LogFAQs > #956386561

97. Big Star Thirteen (1972)
from the album #1 Record

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pte3Jg-2Ax4

Key lyrics:
Would you be an outlaw for my love?

Mocking our early teenage years comes easy. It is a time dominated by pubescent discoveries and big feelings too complex to express in our childhood vocabularies. Most people I know would rather erase these particular memories than linger on them. Big Star, on the other hand, wrote a loving ode to this awkward moment of growing up. With a melancholy tone, Alex Chilton retraces the mundane details of a first love. It is with utmost respect that he reflects upon misguided declarations. Though his narrator knows little about making a relationship work, Chilton remembers the dire passion of youth. Our first loves are almost doomed by design, but Big Star capture the numbing gravitas of going through it.

Thirteen benefits greatly from specific imagery. Lines about getting tickets for the dance put us in the moment, bridging any distance created by Chiltons age as a vocalist. A line where he asks his love to share his opinion about The Rolling Stones to impress her father is profound in its depiction of childhood innocence and misunderstandings. Others might look upon these memories with embarrassment, but Big Star frame it as an essential part of the human experience.

The structure of the song is essential to its nostalgic atmosphere. The simple acoustic guitar adds an air of innocence, while short bursts of harmonies draw out the emotion. The guitar solo halfway through keeps down to earth, simple and clean in its effect. Throughout, there is an ever-so-subtle change in tempo, suggesting a growing unease in the narrator. Thirteen is a stunningly graceful depiction of an awkward but defining time in our lives.

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My top 100 games (with write-ups): https://foolfantastic.com/top-100-video-games-project/