Thirteen

Really quick and dirty, from memory. R.I.P Alex.

This song had a huge impact on me so many years ago.
I felt compelled to run down here to the basement and record this for some reason.
Just really, really bummed out about this. Man.

• play
• pause
• stop
• min volume
• max volume

posted by chococat (22 comments total)

nice.
posted by mwhybark at 1:32 AM on March 18, 2010

Great. Beautifully rendered.
posted by Skygazer at 1:42 AM on March 18, 2010

Very nice.
posted by litlnemo at 1:45 AM on March 18, 2010

Thanks for this.
posted by doubtfulpalace at 1:55 AM on March 18, 2010

Ah, this is sweet. In any way you can interpret that.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:22 AM on March 18, 2010

Touching. Fantastic. Perfect.

Thank you.
posted by grubi at 5:48 AM on March 18, 2010

Such a perfect song, and you did it justice and then some.
posted by umbú at 6:48 AM on March 18, 2010

Well done and beautiful. Thank you.
posted by grabbingsand at 8:30 AM on March 18, 2010

Sounds great, chococat, very lovely and heartfelt performance here. Amazing that you say "quick and dirty", too: sounds pretty damn smooth and polished to me. Not in the sense of being labored over and fussed over, but just really, really well performed. Kudos and salutations.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:14 AM on March 18, 2010

Marvelous! Thanks.
posted by nickyskye at 11:09 AM on March 18, 2010

Gorgeous.
posted by ORthey at 1:48 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Aw, that made me get all choked up. Again. But in a good way. Thanks, chococat.
posted by FelliniBlank at 2:07 PM on March 18, 2010

chococat, man, this is one of the greatest songs I've ever heard. You flow through this so naturally, it's like something you've always been meant to do. Absolutely beautiful.
posted by snsranch at 6:26 PM on March 18, 2010

Wow. This is the song that made me sob yesterday (I was at work and someone walked in on me with my hands over my eyes, under my glasses.) It's so simple, resonant, and well observed. Quick and dirty is maybe the way it should be done - spontaneous and heartfelt would also be appropriate words.

You did right by the song, and by Alex, and .. damn, I've got something in my eye again.
posted by louche mustachio at 12:30 AM on March 19, 2010

Nice one choco. I just read in The Guardian that Alex has died (we're a little behind here in the UK). Major sadness. Listen up guys - we really have to cover Radio City as a tribute to the great man. I mean "September Gurls" is one of my all time favourites. April/May challenge - huh?
posted by MajorDundee at 5:45 PM on March 19, 2010

Thanks everyone.
There were a few months, several years ago, when I'd play this song several times a day, to myself.
Someone threw a big, turkey-sized rock through our car window one night about 6 years ago and stole all of my CD's including #1Record/Radio City. The rock landed right in my daughter's car seat, where we found it sitting peacefully the next morning, surrounded by broken glass. Anyway, I never got around to re-buying that album and I don't think I've actually heard it since; the odd song wafting through a bar or a shitty 70's Show re-run would remind me I should really buy that album again. Anyhow, the other night after enjoying too many St. Patrick's Day beers I was just about to go to bed when I read that Alex had died and it kind of hit me in a weird way, like others have mentioned in the obit thread; pretty powerfully. I just kind of wanted to play that song like I used to play songs for friends in the late quiet drunken hours of dying parties when I was a little less inhibited. So this was the virtual version of that, I guess.
I think I could have done a more layered, polished, mistake-free version of it but it wasn't really about that and so I think I just played it for a few minutes to remember the chords, realized I had to slap a capo on the 2nd fret and recorded it, hoping I had the words right. That's what I meant by quick and dirty.
Wow that was long.
posted by chococat at 9:38 PM on March 19, 2010

I had never heard of Alex Chilton before the obituary thread, but I still found this and your story really touching. Thanks for introducing me.
posted by Corduroy at 3:12 PM on March 21, 2010

A beautiful performance, thank you.
posted by edlundart at 10:25 PM on March 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

This is perfect!
posted by puckupdate at 9:29 AM on March 25, 2010

That is really, really great.
posted by modoriculous at 11:09 AM on March 25, 2010

Yeah, beautiful cover of a great song.
posted by bwanabetty at 9:35 PM on March 25, 2010

When my wife and I first went from being friends to dating, we actually sat around and talked about 'Paint it Black' so this song has a pretty great significance to us. We were both really bummed about Chilton's death (especially after the suicides of Vic Chestnutt and Mark Linkous... yeah, we're music geeks among other things). I've always thought this song was one of the most romantic songs ever written. You do a great job of it, chococat.
posted by sleepy pete at 10:18 AM on March 28, 2010