"September Gurls" is a song written by Alex Chilton that was first released by Big Star on their second studio album Radio City in 1974. It was also released as a single.[5] The song was covered by the Bangles in 1986, and by other bands.
| "September Gurls" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Big Star | ||||
| from the album Radio City | ||||
| Released | August 1974[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1973 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:41 | |||
| Label | Ardent | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Alex Chilton | |||
| Producer(s) | John Fry and Big Star | |||
| Big Star singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
editThe song was named in tribute to the Beach Boys' "California Girls".[6] It was inspired by three of the women in Chilton's life who he was thinking about at the time, including his ex-wife, having birthdays in September.[6] According to Big Star bassist Andy Hummel, Chilton "was going through a lot of different girls that he was having relationships with, kind of simultaneously, and a lot of what's in those songs [including "September Gurls"] is him really just telling of his experiences with them and how he felt about them."[6]
Producer John Fry recorded "September Gurls" on a six-track recording set.[7] The instrumentation includes rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums, with some guitar fills and a guitar solo on a mando-guitar.[7]
Reception
editWhile "September Gurls" was never a big seller, it is considered a classic song by publications such as Rolling Stone and Allmusic, as well as by music journalist John M. Borack.[8][9][10] Borack wrote:
"September Gurls" was and is the sine qua non of power pop, a glorious glittering jewel with every facet cut and shined to absolute perfection. While the Raspberries' "Go All the Way" provides a definitive encapsulation of what power pop is, "September Gurls" goes even further, not so much as the embodiment of a genre, but as a peerless, aching distillation of love and longing. "September Gurls" may not actually be the greatest song ever recorded, but for the duration of its 2:47 running time, you can be forgiven for believing it is.[10]
The track was rated #180 by Rolling Stone in the magazine's top 500 songs of all time, and is described as a "power pop classic".[8]
In his contemporary review of Radio City, Rolling Stone critic Ken Barnes described the song as "a virtually perfect pop number."[11] In another contemporary review of Radio City, The Sun critic Daniel Cotter described it as an "irresistible cut."[12] The Commercial Appeal critic Walter Dawson considered it one of the "better cuts" on the album and particularly praised Jody Stephens' drumming.[13] The Sacramento Bee critic Gene Sculatti described it as being "achingly plaintive" and called it "the very essence of purest American pop, distilled of sentiments and riffs that could only have sprung from stateside music."[14]
Jason Ankeny of Allmusic described the song as "sweetly gorgeous sound that's both familiar and novel; poignantly ragged and breathlessly reckless..." and says it "reveals a surprising tenderness, tempering its venom with achingly lovely vocals and sun-kissed harmonies".[9]
Chilton biographer Holly George-Warren called the song a "pop masterpiece" and "a three minute burst of euphoric, chiming guitars, kicked off with the mando-guitar, accompanied by yearning vocals singing lyrics both heartfelt and snide: 'I love you, well, nevermind / I've been crying all the time.'"[6]
Classic Rock History critic Brian Kachejian rated it as Big Star's best song, saying that "The song's swing and swaying groove sounds so good and stands as that perfect late summer or early fall song" and that "It’s one of those songs you can’t get out of your head."[15] Novelist Michael Chabon called the song "the pocket history of power pop" and claims that it is "the greatest number-one song that never charted".[16] Far Out rated it as the 89th most underrated song of the 1970s, saying that it "bristles with much of the same simultaneous melodic pleasantries and yet paradoxical cutting edge that the Fab Four propagated before them."[17]
Chilton was less kind describing the song, saying:
The musical structure's fine, it's the lyrics that were the odd bit for me at that time. "September Gurls" may be one of the more coherent things that I managed to produce in that time but if I were more confident in writing lyrics I probably would have done something else. It's not a song that really grabs me to this day. The musical structure grabs me but the overall song doesn't.[7]
Covers
editThe Bangles released a cover of this song on their 1986 album Different Light.[18] Kachejian called their version "great'.[15] Other bands who have recorded the song include Superdrag[19] and The Searchers.[20]
Tributes
editThe title of Katy Perry's 2010 number one hit "California Gurls" was spelled thus as a tribute to Chilton and Big Star. Perry's manager is a fan of the band, and asked her to spell "girls" with a "u".[21]
References
edit- ^ "Big Star - September Gurls". Retrieved April 16, 2019 – via www.45cat.com.
- ^ Lester, Paul (February 11, 2015). "Powerpop: 10 of the best". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
- ^ LaBate, Steve (December 18, 2009). "Jangle Bell Rock: A Chronological (Non-Holiday) Anthology… from The Beatles and Byrds to R.E.M. and Beyond". Paste. Archived from the original on November 20, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
- ^ Bradley, Larry (November 4, 2014). "The 1970s: Big Star - "September Gurls". The Alternative Jukebox. Cassell. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-84403-789-6.
- ^ Buskin, Richard (April 2006). "CLASSIC TRACKS: Big Star: 'September Gurls'". Sound on Sound. Retrieved January 1, 2009.
- ^ a b c d George-Warren, Holly (March 2014). A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, from Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man. Viking. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-670-02563-3.
- ^ a b c Eaton, Bruce (2009). Radio City. Continuum. pp. 93–94. ISBN 9780826428981.
- ^ a b "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. December 9, 2004. Archived from the original on August 20, 2006. Retrieved January 1, 2009.
- ^ a b Ankeny, Jason. "September Gurls". Allmusic. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
- ^ a b Borack, John M. (2007). Shake Some Action. Not Lame. pp. 13, 38. ISBN 9780979771408.
- ^ Barnes, Ken (April 11, 1974). "Radio City". Rolling Stone.
- ^ Cotter, Daniel (April 8, 1974). "Big Star Comes of Age with 'Radio City' Album". The Sun. p. 14. Retrieved 2024-01-31 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Dawson, Walter (May 3, 1974). "Big Star May Someday Be Just That". The Commercial Appeal. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-01-31 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Sculatti, Gene (May 25, 1974). "Good Things Come out of Memphis and Ireland". Sacramento Bee. p. A16. Retrieved 2024-01-31 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Kachejian, Brian. "Top 10 Big Star Songs". Classic Rock History. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
- ^ "Michael Chabon - Tragic Magic". archive.is. April 11, 2013. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
- ^ Taylor, Tom (April 30, 2022). "Unlucky For Some: The 100 most underrated songs of the 1970s". Far Out. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
- ^ Gambaccini, Paul (1987). The Top 100 Rock "n" Roll Albums of All Time. Harmony Books. ISBN 9780517565612.
- ^ "superdrag.com". Retrieved January 2, 2009.
- ^ Eder, Bruce. "allmusic ((( Love's Melodies > Overview )))". Allmusic. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
- ^ "Katy Perry's 'California Gurls' Is A Nod To ... Big Star?". mtv.com. May 13, 2010. Archived from the original on May 17, 2010. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
Further reading
edit- Klosterman, Chuck. (2016) But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past Penguin Publishing Group.