Swingin Party

Album: Tim (1985)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Swingin Party" is about wild parties, lampshades-on-heads and all, but there's more going on beneath the surface.

    The Replacements were notorious for heavy drinking and drugging. Their habits were so egregious that even grizzled recording executives didn't like dealing with the band. Fans romanticized the partying as they are wont to do, but this excess was more human than it was heroic. The band drank to quell their performance anxiety. The group started very young (at only 12-years-old in the case of bassist Tommy Stinson) and kept a busy schedule for over a decade, but going on stage was still frightening for them. That fear is manifest in the lyrics:

    If being afraid is a crime
    We hang side by side
    At the swingin' party down the line
  • Lorde covered the song in 2013, including it on the US iTunes Store edition of The Love Club EP and on the B-side to the "Tennis Court" single. On June 17, 2013, the song climbed to #10 on the New Zealand Singles Chart. She then included it on the extended version of her debut studio album, Pure Heroine.

    Other covers include:

    Popland on their 2000 tribute album, Left of the Dial: A Pop Tribute to The Replacements.

    Annie Hayden covered the song in 2005 on The Enemy of Love.

    Also in 2005, The Weakerthans performed the song at the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

    Kindness did a house-music interpretation in 2009 and released it as their first single. Their version was used in the 2015 film Paper Towns.
  • Paul Westerberg got the kernel for the song while listening to a bootleg version of "Flying On The Ground Is Wrong" by Buffalo Springfield.
  • Tommy Erdelyi, better known as Tommy Ramone of the punk-pioneering Ramones, produced this song and the rest of the Tim album.

Comments: 1

  • Fogmoose from NyA "swingin party" was slang for a public hanging in the old west days, and Westerberg was certainly aware of the double meaning when writing the song.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"They're Playing My Song

A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.

Philip Cody

Philip CodySongwriter Interviews

A talented lyricist, Philip helped revive Neil Sedaka's career with the words to "Laughter In The Rain" and "Bad Blood."

Which Restaurants Are Most Mentioned In Song Lyrics?

Which Restaurants Are Most Mentioned In Song Lyrics?Song Writing

Katy Perry mentions McDonald's, Beyoncé calls out Red Lobster, and Supertramp shouts out Taco Bell - we found the 10 restaurants most often mentioned in songs.

Name the Character in the Song

Name the Character in the SongMusic Quiz

With a few clues (Works at a diner, dreams of running away), can you name the character in the song?

Jesus Christ Superstar: Ted Neeley Tells the Inside Story

Jesus Christ Superstar: Ted Neeley Tells the Inside StorySong Writing

The in-depth discussion about the making of Jesus Christ Superstar with Ted Neeley, who played Jesus in the 1973 film.

Little Richard

Little RichardFact or Fiction

Was Long Tall Sally a cross-dresser? Did he really set his piano on fire? See if you know the real stories about one of rock's greatest innovators.