Political Quotes

“Today I come before you with a heavy heart, for a friend of mine and a great friend of music in the world, and particularly from my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, passed away last night. Alex Chilton, who was a rock-and-roller, who was an indie music alternative producer, songwriter, and guitarist, passed away. Alex Chilton, at age 16, had a number one hit with a group called the Box Tops, a song called 'The Letter.' Gotta get a ticket for an airplane. Ain't got time to catch a fast train. Lonely days are gone. I'm a-going home. My baby just wrote me a letter. That was number one when he was 16. He went on with the Box Tops to do other songs. And then he had a group called Big Star. Big Star wasn't well known. They did three albums. But 'Rolling Stone' put all three albums in the top 500 albums ever produced in America, and two of his singles were among the top 500 singles ever done in America. Alex Chilton was like so much in Memphis. He grew up at a time when Elvis Presley was our emissary to the world. He wanted to play music, and he did it, and he did it in his own way: independent, iconoclastic, innovative. He never cared for the critics. He didn't have that much acclaim at the box office or in record sales, but he did with others. REM was a group that he influenced greatly, and the Replacements did a song called 'Alex Chilton.' He was supposed to play at South By Southwest this week in Austin. They are mourning him.”