The Replacements - Can't Hardly Wait | Reaction! (I Love Paul Westerberg)

After reacting to "Unsatisfied" a while back, I thought it was time to come back to The Replacements. I don't know if there's a voice I've heard that has struck me as hard as Westerberg's. The angst, the pauses, the everything. I love it.
Thanks for watching!
linktr.ee/insignificantnick

[@garagepunkfan]

Paul Westerberg was the Bob Dylan of my generation

[@tbecker403]

Bob Dylan was the Paul Westerberg of his generation.

[@bradleyheck7204]

I will proudly join you in that oppinion. Plus it pisses Paul off when you say that to him, which amuses me.

[@bradleyheck7204]

@@tbecker403 Poor bastard...

[@thereisnoeye3805]

Paul Westerberg is Paul Westerberg. No need to equate or compare him wit Bob Dylan. They write different types of songs.

[@Jonni1027]

Have always loved “Jesus rides beside me, but he never buys any smokes”🤣

[@InsignificantNick]

Frigging Jesus

[@Jonni1027]

@@InsignificantNick 😂

[@stevebistrup8258]

That was ALWAYS my fav lyric growing up lol.

[@paulhuff9421]

I always heard it as “Jesus rides beside me, never buys, and he smokes.” Like he never buys alcohol, and as a side note, he smokes. 😂

[@CraigShifflet]

@@paulhuff9421 Me, too. I'm glad I am not the only one.

[@jrbueller2664]

Man, you keep reliving my youth with all these bands. The Replacements are easily one of the best bands of the last 40 years. If you are looking for another Replacements song along the lines of Unsatisfied check out Here Comes a Regular. A song filled with desperation/sadness/loneliness and angst. This is a recurring theme in many of the Replacements songs culminating in their song The Ledge where desperation/sadness/loneliness is just too overwhelming.

[@bradleyheck7204]

The Ledge is chiiling. Nightclub Jitters has more going on lyrically than you realize at first. "The only thing that scares me is The Dark." Here Come's A Regular will probably be played at my funeral if I get my wish.

[@slbgraphics2]

I love the Replacements, and agree re Paul's voice. If you are looking for another one, please try 'Bastards of Young', my all time favorite Replacements song.

[@tripthemillipede1988]

swinging party for me, but i love the cut of your jib

[@rdrrr]

@@tripthemillipede1988 Tim is so close to being a perfect album. If you replaced "Dose of Thunder" and "Lay It Down Clown" with "Nowhere Is My Home" and the Tim-era electric demo of "Can't Hardly Wait", I would put it in the running for best rock album of all time. Ah hell, I'd put it in the running as-is, it's just that good.

[@musicaddict5076]

Grunge artists didn’t give these guys enough credit. Legends.

[@mykeyoh1536]

"Please to Meet Me" is one of the greatest unknown albums of all time. "Alex Chilton" (of Big Star) is one of the greatest power pops songs EVER written !

[@mykeyoh1536]

"Here Comes The Regular". You can almost smell the stale beer and body odor and see the dingy lighting in the bar when you listen closely. It's "Last Call' and the bartender just wants to get the fuck out of there... but here we sit with Paul and the band drinking and drowning with nowhere else to go. and it's Minneapolis in the wintertime and it's so cold and lonely outside at 3am...

[@joeschmoe487]

The whole Pleased to Meet Me ablbum is a must listen (and all their other albums too).

[@hongchen2554]

They have many, many more but "Left of the Dial" and "Within Your Reach" are two worthy Replacements' follow-ups that may help you fall in love more. The drunken "suicide" outtake of "Can't Hardly Wait" is actually really good too, though obviously a different vibe.

[@bradleyheck7204]

Left of the Dial is majestic. Reach is really experimental musically for the time and place it was made. It pops up like a What The Hell? right in the middle of Hootenany. The Ledge from Hootenany is the real Mats suicide song.

[@bradleyheck7204]

You STILL can't chisel the smile off my face when I hear any version of this song. 😄

[@noseeyou]

Enjoy a deep dive in to the Mats. I envy you getting to hear these songs for the first time. I suggest listening to the albums in order. See the evolution, every album stuffed with great tunes.

[@bradleyheck7204]

Except maybe Don't Tell a Soul, which is contentious. "Achin' To Be," "I'll Be You" and "Happytown" are wonderful.

[@DrawtheCurtains]

⁠​⁠@@bradleyheck7204happy town is on all shook down.

[@slbgraphics2]

PS if you haven't yet heard anything by The Waterboys, I think you might really like them. Two great songs of theirs are 'Fisherman's Blues' and 'The Whole of the Moon'. Mike Scott's voice reminds me a bit of Paul Westerberg's.

[@brianthornber3319]

add "Don't Bang the Drum" and "The Big Music" to that list.

[@Lmaoh5150]

Second this

[@tripthemillipede1988]

during a weird memphis recording this bad ass band never ceases to amaze me. late to the party but so glad i'm here.

[@Lmaoh5150]

God I love The Replacements. Swingin Party should be your next. Perfect song

[@bradleyheck7204]

Wonderful and very dark.

[@PatchTM983]

This song was the one that got my attention. Bastards of Young and Unsatisfied made me a lifer.

[@lucianoteixeira7993]

It's a great song, as most of Replacements tracks. Thanks for the reaction. All their 80s stuff is fantastic. Really, everything. I love Westerberg's performance here, but the best version of this song for me is the electric outtake (bonus track from Tim). The horns and strings are insteresting, but for me, they kind of fulfill the beautiful melody with unnecessary embelishment. Just my opinion. For next Replacements reaction I'd suggest Sixteen Blue, a masterpiece. But you can't go wrong with any of theirs stuff.

[@bradleyheck7204]

The Tim version is my favorite, but I love this version with the horns and strings just as much. Whichever is mood-appropriate.

[@bradleyheck7204]

Sixteen Blue is still devestatingly beautiful. I Will Dare remains one of my theme songs.

[@jb8280]

His tone(voice) and sense of melody is the sweet cream that makes the Replacements. You reacted to my favorite Replacements song. That album is pretty perfect. Other notable tracks: Alex Chilton, Valentine and Skyway. On their Tim album, Bastards of Young and Here Comes A Regular. Timeless classics. You like that rasp. Caleb Followill definitely has a great rasp…KoL needs to write some better songs to utilize his voice. Ryan Adams and Jesse Malin have great raspy voices too. All that smoking. Lol

[@bradleyheck7204]

Westerberg, like Christ, has a Dual Nature: Rocker and Crooner. Also like Christ, he's kind of an asshole.

[@stewartmitchell8007]

Would like you to visit Husker Du at some point. Really a parallel band from the same town/ scene and time period. Bob mould really grew and grew as a songwriter and his later band sugar (another creation records band) where superb.

[@charrid56maclean]

Left of the Dial and Bent all out of Shape 2 great Replacements songs

[@NYCOPYGUY]

Please keep listening and reacting to The Replacements! Some suggestions: Left of the Dial, Alex Chilton, Answering Machine, I Will Dare, Shiftless When Idle, Sixteen Blue, Hold My Life, Skyway, Never Mind, Favorite Thing, Color Me Impressed, Within Your Reach, Bastards of Young, Swingin' Party, I.O.U., I'll Be You, Achin' to Be, Talent Show (preferably the Matt Wallace mix from Dead Man's Pop) - these guys have endless legendary tunes!

[@drodawig]

Answering Machine x 2

[@michaelwoodward5787]

One of the best bands ever.

[@tinadunn1595]

To me, the greatest song there ever was, ever will be.

[@gregbaker1049]

The ‘mats wore their hearts on their sleeves. Upper Midwest angst.

[@GaspardHausers]

You really should listen to Big Star, a major influence on Westerberg. The ballad of el goodo from number one record.

[@Hartlor_Tayley]

Their early live shows were nuts.

[@dner75-xh9le]

Haha, you should hear the early versions of this song. They didn't have the goddamned horns, pregnant pauses, and they had Bob Stinson and it was faster paced. Much better were the early versions!

[@jasonbrandt5504]

the best

[@thomasarmstrong9377]

I'd highly recommend Paul Westerberg's solo stuff, it's great. He even did the music for the first Open Season movie.

[@InsignificantNick]

This is the information I live for! Open Season is one of my favourite childhood movies, and I had no idea that Paul was involved. I love it!

[@bradleyheck7204]

When he's on, he's on. It gets to be kind of like an abusive relationship you don't want to leave, sometimes, too, so be warned.

[@danhulleman4449]

My favorite song is Stuck In The Middle off the Stink album. It totally rocks, the lyrics are funny yet at the same time sums up my feelings about growing up in “fly-over land”

[@mojorider8455]

Goddamn, Paul and these guys don't get enough love. Life on the road, missing home, motel rooms....beautiful lyrics "Lights that flash in the evening, thru a crack in the drapes...I see you're high and I'm lonesome....I'll be home when I'm sleepin'..."

[@InsignificantNick]

Totally agree! I've loved e everything I've heard from them!

[@mojorider8455]

@InsignificantNick please do more reactions to them! 🙂 Paul's got some lyrics that really hits hard with emotional impact

[@dathorndike4908]

The videos they made were absolutely hilarious ways of giving the middle finger to their own record label.

[@Nimno74]

The horns and strings were not their idea, but they went along with it. Paul said much later that he regretted it There is a more stripped down, rocking, demo version of this track released with the extended version of Tim.

[@slidenaway]

He did say that but if you check his solo appearance on SNL (Google it, KZbin blocks it) he played Can’t Hardly Wait and had a horn section soooo he must not have hated it that much!!!

[@Nimno74]

Ashtray floors, dirty clothes, and filthy jokes...... Best line ever.

[@jacobvarsanyi9779]

I love reading all of the song suggestions in the comments. To put it simply you need to listen to their first 5 (or 6, depends what you think about stink) albums front to back! Everything is perfect. The singles and everything in between is just masterful

[@bradleyheck7204]

All Shook Down is awesome, but it is actually Paul Westerberg's first solo album with some of the same personel.

[@paulhuff9421]

Man, Don’t Tell a Soul gets a bad rep. It’s a stellar album, it really shows off Paul’s songwriting.

[@davidnelson6874]

Without The Replacements and Husker Du would grunge ever have happened?

[@troynixdorf778]

React to Favourite Thing from their previous album Let it Be.

[@joeschmoe487]

The version about suicide is amazing as well and is available here on youtube as the Tim version

[@Nimno74]

More Mats plz!

[@colindonald3161]

im also a fan and think you should do much more reactions of them, there are some really great live vids you should check out

[@kickgoogledownthestairs]

Really enjoyed both of your Replacements reactions! You gotta do more. While I could point to other big, cathartic tracks ("Bastards of Young" a top example, or "Hold My Life" which is a personal favorite), or gently poignant ones ("Here Comes a Regular" or "Swingin' Party"), I'll suggest a different direction first: get to know the fun & frenetic side of The Replacements, more prominent on earlier releases. Aside from being a blast to listen to, the anxious-rambunctious youthful energy really enhances my understanding & admiration of their more melancholic turns. For the purposes of making this comment useful, I suggest either of these tracks that rrrreally pack a punch o' personality: "Don't Ask Why" (Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash - 1981) "Take Me Down to the Hospital" (Hootenanny - 1983) Reactions aside, my honest recommendation would be to listen to full albums chronologically. I selfishly hope for more reactions before you do! But if you continue to like 'em, The 'Mats are worth a deep dive on your own. (Quite a story, too. For an immersive experience, consider taking on the discography while reading "Trouble Boys" by Bob Mehr. Just finished the audiobook & it's the only music bio I've ever loved just from a literary/storytelling standpoint...the narrative shape, carefully-woven themes, compelling character arcs...wowee! Made me cry more than once. Also funny as hell.)

[@michaelbuckner9846]

You might like Oingo Boingo. They are completely different but genius

[@mikeotis-dw8gu]

If you want to see a great live Replacement show? Look for 1981 7th st entry show.

[@geckho]

Also - go hit up Paul Westerberg - Stereo (Album)

[@bradleyheck7204]

No, hes talking about getting wildly drunk up on the unattended town water tower out in the woods and screaming from it, because that is a fuckload of fun, or so I have been told by unreliable sources. Because I definitely wasn't there and you can't prove anything.

[@stevebistrup8258]

Check out Skyway or my fav besides Unsatisfied a song called "Here comes a regular"

[@TR-yi8up]

You should definitely check out the acoustic, ‘air shaft’ version of this song. Supposedly miked thru an elevator shaft for the echo.

[@TR-yi8up]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZmreXmnnbelbJo

[@TR-yi8up]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/qnXVlpiVpJySmLcsi=dXOtGcKugUNYi3v3

[@Boredofcrafting]

The music video was reused for this song. Not the lyrics. The song is "The Ledge". Which I would recommend.

[@toddrouw6019]

Here Comes a Regular sums up my life at that time…thank god I got away from it. Thanks Paul

[@bufordt.justice6741]

dude great song and dig those memphis chilton horns. try Valentine off same album to be rocked the f**k out.

[@nomisnestral6956]

Your face says it all.

[@geckho]

Pretty sure the "jesus rides beside me" isn't a reference to those bumper stickers and is more about the type of person sitting next to him. Good review.

[@bassbaine]

Am not crazy about the horns version of this song

[@TR-yi8up]

Yeah, the Memphis Horns are terrible. Astute contribution to the discussion.

[@bradleyheck7204]

Bob Stimson did not like Paul's "pretty" songs that weren't ROCKERS and fought him over them. That is the biggest reason why Paul shitcanned him. Hell, they were all roaring drunks, even the wildly underged Tommy Stimson. Bob was just kind of a lunkhead musically.

[@bradleyheck7204]

This isn't really bitter. Westerberg's solo stuff does GREAT bitter and self-deprecating. Disappointed yearning and unfullfiled longing.