Alex Chilton died yesterday and took another piece of Rock and Roll with him. Lead singer of the Box Tops, he scored a huge hit at age 16 with “The Letter”. That song blasted out of the AM radios and jukeboxes of my youth and grabbed me by the ears. “Give me a ticket for an aeroplane, ain’t got time to take a fast train”. This guy was on a mission! His baby had written him a letter!
But the real brilliance came later in the music of Big Star. I’ll admit that, like most, I missed these albums for many years, but somewhere in the late 80’s I heard “Seotember Gurls” for the first time.
Wow. What a perfect record. And every single time I have heard it since I have felt the same way, sometimes being moved to tears by it’s beauty. Like today.