{"id":2739,"date":"2010-03-18T07:02:02","date_gmt":"2010-03-18T15:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=2739"},"modified":"2010-03-18T07:12:07","modified_gmt":"2010-03-18T15:12:07","slug":"alex-chilton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2010\/03\/18\/alex-chilton\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Chilton"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE LETTER<\/span><\/p>\n

My introduction to rock music wasn’t on television, not even radio, but the jukebox, at the Nutmeg Bowl.\u00c2\u00a0 After a couple of strings I’d find myself peering through the glass, studying the tracks, waiting for my parents to pick me up.<\/p>\n

That’s where I first heard "Dawn (Go Away)" and "I Get Around". <\/p>\n

I heard "Pretty Woman" on the jukebox at the JCC.<\/p>\n

And I heard "The Letter" on the jukebox at Bromley, the ski area where I spent my youth in Peru, Vermont.<\/p>\n

The old wooden base lodge, built by Fred Pabst with his beer money long before ski areas were about real estate, featured an alcove, in the very back, where worn out at the end of the day we listened to the jukebox.<\/p>\n

"The Letter" is one minute and fifty two seconds long.\u00c2\u00a0 Tell that to today’s artists filling up entire CDs.\u00c2\u00a0 It was and remains solely about quality. And "The Letter" was quality.\u00c2\u00a0 A great song, with a brilliant intro, but what put it over the top was the vocal of one Alex Chilton.

Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane<\/span>
Ain’t got time to take a fast train<\/span><\/p>\n

This was before air travel was de rigueur.\u00c2\u00a0 When you still dressed up to fly, were scared shitless the plane was going to crash and the ticket cost a fortune.

I don’t care how much money I gotta spend<\/span>
Got to get back to my baby again<\/span><\/p>\n

URGENCY!\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what you heard in Alex Chilton’s voice.\u00c2\u00a0 No, he didn’t write the song, but he made it his own.\u00c2\u00a0 This wasn’t an "American Idol" contestant singing for a record contract, one got the idea this record was cut on a dark rainy night and leaked out by accident.\u00c2\u00a0 In an era where so much of what was featured on the AM band was sunny, there was a darkness to "The Letter".\u00c2\u00a0 Chalk it up to Memphis.\u00c2\u00a0 Or Dan Penn.\u00c2\u00a0 Or both.<\/p>\n

CRY LIKE A BABY<\/span><\/p>\n

Anybody can have one hit.\u00c2\u00a0 But can you do it twice?<\/p>\n

NEON RAINBOW<\/span><\/p>\n

A cross between the New Vaudeville Band and Petula Clark, if the Box Tops hadn’t hit before, "Neon Rainbow" would be what we call a guilty pleasure, something outside your favorite genre that you want to hear again and again, that puts a smile on your face.\u00c2\u00a0 "Neon Rainbow" sounds like it was recorded in black and white, and that’s what makes it so great, you infuse your own colors into it.<\/p>\n

RADIO CITY<\/span><\/p>\n

I used to go to Andy’s room to listen to the Kinks’ "Everybody’s In Showbiz" and the Velvet Underground’s "Loaded".<\/p>\n

"Everybody’s In Showbiz" is a forgettable Kinks album, but it contains "Celluloid Heroes".<\/p>\n

Today everybody knows "Loaded", but dropping the needle on "Sweet Jane" was a revelation, especially after that ethereal intro.\u00c2\u00a0 The Velvets were supposed to be incomprehensible.<\/p>\n

But one day Andy told me I had to listen to a new record, a group formed by the lead singer of the Box Tops.<\/p>\n

The songs on "Radio City" had a certain power, and a certain intimacy.\u00c2\u00a0 Like the Box Tops records, they seemed to be made without the audience in mind.<\/p>\n

That’s rare today.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the first thing purveyors ask, WHAT’S THE MARKET?\u00c2\u00a0 Put it in a slot for me, make it easy.\u00c2\u00a0 If it’s like nothing that came before, I can’t sell it.<\/p>\n

And, you guessed it, "Radio City" never sold.<\/p>\n

But I drove cross-country with that album.\u00c2\u00a0 The explosive guitar intro of "Back Of A Car" sounded like nothing else in my cassette box.\u00c2\u00a0 The track was cut by someone who’d listened to a hell of a lot of English records, but there was definitely an American sensibility.<\/p>\n

And "Way Out West" went up and down the scale with power.<\/p>\n

And why don’t you come on back from way out west<\/span><\/p>\n

She didn’t dump him.\u00c2\u00a0 She moved on.\u00c2\u00a0 But he’s still here.\u00c2\u00a0 Thinking about her…<\/p>\n

Used to be California was a completely different state of mind from the East Coast, never mind Memphis.\u00c2\u00a0 There was no Facebook, no e-mail, no SMS…just very expensive long distance phone calls.\u00c2\u00a0 And when this track was cut, no one even had an answering machine.\u00c2\u00a0 Way out west was out of mind.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet he’s still here, in the same neighborhood, going to the same clubs, listening to the same radio stations.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s living, he’s dying.<\/p>\n

Then there was "September Gurls".\u00c2\u00a0 Just like the English cats, but better.\u00c2\u00a0 "September Gurls" was too perfect for the radio.\u00c2\u00a0 It was made for the garage, for headphones, just for the listener.\u00c2\u00a0 Of which there weren’t many.<\/p>\n

THIRTEEN<\/span><\/p>\n

Big Star broke up.\u00c2\u00a0 They had no chance.\u00c2\u00a0 This was before the resurgence of indie labels in the nineties, people shied away from something on Ardent.<\/p>\n

And there was no airplay.<\/p>\n

And the bands that were succeeding were BIGGER!\u00c2\u00a0 From Boston to Journey, it was about playing to the last row, not the first.\u00c2\u00a0 You wanted all the money, not some.<\/p>\n

So I found Big Star’s first album in a cut-out bin at Music Plus.\u00c2\u00a0 No one wanted it.<\/p>\n

But on that very first early seventies record there’s a gem in the league of "Walk Away Renee".\u00c2\u00a0 It’s entitled "Thirteen".<\/p>\n

Won’t you let me walk you home from school<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s how it starts.\u00c2\u00a0 It appears casual, but you had to get up the gumption, screw up your courage to ask.\u00c2\u00a0 And carrying her books you feel like you’re sitting on top of the world.<\/p>\n

Won’t you let me meet you at the pool<\/span><\/p>\n

This is public.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s got to let you not only into her head, but her entire world.<\/p>\n

Maybe Friday I can<\/span>
Get tickets for the dance<\/span>
And I’ll take you<\/span><\/p>\n

Most people listening to this record had never been on a date.\u00c2\u00a0 But it was their utmost desire.\u00c2\u00a0 They lived vicariously through this lyric.\u00c2\u00a0 It got them through until they too could find romance.<\/p>\n

Won’t you tell your dad, ‘Get off my back’<\/span>
Tell him what we said ’bout ‘Paint It Black’<\/span><\/p>\n

Rock and roll was ours.\u00c2\u00a0 Our parents didn’t wear designer jeans and work out at the gym.\u00c2\u00a0 They hated the Beatles and the Stones.\u00c2\u00a0 But to us this music was everything.<\/p>\n

Rock ‘n roll is here to stay<\/span>
Come inside where it’s okay<\/span>
And I’ll shake you<\/span><\/p>\n

Can she leave behind her Barbies, her cheerleading and enter his world?\u00c2\u00a0 Can she risk the power of emotions?

Won’t you tell me what you’re thinking of<\/span>
Would you be an outlaw for my love<\/span>
If it’s so, well, let me know<\/span>
If it’s ‘no’, well, I can go<\/span>
I won’t make you<\/span><\/p>\n

He’s not about to compromise.\u00c2\u00a0 He wants someone to enter his world.\u00c2\u00a0 We all want someone to enter our world.\u00c2\u00a0 We want to show off our trophies, both physical and emotional.\u00c2\u00a0 We want to share not only our victories, but our point of view.<\/p>\n

And that’s why Big Star is so important.\u00c2\u00a0 The band expressed emotions, both musically and lyrically, that squared exactly with ours.<\/p>\n

This made it tough for radio.\u00c2\u00a0 Radio plays to a theoretical everyman.\u00c2\u00a0 And Big Star was personal.<\/p>\n

But that’s why Big Star lives on.\u00c2\u00a0 You may not recall who scored the winning goal at the basketball game, but you can never forget with whom you shared your first kiss.<\/p>\n

ALEX CHILTON<\/span><\/p>\n

We have a fantasy that our heroes live on a higher plane, live a better life than us…that they’re surrounded by bucks and babes.<\/p>\n

But watching Alex Chilton perform you were struck that his life was much more difficult than yours.\u00c2\u00a0 He had to go from town to town, playing to appreciative, but tiny audiences, who loved him, but that love won’t keep you warm at night, it won’t pay your bills, it won’t pay your health insurance.<\/p>\n

My internist told me heart attacks are preventable.\u00c2\u00a0 If you get treatment.\u00c2\u00a0 Change your diet, take the appropriate drugs, get monitored.<\/p>\n

But I doubt that Alex Chilton had the cash, never mind the wherewithal.<\/p>\n

And now he’s gone.<\/p>\n

Never to be forgotten by a small coterie of fans.<\/p>\n

Is that enough?<\/p>\n

I don’t know.<\/p>\n

But I do know that Alex Chilton did it for the rest of us, not brave enough to take the risk, we who prayed in our basements for girlfriends as we studied for the SATs to get into a good college so we could become professionals.\u00c2\u00a0 And we love him for it.<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE LETTER My introduction to rock music wasn’t on television, not even radio, but the jukebox, at the Nutmeg Bowl.\u00c2\u00a0 After a couple of strings I’d find myself peering through the glass, studying the tracks, waiting for my parents to pick me up. That’s where I first heard "Dawn (Go Away)" and "I Get Around". […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-Ib","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2739"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2745,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2739\/revisions\/2745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}