Alex Chilton (Memphis, Tennessee, December 28, 1950 – New Orleans, Louisian… Read Full Bio ↴Alex Chilton (Memphis, Tennessee, December 28, 1950 – New Orleans, Louisiana, March 17, 2010) was an American songwriter, guitarist, singer, and producer, best known for his work with the pop-music bands The Box Tops and Big Star. Chilton's early commercial sales success in the 1960s as a teen vocalist for The Box Tops was not repeated in later years with Big Star and in his indie music solo career on small labels like Last Call Records, New Rose, Razor and Tie, Bar/None, and others, but he did draw a loyal following in the indie and alternative music fields.

Chilton said in the September 1994 issue of Guitar Player that he considers himself a "musical performer, not a songwriter" and that some of his songs sound only "half-baked" to him. Nonetheless, his compositions have been performed by a number of artists, including Teenage Fanclub, This Mortal Coil, The Bangles, Wilco, Graham Coxon, Garbage, Tom Bradbury, Son Volt, Counting Crows, Elliott Smith, Jeff Buckley, Superdrag, Evan Dando, Cat Power, Yo La Tengo, Placebo, Xiu Xiu, and His Name Is Alive. The Replacements wrote the song Alex Chilton in his honor on their 1987 Pleased to Meet Me album, produced by Jim Dickinson in Memphis.

On March 17, 2010, Alex Chilton died of an apparent heart attack in a hospital in New Orleans. He was 59.

Something Deep Inside
Alex Chilton Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Something deep inside of me
Tells me to love you
Something deep inside of me
Is flying above you

I couldn't help but love you, I just cannot fight this feeling
Something deep inside of me
Tells me to love you

And will not stop

Something deep inside your eyes
Saw right through me
Something deep inside your eyes
Said something to me

First time I saw you was the first time that I felt that feeling
Something deep inside your eyes
Saw right through me
And into my heart

I didn't have no choice
Just fell right in
And kept on falling

I still feel the same way
The same thing happens every day

Something deep inside of me
Tells me to love you and will not stop

Overall Meaning

The song "Something Deep Inside" by Alex Chilton is a love song with a theme of overpowering, uncontrollable and persistent love that a person cannot fight back. The song expresses the emotions of the singer towards someone they just cannot resist. The lyrics show a person's struggle with the overpowering feeling of love, which they simply cannot ignore. Something deep inside of them is telling them to love the person, and even if they try to stop it, it persists.

Through the lyrics, the singer conveys that the feeling of love arises from the deep inside of their heart and takes over their power of reasoning or will. It is difficult for them to hold back, and they keep falling deeper and deeper in love with the person. The deep and meaningful lyrics, expressed through the smooth voice of Alex Chilton, gives the song a soulful sound that strikes a chord with the listener.

Line by Line Meaning

Something deep inside of me
An unexplainable feeling within me

Tells me to love you
Urges me to love you

Is flying above you
Overwhelmed with emotion for you

Something deep inside your eyes
An unexplainable feeling within your gaze

Saw right through me
Understood me completely

Said something to me
Communicated a message to me

I couldn't help but love you, I just cannot fight this feeling
I was helpless to love you, unable to resist this emotion

First time I saw you was the first time that I felt that feeling
I first fell in love with you when I first laid eyes on you

And into my heart
Into the depths of my emotions

I didn't have no choice
I had no control over my feelings

Just fell right in
I quickly and completely fell in love