Oh, Man, the Past is Gone

This past weekend I loaded Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? (2006), the Rhino Records greatest hits album of The Replacements, onto my iTunes.

On Monday morning the train pulled into the station where I get off to catch a bus to the office where I work, and when it did the sun was shining and "Color Me Impressed" came through my earbuds.

Suddenly I was in my 20s and everything felt very different. For one, I was strong. Jesus, I was incredibly strong. The sun was mine. I was filled with hope. Everything was right at hand. Love, comfort, friendship.

Then I realized I was on a train pulling into a station listening to an old Replacements song that I wasn't sure was from Let It Be (1984) or Tim (1985) -- it's off Hootenanny (1983) -- and I was about to start another day at work in an office with people who are miserable. It was painful.

The Replacements were an essential feature of careening through young adulthood in the 1980s.