Swingin’ Party, by the Replacements.
I have a few potential Replacements tracks on the list, but this song is one that always hit me as vulnerable as it gets. Paul Westerberg is always kinda “here’s my soul and I’m bearing it so transparently that I have to get really drunk to sing these songs” which isn’t necessarily productive, per se.
That time I saw Paul Westerberg live, touring behind 14 Songs, which itself was almost like touring behind the Singles soundtrack, as far as I was concerned… I half-joke that’s the show where I picked up a rock and roll ear — as in, the hearing in my left ear was affected by standing too close on the left side of the stage during a very loud show at The Edge in Fort Lauderdale. I think I drove myself to that one alone, and felt lonely, and other than the guy at the record store (who was there that night!) who provided me with instructions regarding this band, I had no one to listen to this music with, really, so it was just mine, Hold My Life and and Achin’ To Be, and all the angst and waiting and patience and awkward romance of teenagedom, just aspiring to the freedom of twentiesdom, with no real end in sight.
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Probably the last hotel number for a while!