Song of the Day 2/24: The Replacements, “Unsatisfied”

This should be the theme song for the Democratic electorate, or at least the MSNBC portion of it. Paul Westerberg’s masterpiece from the 1984 “Let It Be” album is delivered with an intensity that sounds like anguish, though he attributed his shredded vocal years later to “the drugs wearing off.”

The band played the song on tour in the ’80s, but after the group’s breakup Westerberg refused to play it in concert, either solo or in ‘Mats reunions, until the reunion tour in 2014.

A number of bands have covered the song, but without Westerberg’s delivery it doesn’t really work. Calexico put out a rather tame but tuneful version in 2013.