The Box Tops - The Letter (Audio)

[@138eliza]

My dad who was in Vietnam said this song helped him through that horrific time. He came home but was never the same. I’m happy he had something like this song to come home. Too bad he couldn’t find the peace he was looking for. He was too young gone at 51. To all the veterans thank you. 🙏

[@lesliebankston]

How lucky your father is to have you. Insight, true compassion and appreciation for the gift of music. God, is surely in you ❤

[@FlyingSpaceDog]

Salute

[@danscott3880]

Amen my uncle was there 66-68 he has never been the same. God bless all our veterans. Past. Present

[@1stbattlion372]

Your was Dad blessed with a daughter like you. My wife divorced me and took our daughter with while I was in the VA learning how walk with my new leg. Never seen either one of them again. to all Veterans...OORAH !!!

[@138eliza]

@@1stbattlion372 im sorry to hear what happened. You did more than your best and it was not in vain. I wish you healing ❤️‍🩹. Endless gratitude for your service. 🙏

[@Paulwill85]

That song is absolutely a masterpiece

[@richardpatrick2852]

I am old enough to remember it. I believe that it was #1 on US charts for something like two straight months. And this was when you actually had to physically go to a record store to get it. Classic song!!

[@charlesjonessr3684]

I swear this song is not long enough.

[@MrMaKeMeDiNnEr]

Thats what she said

[@seabertotter4325]

@@MrMaKeMeDiNnEr Then listen to the various Joe Cocker versions and you will get more time with the tune.

[@je.tadore]

He gotta get back to home, you know. 😂

[@exoels]

@@seabertotter4325 You didn't get the joke

[@Brooo0-x6y]

+1

[@lgaytan65]

I just love the drums to open the song. Wow, over 50 years later & still think that's one of the greatest intros to a song in modern music history.

[@fernandosegura5609]

This remains me of the old days 😢

[@Steve-w2w6d]

One of the greatest songs of all time!

[@HonestJohnstories-lv7sb]

I once had the huge fortune of meeting Alex Chilton: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g53VhomNgr6XbK8

[@WastedTalent-]

Such a great song. The first time I heard this song was about 30 years ago when I was 15 and hanging out at the corner bar. There was a guy, Bob. He was a Vietnam Vet/POW and had vertical scars over his eyes. He loved this song to no end. Always asked me to play it. We'd sing it at the top of our lungs. He told me it reminded him of a better time.

[@ottokokko6343]

Very nice story. stangers you meet are truly wonderfull sometimes, sticks with you forever

[@hobartstands7295]

I left to serve my country during the Vietnam era, my high school sweet said she would wait for me. She left me for my brother, so after my tour I never went home, met a lady, got married. Then I received “The Letter” from my first love asking me to come home. I threw the letter away, never replied. I feel much better now it’s off my shoulders. Thx World The BoxTops…

[@hobartstands7295]

I figured it takes two, so maybe he did me a favor I will never really know how we would have come out as a couple incidently my brother got run over on a roadside take about bad karma

[@devmag52]

Thanks for your service. Sorry you went through that.

[@richardvalliere1421]

Your post hit me. I was on a sub-tender during that era. My sweetheart and I were going to marry upon my return. I lost her to another when she went off to college. Shattered me. Still have a large box full of her letters. But I wasn't as strong as you. I had to find her, and a best friend did, on Facebook. Our lives went in different directions in cities miles apart. We've been emailing for 2 years now. She's married with a family, and I'm single. We will remain friends for the rest of our lives. I solute you sir, for your service. And it's a song like "The Letter" that makes one want to play it over and over.

[@brendadrumm9451]

I take my hat off to you god bless xx

[@dkat1108]

Oh brother me too I was in a dumpy club in Long Binh with some buddies heard this song I had to leave tears just rolling down my face. I was petrified my newly wed wife would leave me. Of coarse it was all in my head, been married to the same lady for 54 years. God that place sucked !

[@ChrisM-ve6qc]

One of the classics from my youth

[@scottborst]

One minute and fifty two seconds of pure pop perfection.

[@carinedupont9376]

Alex was just seventeen years old... What a voice this man had!!!!

[@sojournerjim3726]

I got to see Alex Chilton and the Box Tops in person at a dance hall in Iowa in 1968, I was only 16 at that time, I went with some buddies to see them perform, it was amazing, there was no stage,just a raised platform they were playing on, you could walk up to them only a foot or two away from them when they were performing, it was unreal, they were really cool and very friendly,and the dance hall wasn't packed with people either. Their live performance sounded perfect,and Alex sang so good! It was in the winter,with a lot of snow on the ground outside,their was a bar in the dance hall and everyone was having drinks, today a lot of younger people dont even know who the Boxtops were,they had hit after hit records, I'm glad I got to see them up close in person.

[@joyschlomer6866]

Don't you l9ve getting lucky seeing big deal band in small time arena. I have friend saw Journey backing a big band. He'd never heard of them but was blown away. Thanks for sharing

[@kellibond4452]

I so remember this gem on its original 1967 airplay. It was the very first song I (8 y.o.) ever asked my dad to turn the volume UP on the radio (L.A.'s one and only 93 KHJ!) while driving!!!

[@lorenzovelealvento4408]

In 1967 i born 😁

[@LisaMichele]

what a memory! thanks for sharing

[@kellibond4452]

@@LisaMichele, you're so welcome! ♥

[@루카테오]

아주 어릴 때 아버지 차에서 듣던 노래입니다. 약간의 멜로디와 에어플레인이라는 단어만을 기억했지만 30년을 넘도록 못 찾던 노래인데 우연히 찾게되어 너무 기쁩니다.

[@Dentin-v6h]

Its too bad people from all over the world never hear his unique voice. This is most beautiful music i have ever heard.. suddenly i remind of the old day when i heard this song. His voice is as attractive as fox. Very satisfied, fantastic, brilliant..

[@KootaBathSaltz]

and he was only 16 when he recorded this!

[@careyw3161]

I have so many memories connected to this song. When it came out I had just finished boot camp and ITR, at Camp Pendleton, and was awaiting orders. Spent a lot of my free time listening to the radio. This song reminds me of going home to Phoenix to see my girlfriend, flying military stand-by, any time I could get away. The Letter was also part of the soundtrack of our lives in Vietnam. Years later, I lived in Memphis for several years, and found out a lot more about The Boxtops, which was one of many garage bands that sprang up in Memphis in the 60s. A former member of the band started a restaurant chain called Huey's, which was one of our favorite places to go. The Boxtops were very young when they hit it big, and true to form, they got the wrong end of the stick in their business dealings. But they made an indelible contribution of pop music in the brief time they were around.

[@scottsoenksen842]

My father's favorite, and now mine too!

[@tony2times25]

This song is too short but so is life. Lost my highschool sweetheart this year. Sent her this song right before she passed. Now when i hear this song it sounds precious even though the message aint gonna happen!!

[@ElMpikis]

Greece here 🇬🇷 I'm glad who find this song

[@z0mb13_cr1pt]

Και εγώ αυτό το τραγούδι είναι υπέροχο!

[@MrJackWorse]

How can you have this stroke of genius and make it barely two minutes long? smh Man, this is so good!

[@CarefulWithThatAxeEugene]

It's funny seeing ppl post 2024.....I was listening to this on KZbin over a decade ago. Good music never dies, it just gets a bigger audience.

[@cultofthevoid5677]

This used to be one of my favorite tracks when I'd play battlefield Vietnam as a kid. It always takes me back.

[@startervisions]

Is that a sigil?

[@cultofthevoid5677]

@@startervisions Yes, it's the sigil of Lucifer.

[@well_as_an_expert_id_say]

@@startervisions sigil of D. Snuhtts

[@jdizzy01]

I remember staying on the reclaiming Hue loading screen a bit longer to listen to it

[@kaiserwilhelmi7532]

@@cultofthevoid5677 Why have symbols of evil?

[@misspiece22]

Has all the Vietnam War vibes you would ever need. Respectfully. Thank you Veterans. 🇺🇸

[@chinook2562]

Hadn't heard or thought of this song in many years. Working around the house this morning and it came back in my mind! Had to listen again. Wow, what a song!

[@Kittylover074]

Less than 2 minutes and has more soul than most pop music of any era.

[@dcooper6510]

Cant believe this dude was 16 gives me goosebumps

[@msherer260]

and can you believe he, Alex Cliton, would not sing like this after the BOX TOPS split. Years later he did sing with some of them as the Box Tops again but he used his regular voice which was very smooth and fairly amateur sounding, you could not believe it was the same singer.

[@dcooper6510]

Fucking crazy man yeah@@msherer260

[@missygray6552]

One Of My Favs ❤❤🎉❤❤🎉❤❤🎉❤❤🎉❤❤🎉

[@tonysproule3408]

Absolutely takes me back, Dad used to blast it, hit 40 and found out the meaning and felt all the brass harder .

[@tracymears8230]

RIP lead singer Alex Chilton...dead at 59 for lack of health insurance for a treatable condition. VOTE DEMOCRAT AND TAX THE RICH TO HELP COMMON PEOPLE.

[@Zane-fc1dn]

Tax the rich to take care of common people? It's your responsibility to take care of yourself. Why should people rely on others? Everyone has the same opportunity. Not everyone has the same ambition. Nobody is entitled to anything but for what you work and strive for

[@tracymears8230]

@@Zane-fc1dn I take care of myself but expect rich to help the rest of us taxpayers to keep up the roads, schools, public buildings. Get it?

[@paul-wg4ts]

we should all be there for each other

[@paul-wg4ts]

and no, not everyone has the same opportunity

[@johnshields6852]

Boston kid when this played on the radio back then, absolutely loved it, emotionally charged song.

[@_KRose]

Only thing bad about this song is that it's so short...

[@dennisprice7244]

GizmoRose: you have never spoke a truer word.

[@bishan2281]

Today most of the aeroplanes are all grounded....2020

[@eduardomelendezrojas8316]

¡Be you right!

[@zaink7037]

Seems like most songs in this period were short being less than 3 minutes long

[@gerhardvanderwesthuizen842]

Well, it's perfection in 1'54". Stretching it out would have made it less powerful, for me at least.

[@chatzieleni77]

What a voice what a song😀

[@lewdoova1736]

I believe the singer is 16 years old during recording.

[@williamschaeffer409]

@@lewdoova1736 very true

[@StarLabs3D]

Awesome song!

[@vitalimaloshyk8270]

This piece will keep you going for a long time

[@dennismarshall5993]

Most of the songs back then were short because the recording industry didn't think that the people could stick with longer songs.

[@vincentdinunno5161]

Was before my time but, this tune is absolutely one of my all time favorites.

[@glenw-xm5zf]

Talk about bringing back memories! I remember when I first heard this song. I had been working at the Bennett Dam for about a year and a bit.. and was driving down the Hart Highway, to Prince George B.C. This song came on the car radio.. It just seemed to fit with the moment.56 years ago! Arghh!!

[@ElliSuckohl]

Ich freue mich das ich es endlich gefunden habe. Es hängen so viele Erinnerungen aus meiner Teenager Zeit dran ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@michaelfavela6035]

I was born 1982 I remember my mom playing this on her little radio in kitchen, I was about 3yrs old the letter got my attention I'd love song since

[@sandwichdude1944savepalestine]

Feel so nostalgic

[@lilysuhanybtmahmoodkpm-gur9551]

😂

[@hozonkai9967]

This could’ve been made in the 50s, 70s, 80s and 90s and still have been a hit!

[@danscott3880]

The lead singer was 17 when he recorded this. He just recently died

[@StonedMeadowOfDoom]

He died over 10 years ago. Pretty young

[@rileyfreeman7122]

If you’re old. 10 years is still recent

[@donnierunningrabbit9148]

Everytime I hear this song, I feel like I'm on the run. Great song!

[@sandwichdude1944savepalestine]

Search (extremely wicked, Ted Bundy escape the court)

[@SigmundFreud187]

Smoking a phat Blunt Listening to The Box Tops : Letter

[@jimjones6223]

This was big when I was in Vietnam 1967

[@CraigeSanderson-x6u]

I’m here because that guy sang it on the voice and this version is still the best

[@mickholland585]

Good old classic

[@caracarter3905]

In my baby book, my mom wrote that this was my first favorite song. Age 3.

[@razogoth4239]

my left ear says thank you

[@amydrew646]

All my senses tell me thank you

[@FuaFoa]

Mono :]

[@geova_jo]

Hisoka

[@Nukle0n]

It's not mono, the drums are just panned left and the strings and horns are panned right.

[@babybrit1422]

??

[@untaloskrayala7273]

Listening in 2067, a hundred years and still rocks 😉

[@jmh1593]

J'avais 16 ans quand j'ai entendu cette chanson, un tube international,le même âge que le chanteur, alex Chilton à la voix si spéciale....

[@frankkovacs6214]

Yes and God Bless to all the people who mention Vietnam with this song. My time in service was 1968-72 and THIS was the number that stuck in all of our heads... especially when you were getting short and you knew your day to LEAVE was coming. The last days were the longest but just hearing that tune was a cheer up. All of us and all those who waited for us will never forget this one. My daddy was WWII and he said their song was "We'll Meet Again" which Stanley Kubrick used for irony at the end of DR STRANGELOVE. Every war has that one song that defines it. We need a list of all the songs that got us through every war.

[@brucejackson4219]

good nostalgia.

[@sandwichdude1944savepalestine]

Yeah

[@Eliseofficialvideo]

​@@sandwichdude1944savepalestine brother?

[@sharonpeppers3341]

#THEBOXTOPS #THELETTER Another one of those wonderful songs from the sixties and the Viet Nam era. There was a lot going on in America and the world at that time. Just nice to be able to unwind with some fabulous music 😄👍👍👍👍👍🎸🪘🥁🎹🎻🎷💖💙💛💚❤️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@DonnaCoyer-t1g]

Well I was dancing to the song when it came out. Way back in the60s

[@Yakuza-10]

Yes very nice Song.i Swear unforgettable.2024 Peace for world.

[@margaritavergara6971]

♥️♥️👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩estos jóvenes ahora tienen 70años hermosos de mi época 😚

[@SusanRussell-ij8bv]

Always ❤ the 60's

[@sandwichdude1944savepalestine]

Ikr

[@garywebster3493]

Was in a club in hamburg , they played this. Had a great 2 minutes of dancing

[@JohnShields-xx1yk]

A favorite song when i was 10 yrs old bavk in the day. Thank you

[@jessicadelisio2143]

This song needs to be longer

[@ericcrittendon7189]

They also used this song for one of the mail bags segments on FX's Breakfast Time back in 1994!!! It was a good song for the show back then when FX was live 30 years ago!!!

[@AnnieWall-v7s]

I don’t care how much money I have to spend. I’m just glad that Scat is going to run Thanksgiving Christmas and New Year’s. I gotta get home to see my mom on those holidays.

[@NataChris-l5u]

Love it

[@scottmooneyham5521]

For those who don’t know, the singer here is Alex Chilton, who went on to be the guitarist/main songwriter for the band Big Star, highly influential among 80s pop rock/indie bands.

[@stevenlawrence3614]

This is one of the bands I loved when I was young!

[@seanbarrett9778]

Born in 76...still love this song thanks to my father.

[@je.tadore]

Born in 97, love this song, thanks to KZbin.

[@jjcoppinger3045]

Perfection in 2 minutes. The horns make this song

[@latoshawhite8495]

Such a good dance song 🎺🥁🎸🎻☮️

[@lilwinged5291]

Such a fun song to sing karaoke with a partner ❤...

[@1voyher1]

neon rainbow - cannot get it out of my head - this is a classic - great songwriter

[@luizxavier7279]

The box tops ❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@Lizardkingsqueen]

Love this song!

[@therabidscorpion]

Alex Chilton was a distant cousin of mine on my dad's side. I never met him, but have always loved this song.

[@jonraybon8582]

Damn.. this song takes me back to the Mekong Delta, 18 years old, just me and my M-16, keyboard and mouse. Battlefield Vietnam: 2004.

[@ALEJANDRO-b9e]

As brilliant today as in the past

[@HannibalOrJustRex]

One of my favorite songs that I'd hear when riding in my dad's truck when he'd take me to work as a kid. I had to have been 4 years old, but this is up there with "Bus Stop" by the Hollies, "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams, "Spooky" by The Classics IV, and "Little Red Riding Hood" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs as some of my earliest memories.

[@MatthewMuhammad]

Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing Lester Bangs brought me here.

[@AshleySmith-rw1cl]

I love this song ever since i was a little girl i was born in 87

[@danielsmith-ze3wy]

🙏 for all the vets

[@kennycoshall6496]

Yes it's a shame it's so short ! But great "

[@jbcoops]

actually there's *one* good thing about its brevity. i used to sing karaoke (remember that?)... i'm also the local cabbie... sometimes i'd drop someone off at the local karaoke bar and not have much time... so the DJ would squeeze me in with this song! GOOD TIMES!

[@kitkat3164]

Such good memories of times past😢

[@engineeringartist4801]

When I was 12 in Atlanta my girlfriend played this in the mornings before we went to the bus stop. She and her Identical twin sister would sneak me in their house after their parents left for work. They looked like something off a California beach calendar, with white blond hair that smelled like lemons. Then suddenly one day their dad packed them up and they moved to Benton harbor Michigan. Never saw those lovelies, Pat and Pam again. But still...this song.

Short and sweet...

[@RiverRat_1977]

This song was on a 90 minute cassette mixtape of several songs my cousin Ronnie recorded to take with him to Vietnam, but he was troubled about going to fight in a war he was against since we lived in Northern California where, in 1967, was the home of the Anti War Movement and the Summer of Love! Ronnie was pressured to enlist in the Navy because his father was a highly decorated WWII Vet and was determined that his son should follow in his footsteps. Ronnie’s feelings were largely unknown to his brother Larry, his parents, myself, all our other cousins and relatives, and some of his friends at Cloverdale High School. In the end, he was caught between pleasing (placating) his father and going to Vietnam… which he was already legally committed to do after his father had taken him to the recruiting office to enlist when he was still only 17 (Being part of a large Navy Family, it’s just something we did)!!! I only knew Ronnie was unhappy about the situation, and he frequently expressed this to me, but I didn’t understand how deeply distraught he was becoming as his High School Graduation was getting closer, despite being 8 months away! Late Halloween Night, after he got off of work as the projectionist at the local small movie theater in Cloverdale, I can only imagine how he was feeling inside… the last Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other celebrations at home… because, he would be gone at least 2 years, if he made it back alive (in his mind) before he would be able to celebrate any of these holidays with his family again! He knew how disappointed and angry his father would be if he went to Canada, or dodged his legally binding commitment to serve, which he would have been arrested for- after the first day he would be considered AWOL!! So, while driving to his parent’s home late that Halloween Night in 1967, he made the decision to take his life by driving over, and then off of, the embankment of the Cloverdale Bridge (Old Highway 101) crashing down a steep rocky ridge into the frigid and fast moving water of the Russian River where he drowned after having been knocked unconscious from the impact. It was so late and so dark in that small town that nobody saw what happened until early in the morning when someone saw the signs of an obvious collision off the northern approach to the bridge span coming from the northern part of town and heading southbound at a fairly high rate of speed (in a 25 mph zone) to make sure he didn’t just land on the rocks there… I’ll never forget every detail that led to his suicide- since I was the only family member who knew how Ronnie really felt, and hearing this song just transports me back to that time and causes those memories to just reverberate, yet it reminds me of the warm friendly character Ronnie was and all the great times we had together!! Ronnie’s younger brother Larry was killed on his motorcycle in Germany by a “Ghost Rider” flying down the wrong way of the Autobahn at a high rate of speed, and without any headlights on, which was considered a daredevil kind of prank for young German drivers who were usually intoxicated. But this activity was considered almost common since they even had a name for the deadly prank, and the people who were driving! My other cousin Larry was stationed in the US Army over in Germany. But there wasn’t much of him left to send back to his parents in 1977. Just around 10 years after his older brother Ronnie had died. Larry was buried at the Fort Presidio Army Base Cemetery in San Francisco, California, and in a spot that looks over the entire western part of the SF Bay, near the Golden Gate Bridge. He was given full military honors at his burial. Their parents were shattered after having lost their sons to steel, rubber, asphalt, and having US Military commitments!! I’m reminded of Larry by this song since we wrote each other often… and I’m reminded even more about Ronnie because it was the first song on his mixtape, and because I really miss all the letters we never got to send to each other… and after over 55 years, it’s also about all the missed times we never got to spend with each other as we grew older… I never could bring myself to tell Ronnie’s father what he really thought about going to fight in a war he despised as much as his friends all did back then! I don’t know if it’s fortunate that Larry never went to Vietnam, having waited a few years after it ended before he decided to enlist in the service. And I’d like to think he did it to make up to his father for what Ronnie couldn’t serve… So their father never knew what Ronnie sacrificed to avoid going to Vietnam, and by my not saying anything, it would never spoil his perception of Ronnie’s death as anything but accidental!!! So I have no regrets for staying silent!!!

[@foxman4932]

Wow. This was a heartfelt read. I am so sorry to hear about Ronnie. I am much younger (having been born in 2004) but I just can't even imagine the inner turmoil that your cousin must have felt. Knowing that the war shouldn't even have been fought in the first place but also wanting to make your dad who is basically your hero at that age happy. Thank you very much for sharing this.

[@joyschlomer6866]

❤

[@claudiagennaio6122]

Wonderful song.

[@adotintheshark4848]

Under-rated group..this album has a lot of good tunes.

[@teacherlucas9982]

True rock n roll

[@sylviawroblewski7223]

love this song !

[@sunnyhendry7144]

Alex Chilton. Great song and era

[@mariorovituso4216]

I grew up with this song it’s beautiful. 😊. I almost went to Vietnam

[@vennuv5626]

Good you didn't. If you went you wouldn' who knows wrote that... or anything.

[@DanielSantos-xm7vg]

❤❤❤

[@Jess-n5o]

I love this song ❤but ist to short

[@mrdaynes1]

Solid gold x

[@jonathanpinckney9227]

Thank God for the radio.

[@thewanderingoutsider4237]

The radio stations, where I live, don't play 50's and 60's music. If you get music like this from your local radio stations, you're a lucky son of a bitch, lol.

[@knightwing5169]

My local oldies station used to play a lot of '60s music. Now it plays almost none.

[@arnulsilva6484]

Jonathan Pinckney Urdtewvwess

[@arnulsilva6484]

Wandering outsider frertfsaad💤💩😽👏🏿😻😘

[@isabellanapper8674]

Nah nah nah thank God for the 90s or 60s or 70s or 80s I dont know but thank god for the box tops

[@meloland5649]

Fantastic song...

[@NooB4Anskyi]

The first time I heard this song was in 2021. At that moment, i had a severe form of coronavirus. I was lying in a hospital, in a ward for seriously ill patients. I was out of breath, a granny with a scythe could come at any moment. But at that moment my wife was pregnant, we were expecting a daughter. so I thought - to hell with everything, I will live and see my first-born😂☝️ As a result, I saw my daughter, and on September 29, my second daughter was born🥰🤗 So, thank you for this song🙏Thanks to this melody I found the strength to survive🥰

[@emil-proactivity]

I love it!

[@nicidevine6670]

Great Song 🎶

[@michaelfrazier4961]

Big Star!

[@msherer260]

We would have have maybe heard more of Big Star if Alex would have given in the fact he sang best when he used the same soulful voice they made him use on the Box Top recordings.

[@marilinwalker1260]

thank you

[@russellloganmusic5023]

So good