Spring, like a bear trap, has sprung again, meaning our community's citizenry are out in their lawns, raking and mowing and fertilizing and dumping water on their grass, trying to wake it from its winter slumber.

I'm a part of the citizenry. I've got all the paperwork to prove it. And I, too, like the idea of an immaculate lawn. So I grabbed my rake and went outside, intending to brush all the dead grass out of my life.

Spoiler alert: I will eventually come up half a yard short of my goal, completing only the front yard before realizing how relatively few muscles I have in my arms. But this story isn't about its conclusion; it's about the journey.

As I begin to rake, my ears demand satisfaction, because they are bored and offended by all this busy work the rest of me has committed to. Imust entertain them.

Some might choose the sound of nature as a suitable soundtrack to yard work, the wind whispering a message originating from our Mother Earth, one of serenity and love, peacefully into your ear. Iturn to my iPod assembled in China because the wind is great and all, but it can't possibly drown out the sound of my brain screaming, "I want to watch television!"

I think the Replacements will be the perfect band to listen to while I work. Sure, most rock bands concentrate on lyrical themes of hopeless isolation, and the feeling of being trapped in a grinding, soulless existence. But the Replacements did so with that great, biting and cynical Midwestern voice that I, a Midwesterner, can appreciate.

And if there's anytime in life that Ifeel truly trapped, it's when I'm raking leaves.

"Here Comes A Regular"is the song that specifically got me thinking in these terms. Most clearly, it's the opening lyric, "Well a person can work up a mean, mean thirst, after a hard day of nothing much at all,"which first sows the seed of an idea of maybe abandoning this project.

Later on in the song comes an actual mention of raking (spooky, I know), before singer Paul Westerberg laments his own ineffectiveness in life:"Used to live at home, now Istay at the house."

The rake 'n' Replacements connection kept on rolling. "Left of the Dial"speaks of a segment of society that lives outside of the mainstream, and what more oppressive social convention is there than raking? "Unsatisfied"is not just a somber ballad, but exactly how Ifeel about all this raking. "Shiftless When Idle,""Kids Don't Follow,""Anywhere Is Better Than Here,""Never Mind."… That's it, no more raking.

In retrospect, the Replacements did me no favors, Isuppose. Regardless, I'll remind everyone that this Tuesday, the band's first four albums, "Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash,""Stink," "Hootenanny"and "Let It Be," will be rereleased, this time remastered and embellished with rare and previously unreleased tracks.

Yes, the Replacements aren't the most inspirational of bands. But they continually remind me of a central tenet of rock 'n' roll:When life gets you down, rage not rake against the machine.

(Children by the millions wait for columnist Kelly Hagen, who you can reach at 250-8259 or kelly.hagen@bismarcktribune.com.)