TGIF Rock-n-Roll Oldies: The Box Tops 1967

Reaganite Republican ^ | October 29, 2010 | Reaganite Republican

[Reaganite Republican]

The Box Tops were a Memphis rock group active in the mid-to-late 1960s. Known for such hits as "The Letter" (below), "Neon Rainbow", "Soul Deep", "I Met Her in Church", and "Cry Like A Baby", the band is historically significant as a major "blue-eyed soul" group of the period.

They performed a mixture of current soul music songs by artists such as James and Bobby Purify and Clifford Curry, pop tunes such as A Whiter Shade of Pale by Keith Reid, Gary Brooker and Matthew Fisher of Procol Harum, and songs written by their producers, Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, and Chips Moman.

The Box Tops' music combined elements of soul music and light pop. Their records are prime examples of the styles made popular by Moman and Penn at American Sound Studio in Memphis.

Vocalist Alex Chilton went on to front the powerpop band Big Star and to launch a career as a solo artist, during which he occasionally performed songs he had sung with the Box Tops...

The Box Tops: The Letter 1967 -here-

More/video at Reaganite Republican

[JimC214]

Alex Chilton later with Chris Bell started the band Big Star. The 70’s show theme song is a version of there hit “Out In The Street”.

[Mikey_1962]

Alex Chilton RIP

[Herodes]

Give me a ticket for an aeroplane...
Ain’t got time to take a fast train...
Lonely days are gone,
I’m a-goin home,
My baby, she wrote me a letter...

[aSeattleConservative]

And who says you don’t learn anything on FreeRepublic?

I grew up listening to The Box Tops, and thought all of this time that they were a R&B BLACK group out of DEEtroit!

[bigbob]

like everyone, they used studio musicians on some of their tracks, but the actual band members performed on “The Letter”, which I think is what gave it that garage band authenticity. All 1 minute 58 seconds of it.

[Reaganite Republican]

Me too until a couple years ago lol

[Steely Tom]

I always wondered how they made the sound of the jet plane in "The Letter." It was definitely not the sound of a real jet plane.

[wordsofearnest]

My love is a river running “Soul Deep”.

[JPG]

I was a rock jock on the radio for 22 yrs (’66-'87). One of the reasons that ‘The Letter’ got extra play (besides being a good song) was that it was short, less than 2 min, so even if you had a heavy spot load you could always sneak it in.

[Nabber]

What I remember from the “teen club” days was that The Letter was one of those songs that, when the music started, EVERYBODY got up and got on the dance floor. Very memorable.