This is a series I began on my blog, Wings for Wheels, a few years ago under the awkward title Songs I Never Get Tired Of. When I begged asked Jeff Giles if I could move it over to Popdose, I also asked if he had a better name. He came up with Infinite Play, which is, um, infinitely superior. I guess that’s why he’s in charge.

Essentially, this column will look at a different song each week, but unlike, say, Scott Malchus’ incredibly moving Basement Songs, I won’t be dealing with my personal connections to the songs. There will be some of that in there, but, for the most part, I’ll be focusing more on the songwriting aspects, breaking down crucial parts of the music and lyrics to get a better understanding of why, in the words of Craig Finn, certain songs get so scratched into our souls.

Although I have yet to purchase it, the new Big Star box set (thanks in part to Ken Shane’s excellent review) has put that much-celebrated, little-heard band into my head over the past week. But while the first song of the new Infinite Play series is on that set, it’s not by the seminal power pop band, but by founding member Chris Bell. “You and Your Sister” was originally the B-side to “I Am The Cosmos,” the only solo release by Bell in his lifetime.

The song functions as a sort of response to Alex Chilton’s classic “Thirteen,” from Big Star’s debut, #1 Record. Both are gentle acoustic ballads and are even in the same key (Bb, played in G with capos on the third fret). I don’t know if that was intentional on Bell’s part, but it does help in understanding why Chilton and Bell were such a perfect match for each other. Let’s look at the second verse of both songs. (more…)