Song of the Day 7/21: Big Star, “Watch the Sunrise”

As Jason noted, raging wildfires are turning the West into a hellscape, but it is giving us colorful sunrises and sunsets. The rest of the day needs some work — the sun is obscured today by the remains of millions of dead trees.

Big Star formed in 1971 when Alex Chilton, who left the Box Tops the year before, was invited to hear a Memphis band called Icewater by its front man, Chris Bell, whom Chilton had known for years. Chilton liked what he heard and played them an acoustic tune they liked so much they asked him to join the band, which changed its name to Big Star, after a regional supermarket chain. This was the tune, which was included on the band’s enormously influential debut album, “#1 Record.”