer or some other very fast machine.

Yeah, they were never serious about doing hardcore. Stink was sorta their halfass attempt to pander to the HC audience, but it's inappropriately melodic and lacks the requisite humorlessness of genuine HC. And when they went out on the road they'd turn God Damn Job into Job Country just to mess with expectations. As you noted, the jazzy piano interlude in We're Comin' Out would have infuriated HC purists (which is perhaps a redundant term, as I think HC fans by nature were just innately dogmatic).

As an aside, I have to say it's hilarious that the forum software censors the word "m0ron" but allows "God damn" and "ass."

 

Probably intentional, right? Like when Willie Nelson sings behind the beat?

 

I thought about that and listened a few more times and to be honest, It sounds like Paul is having trouble keeping up with Bob. In fact, it sounds like after :10-:15 (where he is struggling) he gets pushed down in the mix. I don't think it is intentional but, it is so fast that the effect is not really noticeable and gives it a looser sound. At :10-:15 though IMO he is clearly struggling to nail the chords. I think he was pushed down in the mix after :15 for a reason. What do you folks think?

 

Yeah I ran into the mor__ thing a few weeks ago - I'd love to know how that decision was made. I once brought up the GD thing in forum business and got ridiculed that anyone might be offended by it, so I just asked to have the thread closed.

 

We're Coming Out, everything i want in music. Great f in song. Love this one.

 

Favorite Thing and Color Me Impressed were often for the shows I saw second and third songs in the setlist. Great older songs to get the night off to a rocking start, and show how much they (haven’t) mellowed since signing with the major.

Favorite Thing just blasted out effortlessly and beautifully. You just knew you were going to be hearing more songs from this album later in the evening.

It’s all still so clear I could never forget.

 

I don't know, could be. Honestly RRB , I'm not really paying too much attention to the singular parts there too much, it's kind of like a glorious mess of noise to me

The title (chorus) though I am. Especially after the piano interlude. When the tempo gets faster and faster the yelling seems to increase. Not to overthink it or get too symbolic, but to me it's like a Birth. "We're Comin' Out" - the kids, the punks, maybe the generation, are coming out from the womb, getting pushed out and it's painful and it's intense! Perhaps there's a little VU influence or WLWH 'conceptual' homage in that respect also? Maybe not. The respite in the middle section (before those violent contractions start again) is what makes 'the song' imo. Going into and then coming out of that break. It's a song I think that fits perfectly in the context of where and what it is on the album. On its own I'm not so sure about its 'merits' - poor word choice lol - but I love it for what it is and the lyrics and everything else in and about it are perfect imo.