My Top 1000 Songs #778: Watch The Sunrise

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Big Star are on the list of bands where I've deliberately drawn a line in the sand and said "enough!" I'm trying to keep this list varied and just gumming it up with dozens of tracks from my favorite bands & albums takes the fun out of it. And while I absolutely adore "Watch The Sunrise," it does have the feeling of being "Ok, not the greatest or most important song in the agonizingly abbreviated Big Star catalog, more like a pretty one tucked in at the end of #1 Record that doesn't get nearly as much attention as September Gurls or Ballad of El Goodo or Thirteen..."

But I saw the Big Star Quintet this past weekend--a reverential touring tribute featuring Big Star drummer Jody Stephens joined by four indie rock luminaries--and it was just a wonderful evening. They played this one, with former dB Chris Stamey singing (and gorgeous harmonies from R.E.M.'s Mike Mills, the Posies' Jon Auer, and Wilco's Pat Sansone), and it was a reminder that, damn, I do love this song a lot. 

Guitarists Alex Chilton & Chris Bell break out the acoustic guitars like they're serenading you in the living room, that crystalline production letting the delicate jingle shine, with a simple folk-pop melody and absurdly perfect harmonies that simply melt your soul. It was anachronistically lost in time way back in 1972 yet something I throw onto every playlist 50+ years later.

Big Star Quintet live in 2022:

Countless YouTube home video cover versions; this one was kinda nice: