Norman Blake and Ray McGinley were legit guitar foils for Alex, but add in bassist, Gerard Love, and that’s *four* different songwriters in one unit (including Chilton) possessing a wondrous ear for melody. How can you not love this tune? It demonstrates perfectly that Teenage Fanclub gave Chilton the necessary levels of pop and power (Neil Jung & Crazy Horse, maybe?). Here’s one of my faves from Grand Prix, a Norman Blake special. Whether by luck or cold calculation, the Fannies were a perfectly timed choice to support Alex Chilton. By April 1996 they were a well-oiled machine. Rather, at the time they were touring behind arguably their finest album, Grand Prix, and had been touring consistently for the past 5-6 years behind 5 excellent records. They were an inspired choice as Chilton’s backup band and not just because of their Big Star fandom, though that helped. Let’s also raise a glass to Teenage Fanclub. Why am I just finding out this information?!?! Not only is she a looker, but she’s one letter away from having the perfect porn name. She was in a post-“My Boyfriend’s Back” incarnation of The Angels, a vocal group featuring a singer named Jiggs Allbut. In fact, Alex Fanclub covered two of her songs at the Glasgow shows, “Heart” and “Party Girl.” Lord knows how Chilton discovered Bernadette Carroll. Heady possibilities given that “My Heart” is an obscure song by girl-group singer, Bernadette Carroll, from whom Chilton pilfers his nod.
Ironically, from a composition standpoint, what he and Lennon were doing was introducing musical elements into The Beatles that were, in fact, Richard Rodgers-esque. Released in 1962, would anyone be shocked if Paul McCartney or John Lennon were fans of this song when it came out? That cool bridge (“Not a single word was spoken, I can tell you knew”) points straight to 1963-65 Lennon/McCartney (“No Reply,” “All I’ve Got To Do”).
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