Day 9 - Paul Westerberg - It's a Wonderful Lie

DAY 9
Paul Westerberg - "It’s a Wonderful Lie"
From "Suicaine Gratification"



If I am able to get in touch with my old boss Aaron, I should buy him dinner or something. He is responsible for introducing me to some of my favorite music, including Paul Westerberg, who is quite possibly my favorite songwriter.

It started with an interest in Elvis Costello.

In this day and age, it’s easy to research just about anything through the internet and search engines, but I didn’t get a computer until the late 90’s. That meant going to the Library, and counting on other people’s input. When I asked Aaron if he knew much about Elvis Costello’s music. He said that he did. On a break, he had me go out to his truck with him.

He hands me an Elvis Costello CD to listen to, AND a Billy Bragg CD, AND a Big Star CD, AND about 5 other discs! The one that made the biggest and quickest impact was the Replacements double disc “All For Nothing/Nothing For All”. When I listened to the Replacements, I thought out loud “It sounds like the Goo Goo Dolls were severely influenced by these guys!”

Then I read the booklet, and Johnny Rzeznik is one of the many who wrote liner notes! The songs and the outrageous stories in those liner notes made my Elvis Costello research slow down, and it put Paul Westerberg and the Replacements to the forefront.

Little did I know that I would eventually enjoy one of Paul’s albums enough to do my own cover version of it. Little did I know that I would meet him after a Seattle show.

He has been described as “Perfectly Imperfect”, and I think that’s a valid description. He’s not the best vocalist you have ever heard, but he is far from the worst. He is famous for hitting some sour notes and missing lyrics at live shows, and his fans still want more after two encores. I tend to think that this is because he is about as genuine as it gets, and it shows. Of course, I am biased…

There are many Paul Westerberg songs that will make this list of 10,000. This is one of the songs that I love to play on my acoustic guitar. The lyrics are very clever. My favorite verse:

“You can dress to the eights
You can dress to maim
It'll make you feel great
This fortune and fame
Wearing too much makeup
Not near enough clothes
It a wonderful lie
and I still get by on those”

I don’t have access to the liner notes of the Besterberg CD at the moment, but he talks about how this song was an afterthought for the album, he pretty much did his part in one take, and went back to his hotel alone.

Paul is one of the few artists that I listen to for musical therapy. I just found out that he did the music for the Open Season soundtrack, which means new material, which makes me very happy at the moment. I have bought a new copy of every CD he has made since “Stereo” and I tend to think that I will continue to.

I could probably continue to go on about Mr. Westerberg, but this entry is probably too long as it is, and this is far from the last time you will see his name in this journal.

ROCK!

Glenn Case