More Cowbell! Top Ten: Alex Chilton (#9)

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Calling Will Farrell, we've got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell!! I'm ready for the next song on my list of favorites that feature the cowbell at some point in the song, a theme inspired by that classic SNL skit that featured Christopher Walken as Bruce Dickenson and Farrell on cowbell. (Quick trivia: Jimmy Fallon played the drummer.) Here's today's cowbell banging song. #9: Alex Chilton - Replacements I have a schizophrenic approach to the Replacements. The songs of theirs I like, I really like, but the things of theirs I don't like, I really don't like. I think they could have been one of the biggest acts of the 80s, but they took their drinking just a little too seriously. (I have a bootleg of them in northern Kentucky where they were so smashed they couldn't finish a single song they did! ) Having said that, I think Pleased To Meet Me, the album that introduced me to the Replacements, is terrific. Of course, that album is such a dramatic change in style from the earlier work of the 'Mats that it's understandable why I'd be a little less enthusiastic about albums like The Replacements Stink (yeah, I think they really did on that album) and Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash. Everybody's a critic, I know. This song is from the 'Mats era I love. It's a tribute to Box Tops/Big Star/solo singer Alex Chilton (who played guitar on another song on this album). Their appreciation is obvious: "I never travel far without a little Big Star." Chilton died of a heart attack in 2010. When the acoustic guitar takes over near the end you'll hear the cowbell loud and clear. And all throughout you'll hear a great, great song. Alex Chilton Written by Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson, and Chris Mars Recorded by the Replacements From Pleased To Meet Me, 1987 Feel like a hundred bucks: