The Replacements-Let It Be Song By Song Thread

I love this song to begin with so that helps but I think this cover is really great. I know some people think they did it as a joke but I don't think they did. Yes, they realized that KISS wasn't/isn't considered cool and that is part of why they did it. But I don't think it would be as good as it is if they were just kidding.

I love how they really didn't change it very much but it still sounds totally like them. If someone didn't know what this song was they probably wouldn't guess it even a cover. It's just a great song and totally fits in with everything else.

 

Like a number of bands of their era, they often felt the need to present cover versions like “Black Diamond” with an ironic distance, despite the fact that they were, in fact, fans of Kiss (along with Sweet and other glammy guitar pop bands).

 

Black Diamond – I know some may think this is a throw away but it’s one of my favorite songs on the album. Paul’s vocal makes the original seems like a goofy cartoon. The Mat’s version is so raw and visceral. Tommy is jamming away the whole song. The guitars are loud and proud. Nice solo by Bob. (I assume) But it’s Paul’s sloppy but perfect vocal that steals the show. And it’s only begun…. (Complete with voice crack) This is rock & roll: Feeling before form.

 

I swear sometimes I think ironic distance is what killed good music - I hate it.

 

I don't hear any of that in this. That's the way they would talk about it but it sounds like a straight ahead cover.

 

I don't hear it either. And when they cover something like Temptation Eyes or Hey Good Looking it's cause they LIKE it

 

Unsatisfied (Westerberg)

Opens with Paul on 12 string guitar. A trademark of Paul’s in the chords…..a droning high string that stays the same with the chords changing underneath. At :13 a D 7th chord that is a borrowed chord and makes the song IMO….an essential hook that adds tension to the pretty chords. Paul mumbles Rock and Roll…ironic. That Paul. More like folk rock and roll so far. At :28 a folky rise out and a fanfare A chord at :32 gets us to the electric part of the song and it’s a killer. Chiming guitars and Paul just sounding amazing. Paul has said this song has no chorus but to me and others this first section is a chorus. Anyway, there is that Paul trademark droning again and it sounds great electrified. That gnarly D 7th turnaround chord shows up at 1:02. The line repeats and then at 1:21 the song ramps down for the verse section. Paul on pedal steel. The verse is a variation of part of the intro section with the rise out at 1:30. Brilliant use of the chords. At 1:38 the chorus returns, and Paul goes all out in the vocals…his intensity and anguish is off the charts. If you notice, the chords for the chorus are also from part of the intro. The verse returns at 2:10 and changes up in the guitar arrangement with arpeggios. The devastating chorus returns, and Paul sounds like the only great singer in existence. The chorus repeats and Paul sounds like a man tortured in anguish. At 3:10 a guttural cry out. Paul adds in piercing pedal steel that at times sounds like a cry for help. The song gradually fades and comes to an end.

I think this is one of the greatest rock songs of all time and one of the greatest vocal performances of all time as well. Just my opinion of course. When a song rips me up like this one does, only the highest praise can suffice. A masterpiece. My favorite Replacements song.

 

The Replacements-Let It Be Song by Song Thread

Side One
1. I Will Dare
2. Favorite Thing
3. We’re Coming Out
4. Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out
5. Andogynous
6. Black Diamond

Side Two
1. Unsatisfied

 

Unsatisfied
The Replacements
Look me in the eye
Then, tell me that I'm satisfied
Was you satisfied?
Look me in the eye
Then, tell me that I'm satisfied
Hey, are you satisfied?

And it goes so slowly on
Everything I've ever wanted
Tell me what's wrong

Look me in the eye
And tell me that I'm satisfied
Were you satisfied?
Look me in the eye
Then, tell me that I'm satisfied
And now are you satisfied?

Everything goes
Well, anything goes all of the time
Everything you dream of
Is right in front of you
And everything is a lie

Look me in the eye
And tell me that I'm satisfied
Look me in the eye
Unsatisfied
I'm so, I'm so unsatisfied
I'm so dissatisfied
I'm so, I'm so unsatisfied
I'm so unsatisfied
Well, I'm-a
I'm so, I'm so unsatisfied
I'm so dissatis, dissattis
I'm so

Songwriters: PAUL WESTERBERG
© Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.,BMG Rights Management

 

Simply one of the greatest vocals ever. This is another one that then and now still resonates deeply.

 

Unsatisfied is arguably the peak of this album that is firing on all cylinders.

 

I agree 100%. There is nothing like it. Incomparable.

 

"Unsatisfied" might just be the greatest song ever.

 

I agree. At a minimum, it is the most poignant song ever written.

 

I’m probably interpreting that through the lens of the band’s live performance, where I’d seen Westerberg roll his eyes and treat the material in a very offhand way - “yeah, we’re covering a Kiss song, but don’t take it too seriously!”

 

Unsatisfied is amazing. Paul has said that he's not fond of it but what does he know. Actually I can kind of understand why he thinks it's not that great. From a lyrical standpoint there's not much to it. But that performance is just unreal.

 

The band's finest moment. Absolutely my favorite Mats song

When I collected Mats bootlegs, this song was, unfairly, the litmus test for every recording. If they pulled it off, I enjoyed the show more.

Favorite live version is from "Live at Lingerie".

 

"Unsatisfied" As a moody, outcast 15 yr old this was the first song I ever heard that spoke to me at my core. It got me. This song somehow understood everything I was going through and encapsulated it in a 4 minute song. It is the masterpiece of this album and tied with "Here Comes A Regular" as Westerberg's magnum opus. It still speaks to me just as deeply when I first heard it. It is easily one of the best songs of the 80s, probably of the entire rock era. Just a beautiful, poignant yet not maudlin tune.

 

I am glad you brought up Here Comes A Regular. The two songs are somewhat similar in the way the chords have a high droning note and the chords change underneath it. The way he uses that drone adds to the desolate sound of the songs.

 

Yeah they presented it that way but I think that kind of attitude was a bit of a pose. Like they had to pretend they didn't really like this 'dumb' music that they actually did like. Not that I think they were listening to KISS records by the mid-80s. I'm sure they weren't.

But they grew up on this kind of music and had a certain fondness for it even if they thought it was uncool. And it makes sense that they would. Apart from Tommy they were all teenagers in the '70s and not everything they were listening to would have passed the cool test. They covered Aerosmith and Bad Company and all sorts of stuff.

 

Oh, for sure. That pretense, along with the self-deprecation, was a way of preemptively deflecting criticism.