I Will Dare

September 5, 2004

When I heard that Colin Meloy of the Decemberists was writing a book about The Replacement’s “Let it Be,” it sounded like a bit of a dream. One of my favorite songwriters getting to whack at one of my favorite albums just seemed too good to be true. It showed up in my mail and it was nothing like I expected.

First of all, it wasn’t really a book. The book itself is a little chapbook, about five inches high and a hundred pages deep. I could fit it in my pocket, and I found that I could actually finish it in the exact same time it took to play “Let It Be” from start to finish. I thought that was pretty nifty, like a low tech dvd commentary.

Meloy’s Decemberists aren’t anything like the Mats at all, but I was still expecting the book to mostly be analysis of Westerberg’s fine songwriting. I was pleased and disappointed to find that the book didn’t have much to do with the Replacements at all. Instead, Meloy gives us a memoir of his awkward middle school days in Helena, Montana, filling his tear filled nights with a beat up cassette of “Let it Be.” It’s nostalgic and just a little bit saccharine, but it’s also as close to a Meloy autobio as you’re likely to get.

Mustering all my bravery, I shut my eyes and began playing a choice selection of songs I had been taught by Al’s brother. I played “Sixteen Blue” and “God Save The Queen”; I played “Good Feeling” by the Violent Femmes, even humming the closing violin line. When I opened my eyes again, only a few of the girls were remaining, and most were talking amongst themselves. Phoebe had gone.

“Do you know ‘Patience?’” one asked.

A similar story is the only reason I can play “More Than Words” on guitar, by the way. Like his songs, Meloy’s put together a nice little read for all castaways and cutouts. Replacements fans, particularly ones that love the Mats raging attitude and drunken antics, should probably avoid this book at all costs.

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