September Gurls

I've posted this song before on 1st September but not since 2018 and it's a song I can't imagine anyone would ever get tired of hearing. September Gurls was both a single and a song on Big Star's second album Radio City, released in 1974. Alex Chilton's lyrics are economical, painting a lot of yearning and heartbreak with only a few words (two verses, a brief chorus of 'December boy's got it bad' and a bridge). The song's beauty comes as much from the performance and the recording, the crunchy jangle of the guitars, those swooning chord changes, the melodic bassline pushing things on and Alex's vocal. 

September Gurls

The September gurl Alex sings about seems to be unobtainable to him. They were together (I think) and now she's gone. There's some thing very autumnal about the song- it isn't a summer song, it's not about the flush of teenage love, it's the regret and longing once it's gone. That's autumn too- no matter how much we say we love the rusty colours of the leaves and the cooler, crisp autumnal days, they don't last long and winter waits. Possibly the song describes the length of the relationship, from September to December, the whole thing done in less than a quarter of a year, Alex looking back at the end of the year at what's gone. 

Maybe we shouldn't try to pin down or describe what makes a great song great. Maybe I should just enjoy it. 

In 1986 The Bangles covered September Gurls for their Different Light album with Michelle Steele on lead vocals. The Rickenbackers jangle, the backing vocals coo away and a controversial* backwards guitar solo hints at the mid- to- late 60s. It's fine enough if not a patch on the original. 

September Gurls

* The band had a difficult time with producer David Kahne and all of them except Michelle found their parts at one point or another were played by replacements Kahne brought in. Guitarist Vicki Peterson returned to the studio from an emergency and found that Kahne had 'had some guy show up and do a solo'. That was the backwards guitar solo on September Gurls. 

But I Don't Know Why

The Cramps have reared their heads and music at a couple of blogs recently which sent me back in a Lux and Ivy direction. While looking through my CDs I discovered I have, as well as 'proper' studio albums, four Cramps compilations, all of their early works- Songs The Lord Taught Us, Bad Music For Bad People, Off The Bone and File Under Sacred Music. The tracklistings are pretty identical,  give or take. Why have I bought so many Cramps compilations with such similar tracklistings? In my defence, if there is such a thing, two were bought cheaply at Fopp or somewhere similar when I was in the habit of buying CDs of albums I owned on vinyl for car listening. At some point in the shop I must have realised I didn't own Bad Music For Bad People and I liked the cover (although obviously the cover would work much better on vinyl than CD).

I own two of these compilations on vinyl, purchases that pre- date the CD ones- Off The Bone and Songs The Lord Taught Us (plus several other Cramps albums- Smell Of Female, Rockin' And Reelin' In Auckland, New Zealand, Psychedelic Jungle, A Date With Elvis and Stay Sick!).

In 1978 The Cramps released a 12" called Gravest Hits. I do not have a copy of this record but it's surely only a matter of time. Gravest Hits was a compilation of their two 7" singles that came out on Vengeance Records in '78, four covers and one original (Human Fly, The Way I Walk, Domino, Surfin Bird and Lonesome Town). In many ways The Cramps are a perfect band. Lux and Ivy, a couple, with a deep knowledge of the roots of the music (50s rock 'n' roll and rockabilly, 60s garage, some country and blues) filtered through some sci fi, golden age comics, horror movies and outsider culture. Along with Bryan Gregory and Nick Knox and produced by Alex Chilton this line up made many great songs and none greater than Human Fly.

Human Fly

The reverb heavy guitar line crawling it's way down the fretboard. The splash of cymbals and thud of the drums. Lux's quivering vocal.

'Well I'm a human fly/ I spell it F-L-Y/ I say buzz buzz buzz/ and it's just because/ I'm a human fly/ and I don't know why/ I got 96 tears and 96 eyes'.

Well worth owning across five different compilations in two different formats- and worth every penny.

Alex Chilton

Songs named after famous people number 3. In 1987 The Replacements released Pleased To Meet Me, an album with some great songs marred by some bad production. Lead Replacement Paul Westerberg got some kind of wish fulfilment here, recording a song in tribute to one of his heroes , Alex Chilton, who returned the favour by playing guitar on the song Can't Hardly Wait.

Alex Chilton

'Children by the million
Sing for Alex Chilton
I'm in love
with that song'

Westerberg's song is a song about being in love with a band and we can all identify with that. Alex Chilton wrote September Gurls so he pretty much gets a free pass from me.

While we're here the version of Can't Hardly Wait, recorded for the 1985 album Tim, but not used is to these ears superior to the one on Pleased To Meet Me. I've posted it before but it's worth a repost. Bob Stinson's guitar is electrifying, far more so than the later, sweeter, version with horns. This version makes some clear allusions to suicide in the lyrics, removed from the '87 one which was turned into being a song about touring.

Can't Hardly Wait (Tim Version)

September Songs

September arrives after a long August bringing with it a change in tone and pace. The first of today's pair of September songs is Ian McCulloch's solo single from 1984. Ian wanted to indulge his crooning side away from the Bunnymen and this song, a cover of the 1938 Kurt Weill standard, is decent enough (but in the same year as Ocean Rain it naturally pales a little). The lyrics nail this day and month perfectly-

'Well, it's a long, long time
From May to December
But the days grow short
When you reach September'

September Song (Long Version)

Meanwhile a decade earlier Alex Chilton wrote this song for Big Star, less about September maybe and more about a gurl. There is something heart-wrenchingly beautiful about this song- the guitars, the chord change, the vocal. Autumnal perfection.

September Gurls

Mystery Plane

The Cramps work like a palette cleanser or paint stripper- no matter what's going on, what you've been listening to or what's going through your head, they strip it all away, reduce it down to the bare bones. That's a good thing.

In 1979 they recorded some demos with Alex Chilton. Many people consider these songs to be superior versions to the ones that came out a year later on Songs The Lord Taught Us. This version of Mystery Plane sounds as good as they look in the picture above, also from 1979.

Mystery Plane (Ohio Demo Version)

Left Of The Dial

There can't be many bigger fans of yesterday's postee Alex Chilton than Paul Westerberg. In fact, he even wrote a song called Alex Chilton. Westerberg's 80s indie-punk  band The Replacements deserve a place in every record collection. Starting out as snotty teenage Mid West punks they (matured is probably the wrong word) eventually made several excellent albums, the pinnacle being Let It Be, a stone cold classic. They managed to sabotage their career on multiple occasions, through drunkeness, bad timing and bad luck. Left Of The Dial is one of their ragged anthems, a tribute to where on your radio tuner you need to go to find more interesting sounds.

Left Of The Dial

The Letter

This song by The Box Tops was a big hit in 1967. Written by Wayne Carson Thompson it's a perfect little 60s number, less than two minutes long, and with a great organ break and aeroplane sound effects during the middle eight. It's astonishing too that Alex Chilton was only sixteen years old when he recorded the vocal. He sounds so much older. One of those songs that seem to be linked permanently with footage of helicopters and Vietnamese jungle.

The Letter