Big Star – Thirteen

Song

"Thirteen" is a song by the American rock band Big Star. Rolling Stone describes it "one of rock's most beautiful celebrations of adolescence", and rated it #406 on their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. It was written by Alex Chilton and Chris Bell.

Bill Janovitz of Buffalo Tom writes in his Allmusic review of the song, "There are few songs that capture the aching innocence of adolescence as well" and calls it a "perfect melancholy ballad". The song encompasses folk and pop characteristics with its use of simple lyrics and the acoustic guitar.

The song was originally featured on the 1972 album #1 Record. It was released as a single by Big Star with “Watch The Sunrise” as the B-Side, on Ardent Records, but was mislabeled as “Don’t Lie To Me”.

Album

#1 Record is the debut album by the American rock band Big Star. It was released in August 1972 by Memphis-based Ardent Records.

Many critics praised the album's elegant vocal harmonies and refined songcraft but #1 Record suffered from poor distribution and sold fewer than 10,000 copies upon its initial release. However, #1 Record gained wider attention in the late '70s in the UK when EMI reissued it with Radio City as a double LP package due to increasing demand.

The same combination was used when the album was released on CD in 1992. In 2003 it was ranked number 438 on Rolling Stonemagazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Rolling Stone magazine also ranked the song "Thirteen" as number 406 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

#1 Record è il primo album in studio del gruppo power pop statunitense Big Star, pubblicato nell'aprile del 1972 dalla Ardent.

L'ellepì fu inserito al 434º posto tra i 500 migliori album della speciale classifica stilata dalla rivista specializzata Rolling Stone (2012)

Artist

Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens, and Andy Hummel. The group broke up in early 1975, and reorganized with a new lineup 18 years later following a reunion concert at the University of Missouri.

In its first era, the band's musical style drew on the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Byrds. Big Star produced a style that foreshadowed the alternative rock of the 1980s and 1990s.

Before it broke up, Big Star created a "seminal body of work that never stopped inspiring succeeding generations," in the words of Rolling Stone, as the "quintessential American power pop band," and "one of the most mythic and influential cult acts in all of rock & roll".

I Big Star sono un gruppo statunitense indicato come progenitore del power pop.

La loro musica univa le armonie vocali dei Beatles e dei Beach Boys con le melodie e gli arpeggi di chitarra dei Byrds, il tutto filtrato attraverso un'energia rock che, solo a posteriori, i critici e gli storici definiranno come power pop.

Won't you let me walk you home from school?
Won't you let me meet you at the pool?
Maybe Friday I can
Get tickets for the dance
And I'll take you, ooh ooh

Won't you tell your dad to get off my back?
Tell him what we said about Paint It Black
Rock and roll is here to stay
Come inside where it's okay
And I'll shake you, ooh ooh

Won't you tell me what you're thinking of?
Would you be an outlaw for my love?
If it's so, well let me know
If it's no, well I can go
I won't make you, ooh ooh

Non lasci che ti accompagni a casa da scuola?
Non mi vuoi incontrare in piscina?
Forse venerdì posso
Prendere i biglietti per il ballo
E ti ci porterò, ooh ooh

Non puoi dire a tuo padre di smetterla di starmi addosso?
Digli cosa abbiamo detto di Paint It Black
Il rock and roll è qua per restare
Vieni dentro dove è okay
E ti sconvolgerò, ooh ooh

Non mi dici a cosa stai pensando?
Saresti una fuorilegge per il mio amore?
Se è così, allora fammelo sapere
Se è no, allora posso andare
Non ti renderò così