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deal we had with it , because Fat Possum had one idea what that record should be , and I had another . Fat Possum , they thought it should be a solo record , and I had to tell ‘ em , “ It ’ s not a solo record – it ’ s a Cowboys in the Campfire record to me and Chip Roberts and I together made this record and that needs to be represented . And I don ’ t think they knew what to do with that , or knew what to with it , or any of the
above . And they said , “ Well if we can ’ t do that , what do you want to do ?” And I was like , “ Well , I guess I ’ ll look for another way to put it out .” So that ’ s kind of how that went down .
IE : “ Mr . Wrong ” sounds like a blanket apology to all your exes . TS : Ha ! There ’ s a lot of that going on in there , and lots of looking at things , looking at mistakes , things that I probably should ’ ve changed sooner rather than later , or just observation about things that maybe aren ’ t so great , and trying to put a spin on bad decision making .
IE : Regrets … I ’ ve had a few , too . If only I ’ d never wasted all that money on the latest T- shirts , Pumas , Adidas , Converse , and Vans . Holy crap – if I ’ d saved ? I ’ d have a mansion or two by now .
TS : Yeah , but that was not part of the deal . That wasn ’ t what we were doing back then , right ? And you know , I didn ’ t necessarily pick rock and roll – it picked me . And I ’ ve kind of been a willing participant ever since , no matter how I look at it . And I ’ m pretty grateful . I ’ ve had a pretty good run so far , and I ’ m nowhere near done . You know , I ’ ve got a lot of inspiration still left in me , and I like what I do , so I consider myself really lucky in that .
IE : What ’ s the surreal story behind “ Karma ’ s Bitch ”? TS : It ’ s a true story ! Told to me by Chip , about this neighbor he had down in Maryland , and it was a pretty dark tale . It ’ s about one of his neighbors – as we were driving by him on a golf cart , he pointed him out to me and said , “ See that guy right there ? He dropped his woman , started dating her daughter , and then she drank herself to death .” It was a troubling story , but I wrote a song about it with him .
IE : In “ Hey Man ” you sing “ Save your bullets for the range .” Do you own any guns and go out to a range to fire them ? TS : No , not at all . I ’ m not even a gun owner . That ’ s more of an observation about how it ’ s a
The Replacements circa 1982 , Tommy Stinson - far left
bit troubling to me that we don ’ t really take care of our veterans very well , in my opinion . And in a lot of places in rural U . S . A ., the best job going is to get in the military and get your G . I . Bill and the other things they say that they offer , that ’ s like the best gig you can get . And it ’ s kind of unfortunate sometimes to look at that scenario and realize that these people are making it possible to maintain a democratic society by fighting these wars and taking care of business for the American people , because we ’ re just not taking good care of ‘ em , in my opinion . So that song is kind of my loose observation of that . But I pull from all kinds of inspirations like that , and it ’ s all fodder for something new .
IE : The Replacements were one of those totally unique outfits that effortlessly jumped from style to style , a trick few bands have managed to master . But “ Wronger ” fits neatly beneath that eclectic umbrella . TS : I appreciate that . And that ’ s kind of how I feel about it , too . We all grew up with eclectic musical taste , and a lot of that had to do with ( Twin Tone Records mastermind ) Peter Jesperson . Especially on my part – he ’ s been my total musical guru since I was a kid and still
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