Ten Favorite Real People Songs: Alex Chilton (#7)

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What do you know? Not only have I stolen @teamfreak16 's idea about a countdown of songs with real people in the title, I'm now even stealing one of his songs! Yes, for only the fourth time we've matched on a song while doing concurrent countdowns. It's very understandable why we'd match on this one, though. And, as the "fake people" song is going to get me in serious trouble, I'll post this one first. #7: Alex Chilton - Replacements Man, what a song about "an invisible man who can sing with a visible voice." Alex Chilton was the soulful lead singer of the Box Tops, who had a #1 hit with "The Letter." Listen to Chilton sing on that song. He was sixteen years old at the time. After the Box Tops broke up Chilton formed the band Big Star, referenced in this song ("I never travel far without a little Big Star"). Although never commercially successful, Big Star's influence was felt throughout the 80s with college rock/alternative bands. That included Minneapolis' Replacements. On the album Pleased to Meet Me they generally abandoned their uneven sounds of their earlier albums like The Replacements Stink and Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash. There's still punk on this album ("I Don't Know"), but it was a shift that the previous albums Tim and Let It Be had been hinting at. They recorded the album in Memphis, which just happened to be Alex Chilton's home base at the time. Being big fans of Big Star, they wrote this song about Chilton's influence on them and how you "feel like a hundred bucks exchanging good luck's face to face" with an influence/idol. Chilton was reportedly unaware the 'Mats had written this song when he played guitar on the album's closing track, "Can't Hardly Wait." Alex Chilton died of a heart attack in 2010. The Replacements' original guitarist Bob Stinson (Tommy Stinson's brother) died of multiple organ failure brought on by years of substance abuse in 1995. The Replacements have actually been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I don't know if I'd go that far, but this is definitely a song that "children by the millions" ought to hear. Alex Chilton Written by Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson, and Chris Mars Recorded by the Replacements From Pleased To Meet Me, 1987 I'm in love! What's that song?