My Little Problem

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Paul Westerberg wanted to grow up. He wanted to be a serious artist. He wanted to be a successful artist. He wanted to be a solo artist—a successful one. 

That much had been clear to anyone who'd been paying attention for years. He'd hinted at it often enough over the years in interviews, although he'd often then walk it back in the next interview, or even the next sentence of the same interview. But it came up so frequently that it was pretty much unmissable. 

And even if you didn't read the interviews, there were the horns and strings on "Can't Hardly Wait" and then then the entire Don't Tell a Soul album. And that's without even taking into account "If Only You Were Lonely" and "Within Your Reach" and "Here Comes a Regular" and "Skyway." And then the essentially solo-album-in-all-but-name All Shook Down. 

But he'd always gone back and forth between sensitive solo singer-songwriter and boozy rave-up monster, as at least one song from each of their records makes crystal clear—and that's without even getting started on their legendary (and often legendarily horrible) live shows. 

So the guy who dismissed one of Tim's balls-to-the-walls rockers thusly: 

"[A] song like 'Dose of Thunder'—a song I hate that Bob and Tommy and Chris loved 'cause it was like Ted Nugent or something. I didn't want to do the damn thing but I would try 'cause they wanted to, and it sucked pretty much all the time.”

is also the guy who would write (or co-write) "Red Red Wine" and "I Don't Know" on the next album, and "I Won't" on the famously overproduced one after that and then on their last gasp, "My Little Problem." 

The opening riff makes it obvious why so many critics went for the easy shorthand of the Replacements being the Rolling Stones to R.E.M.'s Beatles. That guitar crunch, backed by a deliberately caveman-like beat is classic Stones. (Or would be if the Stones had written and recorded anything this good in the late 80s/early 90s.) 

But it's interesting that this slab of kickass rock and roll just isn't that far from "Dose of Thunder" — except that in addressing the real life drug problem several band members had (most obviously original lead guitarist Bob Stinson) and nodding to notorious drug user Johnny Thunders, the earlier song at least sorta kinda tried to say something. Whereas there's less lyrical depth to this, the first duet on a 'Mats album, than almost any other song they did. It's just a male and a female trading lines, saying...nothing, really. Which is...really weird, honestly. Westerberg could get lazy, but he usually almost couldn't help but drop a killer couplet or fantastic bridge in. Here there's just nothing to say and it's not even said interestingly.

Except they say it so well. Paul's guitar is absolutely demonic, Tommy Stinson is typically great on bass, Michael Blair does a super Chris Mars meets Charlie Watts with just a hint of Phil Rudd tossed in, and Johnette Napolitano absolutely demolishes her vocal part. The bit where the bridge goes into the chorus is really awkward—it sounds like they maybe had an idea how to make the transition more organic but just couldn't be arsed enough to actually figure it out, so went with the jarring grinding of gears and thought, enh, good enough. 

Put it all together and it turns out there's really pretty much nothing to the song...but damn does it sound good, largely on the strength of Napolitano's vocals and Westerberg's rhythm guitar. In fact, the only problem is that as great a guitarist as Westerberg can be, this track — nearly alone amongst post-1985 'Mats recordings—really could have used Bob Stinson's shredding. Because it sounds like the exact kind of song that Paul used to write for him. And maybe, in the end, other than the guest duet vocal, that's the only really gripping takeaway: once again, seemingly unaware, Westerberg was writing to himself and about himself, but looking at perhaps the most important relationship in his life through the guise of a tumultuous romance gone wrong. 

That guitar, though. 

The feeling you're gettin' is downright depressing
Do you foresee a way out for me

Well it's not my problem to help you solve them
Do you wanna go through it, do you really wanna do it

Don't you wanna be my little problem

Probably tell your friends you were on a bet
All the many pieces that you're never gonna mend

Let's put it together some way, somehow
Something's wrong but I can't stop now
Don't you wanna be my little problem

Slide up next to me any time

Don't you wanna be my little problem
I never had a problem 'til I knew you'd try to solve it
Well I never had a problem, don't you...'til I told you 
The feeling you're gettin' is downright depressing
Do you foresee a way out for me

I never had a problem 'til I met you try to solve 'em
Oh I never had a problem, don't you wanna

Don't you wanna be my little problem
Shutup next to me any time

Don't worry I can see my little problem
Don't you wanna be my little problem

My little problem