The Ballad of El Goodo
Chilton's ballad on #1 Record, built on a refrain from an old spiritual.
Big Star, from #1 Record (1972)
- Written by
- Alex Chilton
- Released
- 1972
- Length
- 4:21
- Album
- #1 Record
Chilton brought The Ballad of El Goodo to the #1 Record sessions, along with Thirteen and Watch the Sunrise. Its refrain, there ain't no one going to turn me around, comes from an old spiritual that had become locally prominent as a civil rights slogan. Pitchfork's Stephen M. Deusner called the song tough and tender, communal and individual.
The authors of the All Music Guide to Rock heard a luminous, melancholy ballad. Setlist.fm logs 35 performances by Big Star.
More songs by Big Star
September Gurls, Thirteen, In the Street, Holocaust, Jesus Christ
Sources
- #1 Record / Radio City review, Pitchfork (2009-06-16)
- #1 Record, Wikipedia
- Big Star, Wikipedia
- Big Star setlist statistics, setlist.fm