Big Star – O My Soul ….Power Pop Friday

This song is from their second album Radio City. Their other guitarist Chris Bell had left the band leaving Alex Chilton as the only guitarist. In this song Chilton’s guitar is pushed to the front and after about a 46 second intro the song is on it’s way.

It’s a bluesy, funky,  rocky, and soulful riff all built into one. Alex just takes off on the guitar with this one all through the song. The guitar has a tone that you don’t hear everyday. Whenever I’m playing guitar I go back to their albums to try to emulate a tone that Chilton found.

Alex Chilton was not the only one writing songs on the album. Bassist Andy Hummel wrote or co-wrote five of the albums’s 12 tracks. Jody Stephens pitched in and co-wrote one song with Chilton and Hummel.

Chilton remained the constant variable that made the band’s music soar. His September Gurls is among the band’s finest songs and one of the prototypical power pop songs.

Radio City is not as polished as their debut album but it’s just as good and many say better.

O My Soul

O my soul mama
I lose control
Go ahead and shake if you wanna
And I’ll never know
Wull come on
You know it’s alright
We’ve got all night
You’re driving me mad
And you shouldn’t do that
We’re going to get on up
And drink till we drop.
You’re really a nice girl
And I think you’re the most
And when we’re together
I feel like a boss

Trying to see you
I’d know off your doors
dying to see you
I’m down on the floor.

I can’t get a license
To drive my car
But I don’t really need it
If I’m a big star.
Never you mind
Go on and have a good time.

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

55 thoughts on “Big Star – O My Soul ….Power Pop Friday”

  2. a likable song- excellent guitar as is I guess the characteristic of most of their work! Cool photo of them too … must be taken in Texas. that orange and white cup is a giveaway… King of the Hill got it right when they wrote it into some of their scripts as a highlight of the week to a whole lot of native Texans!

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    1. Whataburger! I loved that place growing up and now they are only in a few states…but yea they started in Texas. Their burgers at one time were HUGE…bigger than the bun….those orange A frame restaurants. We still have some old A frame Whataburger buildings in Nashville still standing…I miss those terribly. I did go to one in Florida a couple of years ago.

      That guitar sounds like a rubberband…I love it.

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      2. I’m in Nashville and they had quite a few here. Now most of the buildings that survive are Car lots which is sad. Yes I tried the burger in Florida…like you said it’s good but not what it once was…now it’s just another good burger.
        I do miss the place and those buildings.

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      5. Really? We had Krystals but not White Castles until in the last 20 or 30 years.

        I LOVED Whataburger

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      7. Arkansas…I have went through that state a few times….whew I’ve lost nothing there I would ever want to find. Same with Alabama and Georgia.

        Krystals…I love those burgers but they are like a brick on my stomach but I love them

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      8. LOL! Funny you should mention “brick!” I lived in Knoxville for about three months (2001) and worked for a company called J.A. Fielden, a construction company that builds Walmarts. I will never forget one of my co-workers calling Krystal burgers “hemorrhoid bombs!” LOL!

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      9. YEP! I can eat 3 tops and I’m alright except burping them all day long….but I’ll still be fine…anymore than three and I’m bloated and I do feel those 4 in my stomach…like….you guessed it…bricks

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  3. Back in the day, (the 1960s) I visited Memphis occasionally. My friend’s relatives lived in Tunica MS and it seems when we did visit, there was always a good concert to attend. I caught Chilton and the BoxTops along with The Animals at the coliseum in Memphis. I came away quite impressed with these young southerners and their white soul music. They gave the Animals a run for their money that evening. Some trivia about King of The Hill that you may not know. Mike Judge, the creator of this classic series, is from Dallas – Garland Texas, a suburb of Dallas. That’s why the town is called “Arlan.” Mike played in a band with Anson Funderburgh in the 70s, and Anson was lead guitar for “Anson and the Rockets” as well as ” The Bee’s Knee’s” both great bands. Mike used Anson as his model for ” Boomhaur.” Anson mumbled, just as Boomhaur does. Luanne Platter is a take-off from a famous $6.99 lunch special called the “Luanne Platter” sold at Luby’s Cafeteria in Texas. That series is revered here in DFW because it is DFW.

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    1. Wow that is really cool that you caught Alex Chilton. He had such a good voice and two different voices with the Box Tops and Big Star.

      I didn’t know that about Mike Judge. I really like that show…a lot of great humor and very well written. It’s about as close to reality in some ways as a cartoon can be. Dave…the guy that commented here mentioned the show a few months ago and I revisited it lately. I watched it when it was on but I haven’t in a long time…so I’m in the middle of the first season now.

      Love Boomhaur.

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      1. I liked the show up in Canada when it was in its first run. But now that I’m in Wa…err, ‘Arlen’, the humor takes on a whole different level. I think everyone down here knows someone who sounds like Boomhauer!

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      11. That is the one….I’m getting the other now. I will try again though…surely it is somewhere

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      3. Yea Krystal was the southern one….I like Krystals better…loved them at 2 in the morning!

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      4. Another one that was new to me in Texas was Jack in the Box. I’d never heard of them, either.

        I guess my hometown was just an anomaly. I grew up with a Zack’s Hotdogs, Boston Sandwich Shoppe, Pizzaville (then, Biscuitville), Skids, Western Steakhouse and, chains like Burger Chef, Pizza Inn, Pizza Hut, the big three (Mickey D’s, Burger King & Hardees…an original NC chain), plus the BBQ joints of Huey’s, Hursey’s & J&G. Zack’s, Skids (which number three, now) and Western Steakhouse (which was right beside Western Electric) were from some Greek families that had immigrated to Burlington back in the 30s & 40s. The “Zack” of Zack’s came in 1928.

        Eh. I grew up in a bubble. LOL!

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      6. I remember a Western Sizzlin, too. I think we had a couple. Western Steakhouse was a standalone owned by a Johnny Bakatsias. He also opened a Bakatsias restaurant, which is long gone, now but, Western Steakhouse is still there.

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      7. I loved Western Sizzlin…from what I remember it was really good. We also had a Bonanza and later on a Ponderosa.
        Is Western Steakhouse pretty good?

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      8. LOL! IDK! I never went there. It is unique to my hometown…and, I’ve never been. Or…if I did, I don’t remember it. My paternal GM knew Johnny and would get mad as hell if you mispronounced his name.

        I remember the names Bonanza and Ponderosa but, I don’t recall one being in my hometown. I remember the name Red Barn. I remember seeing a Howard Johnson’s restaurant in Greensboro but, I didn’t grow up with a Howard Johnson’s in Burlington. One showed up years later but, didn’t have a restaurant.

        Regarding your post, we had a Steak & Ale in Greensboro. And, OMG, I miss Bennigan’s! There were two of those in Greensboro. The last one I went to was in Texas just before they all shut down. Me & the ex were actively going there and, one day, they just weren’t open, anymore. When the parent company in Plano went into Chapter 7, it took most of the Bennigan’s with it. I understand that the new owners are blending Bennigan’s and some Steak & Ale items.

        The rest, I don’t recognize. And, whatever video you had, it’s unavailable, now.

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      9. It would be hard not to mispronounce that one!

        No telling what the video was… I love Steak and Ale…I miss those. It was dark inside…I just loved the place.

        Oh a Red Barn…we did have those but I don’t remember much about them.

        I do like Bennigans… You didn’t have a Rax? They are a poor man’s Arbys but they were very good…and maybe better. They had a great Chocolate chip shake. I think there are a few in Ohio.

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    1. I like the rubberband sound of that guitar. I would love to find that tone for my guitar. The more I listen the more I find out that Chilton was a heck of a tone guy.
      I do like this album also…but there is something to be said about the balance of Bell and Chilton.
      I would like to get the Chris Bell collection that was released.

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  6. One of my favourite big star tracks. Interesting you say their first album was better produced…I can’t recall off hand looking forward to check that out. Does that mean you prefer the first? Think I prefer the second. One of musician mates prefers the third (miserable bastard that he is lol)

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    1. I think Jeremy the first one is more polished…becasue of Chris Bell…not better just more polished…more smooth…is that the right word? Without Bell…it was a little rawer…which I like but I do miss Chris Bell. Picking between the first and second? I can’t…they stand on their own but I would have loved to hear another with Bell.
      LOL…the third has it’s moments…but no not compared to the first two.

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