Let It Be

What a beautiful name for an album, and is my personal favorite album title, those three little words reveal oceans of meaning. In one aspect it could mean a bittersweet resignation, an end of an era, an acceptance of fate and the way things are and the way things will always be. Another aspect could be joyful defiance and a sort of shouted command, saying 'leave us the f*ck alone.' Both of these albums contain shades of those aspects.

Both of these albums also share mantle of 'masterpiece.' One of them is in a way, retrospective, looking back on the years and the bitter memories that come along with it. The other is living in the fraught years of being a teenager, yet containing the same joy and bitterness of the former. This duality is what makes these two albums by The Beatles and The Replacements so interesting.

NOTE: Because I couldn't find much Replacements online, I'll just give you an upload link of a playlist of the best songs from the album, choice cuts, like cocaine except it's in musical form.

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Two of Us and I Will Dare are both fantastic songs. Right off the bat, these two albums start off with a joyous, yet somewhat bitter view of the past.

"How young are you? How old am I? Let's count the rings around my eyes."
"Two of us riding nowhere, spending someone's hard earned pay. You and me Sunday driving, not arriving, on our way back home. We're on our way home."



Black Diamond is one hell of a bitter, angry, fast, furious song. It's pure punk goodness. Mmmmmmm, can ya smell that fried(due to drugs) punk? And of course, how can you not talk about Let It Be, The Beatles' ballad of hope and the future. It's like ray of light in darkness.

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Unsatisfied is my favorite song by The Replacements, one of my favorite songs of all time, and well, god, it's just f*cking beautiful. Paul Westerberg is screaming his heart out, and my god is it touching. "Look me in the eyes, then tell me, that I'm satisfied!" Maggie Mae is a rearrangement of an old Liverpool folk song that has to do with a prostitute.

Seen Your Video is mostly a jam, and at the end screams a very potent middle finger to the MTV philosophy [i]"Seen your video! Your phony rock and roll!" I've Got A Feeling is one of those split-up Lennon-McCartney songs, where half of it was a song Paul was working on, the other half was a song John was working on, and they decided to combine it. Paul wrote the 'I've Got A Feeling' part, and John wrote the 'Everybody had a...' section. I like the interplay between John and Paul's voices.

One After 909 was written by John Lennon in 1963 the band tried to record it in the same sessions they recorded [i]'From Me To You and 'Thank You Girl. They didn't get it right. Finally, they recorded it and put it on this album. It's a straight up blues song. Gary's Got A Boner is another of the silly interludes to give you a break between the serious songs. However, this doesn't make it any less cool or catchy. After listening to this song, nobody can doubt the extreme situation that Jimmy's boner presented.

The Long and Winding Road is the product of a piano ballad by Paul and the finishing touches of Phil Spector's wall of sound technique. Paul was pissed and mortified that he added an orchestra to the song. Without the orchestra, the song is sort of flat. With it, it's moving. Good job, Phil. Sixteen Blue is a heartfelt ballad to that infamous age, 16. It captures it perfectly. Speaking of Blue, For You Blue is a cool blues song by Harrison, straight up.

That leaves Get Back and Answering Machine. Get Back is one of the more popular Beatles tunes. I know why too, because it's catchy as hell. It's Paul's satire of the anti-immigrant state of mind in Britain at the time. I don't agree with putting it last on the album. It isn't a good climax, and it gives no sense of closure. Then again, it's a frustrating to end an album that, spawned from what was thought to be unsalvageable sessions, brought about the ugly truth in all the member's minds that, to quote John Lennon, "The dream is over."

Answering Machine, however, gives a brilliant sense of finality to the album, and has some of the best lyrics I've heard from a punk band. It's a lonely, raging and heartbreaking cry out. But who's there to listen? Just a f*cking answering machine.

In the end, what else can you do besides letting it be?

[SIZE="6"]The Replacements - Let It Be - 10/10[/SIZE]

[SIZE="6"]The Beatles - Let It Be - 8.9/10 [/SIZE]

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