L’hommage très émouvant de Robyn Hitchcock à Alex Chilton décédé le 17 mars dernier :

‘It’s difficult to accept that Alex Chilton is gone and won’t be back. He was always around, in his wry, low-key way, decorating the music world with his casual brilliance. From Norway to San Francisco to Milan he would be standing out there by the flight cases to greet you with his quizzical smile. He had something of the ex-patriot in him: even at home in the US, he seemed like a gentleman visiting from the past, most comfortable on the fringe of things. His refusal to stand centre-stage in Big Star was typical of this: he was too big a star to need to prove it, perhaps.

The fount of indie-rock stems from him as much as from Arthur Lee, The Velvet Underground, and Syd Barrett. His lack of interest in stardom and all the steps up to it was, and will be, a constant inspiration to many of us, as much as his sweet, dark, soulful music. Myriad musical roads met in Alex, and he diverted their course to his own artistic purposes with much grace and few illusions. (…)

He and I enjoyed many smoky moments over the years – it’s sad and perplexing to think that  there’ll be no more. Last time I saw him we were exhaling out of a window in Shepherd’s Bush after the triumphant Big Star gig there in 2008. I can’t believe he’s not here any more. Alex?… Alex?’

Robyn Hitchcock, March 24 2010