Album: Let It Be
Year: 1984
. . .
I’m so, I’m so unsatisfied
“Unsatisfied” just might be the greatest song Paul Westerberg has ever written.
Shit, it might just be the greatest song anybody’s ever written. And yet, it’s not even my favorite song on Let It Be.
———-
It’s early 1985, and I’m sitting in the Fresno State cafeteria, at the very beginning of what will end up being a social circle that will keep me going through the rest of the decade and give me friends for life, and we’re talking about music, and, naturally since I’m there, The Replacements come up, and a girl who is at that point a huge synth-popper says “I don’t normally like that kind of music, but I love the singing on that ‘Unsatisfied’ song. It’s like he really means it.” And right then and there, I knew she was eventually going to come over to our side.
———-
That 12-string acoustic guitar intro has always reminded me of the intros at the beginning of The Clash’s “Capital Radio Two” and Van Halen’s “In A Simple Rhyme:” not really having anything to do with the rest of the song, but enough for me to smile in anticipation for the greatness that’s on tap.
Which in the case of “Unsatisfied” starts with Paul screaming “go!!!!” as Chris Mars, Tommy Stinson and Bob Stinson (I guess) all kick in, playing an even slower version of the same beat that they used for “Johnny’s Gonna Die,” “Go,” and “Willpower” only this time it’s full of acoustic and electric guitars, and Paul, leading with his heart for the chorus.
Look me in the eye
Then tell me that I’m satisfied
Is you satisfied?
Look me in the eye
Then tell me that I’m satisfied
Hey!! Are you satisfied?
Gods, I love that rhythm guitar, it’s got too much distortion to be jangly, but has too much jangle to be full grunge. Instead, it shines like a black diamond. And already, Paul is nailing it with the singing, his voice rough and sad and hoarse, and every time he holds out the word “satisfiiiieeeeeeed” it’s a whole universe in and of itself.
——–
It’s September 13, 2014, and I’m in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Replacements have just finished their first encore, their 31st song of the night. I’d been wandering around the field all night, leaving my companions Rox, Kevin and Larry to watch the show from the bleachers — their choice of course — but there was no way I could have kept still, but clearly now the show is over, and I’m back sitting on the bleachers with them waiting for the lights to come up and formally announce the end of what was already an amazin gnight. Except the Replacements come back. And start playing “Unsatisfied.” For the first time since 1991. So with a “yeah, I know” nod of approval from Rox, I go bounding back into the crowd. Because it’s “Unsatisfied” and I need to scream it along with thousands of other middle-aged crazies who never thought this was going to happen again.
——–
“Unsatisfied” changes as it lurches into the first first, Paul switching from desperate to more sad as the guitars swirl and mew around him.
And it goes so slowly on
Everything I’ve ever wanted
Tell me what’s wrong?
What’s wrong? Pretty much everything, as Paul points out in the bridge, which somehow sounded even more defeated than the first verse. And in fact, that was one of the tricks of “Unsatisfied:” the contrast between the desperation of the choruses and the resignation of the verse, plus all of those cool guitar tones.
Everything goes
Well, anything goes
All of the time
Everything you dream of
Is right in front of you
Liberty is a lie
Paul practically swallows that last line, barely even able to get “a lie” of his mouth. And I know that all of the lyrics sites have it “everything is a lie,” and that certainly that makes a lot of sense, and might even be a more logical lyric, but “liberty is a lie” is a more powerful line (and the one he sings on all of the live versions I have), and any event it doesn’t even matter, because after that bridge “Unsatisfied” makes the leap from pretty fucking great to “greatest song ever.”
Look me in the eye
And tell me that I’m satisfed
Look me in the eye
Unsatisfiiiiiiiiied
After that last chorus, there’s a cool guitar bend and a snare drum skip from Mars, pretty much announcing to me that we’re in the home stretch, and somehow Paul Westerberg takes his dissatisfaction, and my dissatisfaction, and your dissatisfaction, and puts them all into his voice and just lets loose, pain and desperation pouring out of every single note.
I’m so
I’m so
Unsatisfiiiiiieeed
I’m so
Disatisfiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeed
And now the acoustic guitars have come back en masse, and along with Mars, they’re swirling and building around Paul as he holds the long “disatisfiiiiiiiiiiiiiied,” and now he’s just going for it.
I’m so
I’m so
Unsatisfiiiiiieeed
I’m so
Unsatisfiiieeed, uhhhhh
But then he starts breaking, as he doesn’t quite hold the long note, as the lap steep guitar comes back in, in tears, as his desperation finally turns into the resignation on the verses and the bridge, and he’s not even finishing his sentences.
Well, uh– well, I’m-a
I’m so, I’m so unsatisfied
I’m so dissatis-, dissatis-
I’m so
And with that last “I’m so,” he just gives up, and lets the guitars cry and wail as “Unsatisfied” fades out into the night.
Oh, and this was basically the second take with the band, and the first with Bob, which is why, despite all of the guitar overdubs, it still has such a raggedy feel. Like future Certain Song “Every Picture Tells a Story,” it’s held together with spit and baling wire, always on the verge of falling apart, which is forever part of the thrill of listening to it: maybe this is the time it implodes. And indeed, in Trouble Boys, both Paul and Bob are quoted slagging “Unsatisfied” (though in true Paul fashion, he’s also quoted calling it “really nice”) for that unfinished quality.
But they’re the only two, aren’t they?
I’ve always read “Unsatisfied” as an answer to or at least a variant on future Certain Song “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” with the difference being that Mick saw his dissatisfaction as an annoyance that was going to be resolved in the near future, whereas Paul clearly saw his as the end of the fucking world. That’s why you shouted “I can’t get no” in a crowd full of strangers and cried “I’m so dis-satisfied” in your car late at night.
——-
It’s 1986. Or maybe 1988. Coulda been 1992, for that matter, and I’m driving home after having my heart broken — not by the girl at the top of the story, though that would have made a great call back — and maybe an extra drink into than I should, strictly speaking, be, and I’ve got a “Mats compilation tape that I’m listening to, because I’ve always got a ‘Mats compilation tape that I’m listening to back then, and goddamn “Unsatisfied” comes on and I’m driving and singing along with that coda at the top of my lungs all the while crying my fucking eyes out.
——-
Look me in the eye.
“Unsatisfied”
“Unsatisfied” live in St Paul, 2014
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