Download    Sixteen-year-old Alex Chilton stepped into a Memphis recording studio for the first time on a Saturday morning in 1967.  He was handed the lyrics to a song called “The Letter” and told to “sing gruff” – hard for one so young, I’ll bet.  The only claim to fame he had so far was he and his young band winning a “Battle of the Bands” at a local YMCA.  They called themselves “The Devilles” at the time , but soon changed the name to “The Box Tops” – nobody seems to know why.

Anyway, they had a number one hit on their hands and proved to be too young and naive to handle the fame.  A series of managers and agents took advantage of their innocence and group members changed almost constantly.  They did manage to put out three albums, but none of their songs was anything like the hit they had with “The Letter””… well, maybe “Cry Like a Baby’ was a close second.  By 1972, this iconic “blue-eyed soul group” was finished.

If you do a 60’s set, “The Letter” is a great start to the set.  I noticed when I was putting this together that the last 12 bars (with no vocals) uses the same organ chords as “I’m a Believer” by The Monkees.  Well… a little plagiarism here?  Who knew?  This tune is also the shortest song (less than 2 minutes) to hit number one on the Billboard charts.  Absolutely perfect to start your 60’s set.

(Backup tracks on the Pop/Rock list)