happy/unhappy couples: The Letter

purchase [The Letter]


Even though I didn't grow up in the US, my American parents had those perforated, punch-out valentines card booklets for us kids. (Are they still being produced?) Send your sweetie a card. A love letter.

This past week I had my students write a "real" letter. You know? Paper and envelope kind of letter. In this day and age.

After the fact, it got me thinking: I wonder if Jeff and Lauren are a happy couple these days. I wonder if they would have been happier if they had been sending old-fashion letters instead of the electronic version. It's a dying art it is, writing snail mail.

<The Letter> seems to include both happy and unhappy in one swell foop: The couple must be happily in love: the love-letter included lots of love in the form of "can't live without you no more..." (happy), but the distance between is painful: "ain't got time to take a fast train ..."(unhappy). The couple is probably going to be happy when the singer gets there, don't you think?

The songfacts website suggests that the studio addition of the jet plane taking off may have contributed to the song's success (take yourself back to 1967: when people wrote letters and we spelled it "aeroplane").

Postage Paid: The Letter

The Box Tops: The Letter

[purchase]

"Lonely days are gone, I´m a-going home, my baby just wrote me a letter..." The Letter (´67) by The Box Tops is one of those perfect pop songs. Under the 2-minute mark and deceptively simple, yet complete with majestic horns, strings, and even the sound of an airplane taking off. Memphis soulful, with the heartfelt urgency of a very young Alex Chilton as the cream on the cake. The lad´s just turned sweet sixteen and he scores a number one hit single in U.S.A. e in tutto il mondo!

Impossible under modern circumstances. My baby just sent me an email? My baby just texted my iPhone? My baby just twittered my facebook? No way.

Shorties: Alex Chilton Edition

The Box Tops - Chilton standing center


Big Star (as trio) - Chilton slouching right

The Box Tops: The Letter [purchase]

Big Star: I'm In Love With A Girl [purchase]

Alex Chilton has had his hand in a few pithy pop classics. As the 17-year-old lead singer of The Box Tops, he pushed his voice way down soul deep for The Letter. The result was the second shortest No. 1 hit in the history of pop music. (Guess the shortest No. 1 hit in the comments below.) As a kid and teenager I probably heard The Letter a hundred times before I realized that it was sung by a teenaged Chilton. The guy sounds at least 24.

When Chilton actually did reach 24, he was still churning out catchy little pop numbers. On I'm In Love With A Girl, Chilton pushed his voice in the other direction, up into the falsetto range. It's hard to believe it's the same singer.

Unfortunately, circumstances conspired to prevent Big Star from timely receiving the popular success their music deserved. The consolation prize was to be adorned with cult-like hipster status by the college rockers of the 1980's.

(OK. I better stop now. This post is getting too long for me.)