Song Of The Day 3/27/2013: The Replacements - "Like A Rolling Pin"

The Replacements released a seriously awful, hilarious live album in the '80s called The Shit Hits The Fans. It wasn't a recording they sanctioned -- their roadie cribbed it from a fan who was trying to bootleg their show in Oklahoma City.* ("Drop us a line, buddy, there's $3.95 in it for you!" -- liner notes.) TSHTF contains five or six Replacements originals, and about 20 drunken attempts at cover versions. They finish maybe one or two. I think they might've gotten through all of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There." On everything else, they manage to get through an intro, a verse and a chorus, then abort the mission. It's as funny as trainwrecks get. But still a chore to sit through.

It's not from TSHTF, but this in-studio half-cover of Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" should be blasphemous enough for you to simulate the experience. "Nobody ever taught you how to live on sixty dollars for three days, but you're gonna get used to it..."

*There's going to be some disconnect with the younger demographic on this part, so to explain: Back before smartphones, YouTube, Phish concerts** and our present culture's penchant for self-promotion in the name of "sharing," taping and distributing live performances without the artists' permission were in fact frowned upon, as the so-named "bootleg recordings" were often manufactured and provided on the black market for exchange of money, none of which went to the performing artists. Obviously, this paradigm is now completely subverted.

**The management is aware this is our*** second reference to Phish in two days. We*** wish to reassure you that we*** are not on the take from the Vermont State Board of Tourism, producers of products made with hemp, or Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. But we'll*** listen to all reasonable offers.

***The management reserves the right to refer to itself in plural first person despite the fact that there's only one person running this joint.