I can't add anything to this discussion right now, but here's an "interlude" for us with hopefully some insight to Paul Westerburg's songwriting. From our 2011 archives: a journalist/author's review of Paul's song, "Ghost", provides some insight to the songwriter and his music. Perhaps "Ghost" is not so much autobiographical as it is universal--or perhaps it is both?
Paul Westerberg: Empathy for all ages
By Jim Walsh*
11/16/11 for the MinnPost
From: http://www.minnpost.com/arts-culture/20 ... y-all-ages" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;Paul Westerberg, singing from the perspective of a variety of losers, loners and lost causes. "Ghost on the Canvas," Paul Westerberg's beautiful new song and video recorded by Glen Campbell, is yet another powerful example of the former Replacements leader's long legacy of putting himself in another's shoes. Though not written specifically about Campbell's early-stages Alzheimer's (the tune was written in 2009), the plight of the fading 75-year-old singer's memory is obviously not lost on Westerberg, who has spent a lifetime singing from his own guts, and from the perspective of a variety of losers, loners and lost causes. "Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?" wrote Henry David Thoreau, and Westerberg has consistently practiced as much with his art, from his teenage laments "16 Blue" and "The Ledge" to the shout-outs to kindred spirits in "Achin' to Be" and "Here Comes a Regular."
*"Jim Walsh, a former City Pages music editor and award-winning columnist for the Pioneer Press, writes about music and local culture. He is the author of the oral history 'The Replacements: All Over but the Shouting.'"