[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3822]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  MOURNING THE PASSING OF ALEX CHILTON

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, 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. He was supposed to play in Memphis on May 15 
with the reunion of Big Star at the Overton Park Shell. He won't do 
that.
  His music will live on forever. He is an embodiment of Memphis music: 
hard, different, independent, brilliant, and beautiful. We are lucky he 
came our way.
  He leaves a wife and a daughter.

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