Big Star

I've always felt that "Daisy Glaze" (my favorite Big Star song, most days) felt more like Bell than Chilton.

huh, to me the keepers on the Bell album are Cosmos, Sister, & those two, "I Got Kinda Lost" & "There Was a Light". & those I've gone back to again & again since I got the Ryko v in the early 90s. but the rest of that album has never really sunk in.

"Speed of Sound" is my favorite in spite of the pained vocals in the first verse.

That Big Star recording of "There Was a Light" is like my favorite thing ever. Love it.

"You Get What you Deserve" seems like a Bell tune, the lyrics especially.

I couldn't tell you why, but that's the one that's always seemed like the most "classic rock" of their discography, even more so than "September Gurls" or "Back of a Car". Would totally fit into a ROCK 99.1 THE BRICK set between Steve Miller and Fleetwood Mac.

"Don't Lie to Me" is straight-up '70s blues boogie, until the weird breakdown.

I know there's a 1000 reasons why Big Star's not in the Classic Rock canon, but back in my DJ days when I'd be playing "Fox on the Run" by Sweet or Diesel's "Sausalito Summernights", I'd still wonder.

Seems the Bangles couldn't make out the lyrics to 'September Gurls:'

"September gurls, do so much
And for so long, 'til we touched"

vs

" I was your butch and you were touched "

They may have changed them.

i really can't parse "i was your butch" (which i didn't know was the line til, uh, last week)

http://wdet.org/media/news_images/butch_patrick_young.jpg

is there a good accurate source for Big Star lyrics? They have a lot of lines that I've always wondered about.

I think I just found the answer to my question

for all your big star reference needs

That site did not answer my question about what a September Gurl is.

Always makes me think of the beginning of a new academic year.
I work on a college campus.

That site did not answer my question about what a September Gurl is.

http://theeinspired.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/katy_perry_california_girl-wide.jpg

I thought the college reference for a long time, but then that fails to explain what a December Boy is.

^^Ready for holiday break, footloose & fancy free?

I think Alex once said something to the effect that the dates in the song had to do with star signs and such.

"I was your butch" wtf???

Of course there's always the possibility that they are just crap lyrics

needs kd lang cover

xp

i wish old butch and you would touch

i didn't believe the "i was your butch" line either until i heard mike mills sing it a week ago with the world's big star experts standing behind him (stephens, stamey, the posies guys, etc.).

they prob don't know either.

Lots of incorrect lyrics on that Big Star Reference page fwiw

hmm ilx thread Big Star vying to replace bigstarreference.com for all your Big Star reference needs.

"Speed of Sound" is my favorite in spite of the pained vocals in the first verse.

yeah the synths on this album (is it just that song?) are really great

Much more importantly, the bio & film documented that Bell in fact had a pretty decent hand in writing Radio City as well. perhaps someone can jump in with more info, but given that there isn't a bad song on that record, but it seems like I have read it's more than just 'Back of a Car' which is more than enough.

― campreverb, Sunday, July 7, 2013 10:07 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

from the Rob Jovanovic book

So it was hardly surprising when Chris Bell quit Big Star in November. The band had already started work on a number of new tracks, including 'Way Out West', 'O My Soul', and 'Back of a Car'.

...

'We had four songs,' Hummel says. 'A couple were written at Alex's house one night. If memory serves, they were "Back of a Car", "Got Kinda Lost", "There Was a Life", and I'm not sure of the other but it was one of Alex's songs, maybe "You Get What You Deserve.'

Lots of incorrect lyrics on that Big Star Reference page fwiw

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Monday, July 8, 2013 5:13 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Whole forum page on that site to discuss what the lyrics really are - "This board was created to discuss/debate the accuracy of the lyrics posted on the Big Star Reference. Start a thread by using the song title in question as the subject. State what line you are questioning and offer your opinion as to what is being sung."

http://www.bigstarreference.com/cgi-bin/bsrboard/bsrboard.cgi?board=lyrics

First song I looked was a mess:

"O, DANA"
(Chilton)

I rather shoot a woman than a man, *** "I'd rather..."
I worry whether this is my last life
And girl, if you're listening
I'm sorry, I can't help it

O, Dana
O, Dana
Come on

I'm forevermore fighting with Steven
We do our big boo coos *** "we do our big beau coups"
But we know, over Boulder Dam *** "...overboard and down"
And strung out twice

We seldom know what things are
Two illusions going very far

I got busted across the bridge
They rounded up every soul
But, now I'm on the East Side
She says, "Don't give a girl a chance"
She's not afraid to take a chance

She's got a magic wand
That says play with yourself before other ones

Alex and Chris's harmony on 'Sister' sounds like they're put through a phase shifter. Or is that clean?

'You and Your Sister" that is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkTfOCoiRTk

Harmony on "Thirteen" during "and I'll take you" is phased.

I think Alex once said something to the effect that the dates in the song had to do with star signs and such.

That is correct. (Alex Chilton, b. Dec. 28)

Saw somebody reading about this new doc in one of the free subway newspapers- at last Big Star has arrived!

listened to the first disc of that ardent records story comp this morning -- totally recommended if you haven't heard it. a bunch of cool late 60s psych pop.

do you mean Thank You Friends,? that's a great comp!

yes, that's the one. really great, i wish it was four discs instead of just two... and just the minute of chilton singing "don't worry baby" at the end is worth price of admission alone. and the "big black car" demo! i don't think that's appeared on any of the other big star rarity things, for some reason.

I listened to that comp too and don't recall the non-Big Star -related stuff (which makes up almost half the set) being all that impressive. Will have to listen again. Cargoe seems well regarded, their albums are on Spotify. What other Ardent stuff should I check out?

Wow, just heard that Terry Manning album, which is nuts. Also found some comp o Memphis garage-scuzz from the era.

first disc has plenty of throwaway beatles rips, but it's all entertaining enough. never anything less than charming.

^^fair amount of Jim Dikinson garage autuer stuff too.

yeah! that guy needs a box set of his own.

I did post this on another thread, but I was pleased with it, so I'll post here to – a piece I wrote last year about Third/Sister Lovers and its aftermath …