Quote
seitan
When ever I hear someone saying that Elvis is great - I want to ask them why do you think its great that Peanut butter and fast food restaurant Icon is exploiting black music and racism and stealing all the great black blues and rock songs without having any talent to write a song ?

Southerner and former Rolling Stone writer Mark Kemp wrote a good book called "Dixie Lullabye" [www.amazon.com]

He points out and it's only his thesis, that actually, the music and influences from back then work both ways. The book is much more about the Southern Rock Bands, Allmans, Skynyrrd, etc. but there's quite a bit on the Stones too. Never knew for example that "Respect" by Aretha Franklin was real commentary on the civil rights situation back then and the murder of MLK Jr. tore up the studios where blacks and whites would mix and record.

Are we going to say Johnny Burnette or Johnny Cash also stole from black music?? Because they are considered "Rockabilly" and guess what? So was a lot of Elvis.

Lieber/Stoller wrote a lot of the big '50s songs and they probably had some black music influences.

Lieber/Stoller wrote Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock, Don't, Stand by me and more. Poison Ivy. They wrote "Kansas City" (here I come), a big hit for Wilbert Harrison.



So, I think the whole situation is a bit more complex than just saying Elvis ripped off black music.

And it seems once Elvis went into the service and came out, he lost a lot of the grit that made him so popular. I think the early Elvis was a lot better.

This is off-topic but of course, here are just a few remarks Lennon made on Elvis:

Quote

"Before Elvis there was nothing."

"I’m an Elvis fan because it was Elvis who really got me out of Liverpool."

[johnlennonquotes.net]

Echo chambers, Jailhouse rock, hard to just say that is all due to black music.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-07 05:33 by BroomWagon.

White Light/White Heat Super Deluxe 3-CD box set, coming Dec. 10.

Disc: 1
1. WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT (STEREO VERSION)
2. THE GIFT (STEREO VERSION)
3. LADY GODIVA'S OPERATION (STEREO VERSION)
4. HERE SHE COMES NOW (STEREO VERSION)
5. I HEARD HER CALL MY NAME (STEREO VERSION)
6. SISTER RAY (STEREO VERSION)
7. I HEARD HER CALL MY NAME (STEREO VERSION)(ALTERNATE TAKE)
8. GUESS I'M FALLING IN LOVE (STEREO VERSION)(INSTRUMENTAL VERSION)(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
9. TEMPTATION INSIDE YOUR HEART (STEREO VERSION)(ORIGINAL MIX)
10. STEPHANIE SAYS (STEREO VERSION)(ORIGINAL MIX)
11. HEY MR. RAIN (STEREO VERSION)(VERSION ONE)(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
12. HEY MR. RAIN (STEREO VERSION) (VERSION TWO)(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
13. BEGINNING TO SEE THE LIGHT (STEREO VERSION)(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED EARLY VERSION)

Disc: 2
1. WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT (MONO VERSION)
2. THE GIFT (MONO VERSION)
3. LADY GODIVA'S OPERATION (MONO VERSION)
4. HERE SHE COMES NOW (MONO VERSION)
5. I HEARD HER CALL MY NAME (MONO VERSION)
6. SISTER RAY (MONO VERSION)
7. WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT (MONO VERSION)(MONO SINGLE MIX)
8. HERE SHE COMES NOW (MONO VERSION)(MONO SINGLE MIX)
9. THE GIFT (MONO VERSION)(VOCAL VERSION)(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
10. THE GIFT (MONO VERSION)(INSTRUMENTAL VERSION)(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)

Disc: 3
1. BOOKER T. (LIVE AT THE GYMNASIUM, NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 30, 1967)
2. I'M NOT A YOUNG MAN (LIVE AT THE GYMNASIUM, NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 30, 1967)(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
3. ANYMORE (LIVE AT THE GYMNASIUM, NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 30, 1967)
4. GUESS I'M FALLING IN LOVE (LIVE AT THE GYMNASIUM, NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 30, 1967)
5. I'M WAITING FOR THE MAN (LIVE AT THE GYMNASIUM, NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 30, 1967)(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
6. RUN RUN RUN (LIVE AT THE GYMNASIUM, NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 30, 1967)(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
7. SISTER RAY (LIVE AT THE GYMNASIUM, NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 30, 1967)(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
8. THE GIFT (LIVE AT THE GYMNASIUM, NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 30, 1967)(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-07 06:20 by tatters.

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Pietro

Reed was essentially a bourgeois. He was middle-class. Those songs about the underground were like B horror movies for all the boomer kiddies. And it shows you how unsophisticated we are that Lou and his New York schtick is considered sophisticated.

Middle-class huh ? - So what do you make of well educated, Sir Mick Jagger - when you consider this multi-millionaire singin Street Fightin Man or Joe Strummer of the Clash, - the son of wealthy diplomat singin about White Riot?

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Big Al
Good post, RollingFreak.

Have you seen this? What a waste of an evening! I hope Lou at least performed something like Sweet Jane as an encore! I doubt it though. That wouldn't be very 'Lou' after all.

If it was billed as Metal Machine Music then it's stupid to expect anything other than music like that album.

Having played stuff like that live I can tell you that it's quite a release to do it and also easy to just get lost in the sound and hear and feel the ebbs and flows.

It's not about craft or entertainment etc. It's cathartic to freak out and make sounds and not worry about the rules of music. It can be for the listener too, but someone who is too hung up on melody etc might not be open to it.

The intent of the players doesn't matter either, so Lou possibly seeing the album as a joke initially doesn't mean it can't be experienced as something else by a listener.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-07 17:30 by His Majesty.

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Pietro
Reed was essentially a bourgeois. He was middle-class. Those songs about the underground were like B horror movies for all the boomer kiddies. And it shows you how unsophisticated we are that Lou and his New York schtick is considered sophisticated.

That's very true... of Jagger! The middle-class guy writing about the dirt without really living it IS 100% Jagger. But that's not true about Lou. The guy lived what he sang about (even though when he wrote "Heroin" he hadn't tried it yet).
Wanna a Lou Reed story (told by John Cale). Reed used to pay visit to a black priest, regularly. When Cale wondered why he'd do this Reed replied "cause he f&cks me in the ass!"

That was Lou Reed... He didn't sing about dirt cos it was fashionable, he sang about his life.

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seitan
If Elvis would come today, if he was a new artist in 2013 - he would be a fat karaoke singer in a pub and nothing more

What's a pub? Is that like an English bar or something? Elvis would not have sung in a pub. He was American.

And he had way, way too much soul and spirit to every sing karaoke. You're not listening when The King sings!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-07 17:59 by Pietro.

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dcba
he middle-class guy writing about the dirt without really living it IS 100% Jagger. But that's not true about Lou. The guy lived what he sang about (even though when he wrote "Heroin" he hadn't tried it yet).
Wanna a Lou Reed story (told by John Cale). Reed used to pay visit to a black priest, regularly. When Cale wondered why he'd do this Reed replied "cause he f&cks me in the ass!"

That was Lou Reed... He didn't sing about dirt cos it was fashionable, he sang about his life.

Lou got f@cked in the ass by a black guy and told about it. Now that is middle-class! (Not something working people brag about.) And do you really think it happened? I suspect it was along the lines of his writing "Heroin" before he took the substance.

Reed wrote a song called "I Wanna Be Black." Sheesh. Like I said, more NYC schtick.

Small percentage of idiocy here among the heartfelt and intelligent. A little better than usual!

We are largely celebrating Lou Reed the artist here. Taking into account personal taste it is clear not just his influence and legacy but actually also his goddamn music is enjoyed and felt by many. His politics, sexual preferences, drug use, relationships, abilities as a band leader, and so forth figure into it, but ultimately -- for me -- it's the music. That he missed the mark sometimes is expected but subjective ("I Wanna Be Black" for instance). The guy nailed it plenty.

Lastly, the idea that being from the middle class or "bourgeoisie" negates one from writing from writing of certain subjects or compromises your artistic merit -- that's silly. And one thing I haven't seen mentioned yet -- Lou Reed as a teenager underwent electroshock therapy to "cure" his "homosexual tendencies." Don't think that is paying your dues?

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seitan
If Elvis would come today, if he was a new artist in 2013 - he would be a fat karaoke singer in a pub and nothing more

... and the stones would just be some local R&B cover pub band.

This is of course a totally stupid way of thinking because their success is partly down to the world as it was at the time when they first became successful.

2013 would be different had Elvis not existed when he did.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-07 18:16 by His Majesty.

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Pietro

Quote
dcba
he middle-class guy writing about the dirt without really living it IS 100% Jagger. But that's not true about Lou. The guy lived what he sang about (even though when he wrote "Heroin" he hadn't tried it yet).
Wanna a Lou Reed story (told by John Cale). Reed used to pay visit to a black priest, regularly. When Cale wondered why he'd do this Reed replied "cause he f&cks me in the ass!"

That was Lou Reed... He didn't sing about dirt cos it was fashionable, he sang about his life.

Lou got f@cked in the ass by a black guy and told about it. Now that is middle-class! (Not something working people brag about.) And do you really think it happened? I suspect it was along the lines of his writing "Heroin" before he took the substance.

Reed wrote a song called "I Wanna Be Black." Sheesh. Like I said, more NYC schtick.

How do you feel about murder ballads ? - If Johnny Cash sings I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die" - Do you think Johnny Cash has to murder someone before he has a right to sing about it, is Cash fake in your opinion ? Or when Nick Cave ( art school student who has never been in Prison ) sings about electric chair - does that make Cave fake ? Or Shakespere - Does Hamlet have to be a true story for you before you can read it ? Can you enjoy art and fiction in music - or do you really think that Jagger was fighting in the streets ? Do you really think that Jim Morrison had sex with his mother and wanted to kill his father ?

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seitan
Do you really think that Jim Morrison had sex with his mother and wanted to kill his father ?

Maybe.

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Pietro

Quote
dcba
he middle-class guy writing about the dirt without really living it IS 100% Jagger. But that's not true about Lou. The guy lived what he sang about (even though when he wrote "Heroin" he hadn't tried it yet).
Wanna a Lou Reed story (told by John Cale). Reed used to pay visit to a black priest, regularly. When Cale wondered why he'd do this Reed replied "cause he f&cks me in the ass!"

That was Lou Reed... He didn't sing about dirt cos it was fashionable, he sang about his life.

Lou got f@cked in the ass by a black guy and told about it. Now that is middle-class! (Not something working people brag about.) And do you really think it happened? I suspect it was along the lines of his writing "Heroin" before he took the substance.

Reed wrote a song called "I Wanna Be Black." Sheesh. Like I said, more NYC schtick.

So you think it's very middle class to fall in love with a transvestite and have a relationship wih a tranny ? The source of inspiration for most of the songs on Coney Island Baby, Lou Reed’s transvestite lover and muse Rachel (Tommy) has always been somewhat of a mystery figure, but here's an article:

[dangerousminds.net]

Mick Jagger remembers Lou Reed:

"He had style – that attitudinal New York hipster style. He was quite rude in interviews, but in person he was actually quite friendly – just not over-effusive. He wasn't a schmoozer, which was good. Everyone talks about punk, but to me he was the Johnny Cash of New York rock; he was always the man in black. I used to have him over occasionally in New York, and later he used to come and visit Mustique [in the West Indies], which is not the most obvious place for Lou Reed to go on vacation. Lots of posh English people. But when I would see him there, he still had that style going on.

The surprise for me was "Walk on the Wild Side." It was melodic, really good, very original, with the background singing and acoustic bass – an original way of presenting him. But "I'm Waiting for the Man" was my first big Lou Reed tune. I liked it because it was so minimalist in the arrangement and the chords – and the guitar sound on it was grunge before there was grunge, way back in 1967."

From Rolling Stone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-07 23:25 by BowieStone.

Quote
BowieStone
Mick Jagger remembers Lou Reed:

"He had style – that attitudinal New York hipster style. He was quite rude in interviews, but in person he was actually quite friendly – just not over-effusive. He wasn't a schmoozer, which was good. Everyone talks about punk, but to me he was the Johnny Cash of New York rock; he was always the man in black. I used to have him over occasionally in New York, and later he used to come and visit Mustique [in the West Indies], which is not the most obvious place for Lou Reed to go on vacation. Lots of posh English people. But when I would see him there, he still had that style going on.

The surprise for me was "Walk on the Wild Side." It was melodic, really good, very original, with the background singing and acoustic bass – an original way of presenting him. But "I'm Waiting for the Man" was my first big Lou Reed tune. I liked it because it was so minimalist in the arrangement and the chords – and the guitar sound on it was grunge before there was grunge, way back in 1967."

From Rolling Stone

Now, I like Mick Jagger lot more..kind words, nice tribute, thank you Mick.

THE AGE ---- 8 November 2013



ROCKMAN

That is awesome....go Melbourne

Robert Quine was Lou's Mick Taylor.

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big4




Robert Quine was Lou's Mick Taylor.

Sort of, i suppose, although Quine's guitar style was very influenced by Lou's playing in The Velvet Underground. I think Quine had a very positive effect on Lou taking up playing the guitar again, although i think Lou felt a little threatened by him, that he may steal some of the limelight. Quine has a similar scenario to Taylor though, with his guitar parts on LEGENDARY HEARTS alledgedly being wiped, and Lou making it pretty much unbearable for him to continue the collaboration beyond a couple of albums, and some very memorable live shows. Fernando Saunders fared much better, and collaborated with Lou on and off, until recent years. Fernando's bass playing is magnificent on many of the albums he contributed to, and it's another reason why, aside from Lou's brilliance as a writer and performer, those albums are well worth a listen. I have to hand it to Lou, his taste in choosing musicians to play alongside was always very inspired.

I never liked Lou's professor look though, from around 1989 - early nineties. I was pleased when he dropped the ponytail, and large rimmed glasses, and stopped reciting the words to the songs, instead of attempting to sing them (although there was occasionally still a bit of that). Sometimes i feel, despite NEW YORK being a very consistent album, it is one of his least edgy in a musical/creative sense. It was very much a conservative album for him in a sense - sort of modern rock, but without the usual element of danger. Yes, the lyrics were the key with NEW YORK in terms of danger, with the tales of waste, aids, and violence etc, but musically it wasn't at all edgy or confrontational. I just think that ECSTASY is better, despite it not receiving such critical applause.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-08 09:56 by Edward Twining.

A very nice tribute by Jagger, indeed. And more obvious it is that taking how he describes "I'm Waiting For The Man" that The Velvet Underground had an influence on BEGGARS BANQUET

- Doxa

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Doxa
A very nice tribute by Jagger, indeed. And more obvious it is that taking how he describes "I'm Waiting For The Man" that The Velvet Underground had an influence on BEGGARS BANQUET

- Doxa

Yes, the opening to 'Stray Cat Blues' resembles the opening to 'Heroin'. However, apart from that i don't hear too much resemblance. I'm not sure the Stones were influenced greatly by the Velvet Underground, although any song that has drugs as a theme ('Sister Morphine' etc.) may have been influenced. However, i think it's all very tenuous.

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Edward Twining

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Doxa
A very nice tribute by Jagger, indeed. And more obvious it is that taking how he describes "I'm Waiting For The Man" that The Velvet Underground had an influence on BEGGARS BANQUET

- Doxa

Yes, the opening to 'Stray Cat Blues' resembles the opening to 'Heroin'. However, apart from that i don't hear too much resemblance. I'm not sure the Stones were influenced greatly by the Velvet Underground, although any song that has drugs as a theme ('Sister Morphine' etc.) may have been influenced. However, i think it's all very tenuous.

Jagger said they wanted to recreate the feel of Heroin's opening on SCB's opening, that's all. And they succeeded, even with a meaner and darker result, imo.

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DandelionPowderman

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Edward Twining

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Doxa
A very nice tribute by Jagger, indeed. And more obvious it is that taking how he describes "I'm Waiting For The Man" that The Velvet Underground had an influence on BEGGARS BANQUET

- Doxa

Yes, the opening to 'Stray Cat Blues' resembles the opening to 'Heroin'. However, apart from that i don't hear too much resemblance. I'm not sure the Stones were influenced greatly by the Velvet Underground, although any song that has drugs as a theme ('Sister Morphine' etc.) may have been influenced. However, i think it's all very tenuous.

Jagger said they wanted to recreate the feel of Heroin's opening on SCB's opening, that's all. And they succeeded, even with a meaner and darker result, imo.

I just think it is unfortunate, Dandelion, that the Stones couldn't have maintained a level of quality post TATTOO YOU, that Lou managed right up to his death. Lou always sounded inspired to try out new things, and adapt different textures to his musical vocabulary. Some things may have been more successful than others, but what you will likely find is that every Lou Reed fan tends to have a different opinion on what was successful, and what was less so (of course to a degree that can also be the case with Stones fans). I have a sneeking regard for more commercial albums like NEW SENSATIONS and MISTRIAL, even though some fans may blast them because they gave the impression Lou was selling out. Lou could write songs that at times, were more trivial, maybe, and at the core of his muse, he could actually write some very catchy tunes, when you strip away some of the more excessive musical/vocal dynamics.

One of the advantages of being a solo artist is also the option to work with different musicians, which enables you to find a fresher perspective within what you are trying to achieve. Different musicians bring different things to the table, and with Lou, he always took full advantage to using their distinctive capabilities, which is another reason, why, perhaps, his music rarely became just run-of-the-mill and formulaic. The biggest thing with Lou, though, was, he had a clear focus on what he was after.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-08 21:07 by Edward Twining.

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Edward Twining

I never liked Lou's professor look though, from around 1989 - early nineties. I was pleased when he dropped the ponytail, and large rimmed glasses....

And he had a very serious mullet for a bit there!

[www.vice.com]

I met Lou Reed and his wife, Laurie Anderson, through a mutual friend. Over the last three years of his life, my girlfriend Vera and I got to spend a little time with them, dining together and going to the theater. It was a double pleasure for me and Vera, since in addition to being long-time fans of Lou and Laurie's music, we found them to be terrific company, accessible and fun.

One night in the spring of 2011, Lou, Laurie, Vera and I went to see the play Jerusalem on Broadway, which had arrived in New York amid lots of buzz after a successful London run. Its nearly four-hour length seemed daunting, however, and the opening act bored us. Lou, during the first intermission (out of two), seemed particularly unhappy. About the drama's protagonist, a drunken ex-motorcycle stuntman named Rooster Byron, Lou snarled, "If that idiot considers himself a Harley beast, he's got another thing coming."

Uh-oh, I thought. Here was Lou's infamously truculent side, the scourge of music journalists the planet over. (Asked in the November 2013 issue of MOJO Magazine if he planned to join the current bandwagon and pen a rock-star memoir, Lou snapped back, "Why would I? Write about myself? I don't think so. Set what record straight? There's not a record to keep straight. I am what I am, it is what it is, and @#$%& you.") Because I was the one who'd suggested we see Jerusalem, I felt responsible now for Lou's displeasure. This anxiety was foolish, of course—you win some, and you lose some when it comes to choosing plays, as with all else—yet I wanted Lou to like me. Who wouldn't want Lou Reed to like him? And while I felt certain that Laurie wouldn't blame me for my inferior aesthetic choice, I wasn't so sure about Lou.

As the houselights blinked for the audience to return to their seats, the four of us discussed whether we should leave before the play resumed or tough it out. If we did go, we could grab a taxi downtown to a restaurant where they served this strudel Lou had been raving about all night.

We decided to sit through the next act and hope the play improved. And it did improve—a lot. In one memorable scene, Rooster Byron's son, a boy of five or six, showed up unexpectedly, and alone, outside the protagonist's filthy trailer in the forest where he lived. Rooster called for the boy to step forward to embrace him. "Come hug your father," he implored. The child hardly knew the man, though, and was afraid of him, so he wouldn't move.

I was touched by this scene, and by the thoughts it evoked in me about my own father, who had died a few months earlier. Wondering how Lou felt about it, I glanced over at him, but in the darkness of the orchestra pit, I couldn't make out the expression on his face. What's more, the stage lights were throwing a glare onto the clear lenses of his wire-framed glasses. What if Lou still hated the play? Now that I'd started enjoying it, I didn't want to leave.

Once the houselights came up, I realized that I hadn't needed to worry. Not only did Lou share my revised opinion about Jerusalem, labeling it "fantastic, the best thing I've been to in a long time" (Laurie and Vera agreed), but I could finally see Lou's eyes behind his glasses. His eyes were filled with tears.

"Did you see that?" he asked me in an almost lost-sounding voice. "Did you see when that father asked his son for a hug and the boy wouldn't go to him? Didn't that break your heart?"

"Yes," I said. "It did."

Before Jerusalem, Vera and I had already gleaned what a caring person Lou could be. While he didn't seem too patient with strangers (or with those music journalists), he was a grouch with a sweet core—obviously crazy about Laurie, devoted to their dog, Lolabelle, and ultrasupportive of the friends and colleagues and artists he admired. Still, tonight’s Lou, moved to tears by a scene in a play, was one I'd never encountered. This Lou was more than just sensitive to others; he was vulnerable, cracked-open emotionally, deeply empathic. This was the man, I realized, who'd created “Coney Island Baby,” “Pale Blue Eyes,” “Perfect Day,” “Femme Fatale,” “Sunday Morning,” “New Age,” “Stephanie Says,” “Candy Says,” “I Found A Reason,” “I'll Be Your Mirror,” the whimsical “I'm Sticking With You,” the underrated “I Love You”—those gentle hymns which nevertheless cut just as deeply as do his songs with sharper edges.

Rising from our seats again, I wondered if that wrenching father-son moment we’d witnessed had struck in Lou, as it had in me, a personal chord. Did Lou identify with the boy in the scene, the one who spurned his father? To judge by some of his lyrics, Lou hadn't gotten along well with his old man. Or did Lou, childless yet having reached the typical age of a grandparent, view himself in the spurned father's place?

I didn't know the answers, didn't ask, and we never discussed it again. Still, I thought about Lou's strong reaction to the Jerusalem scene a few months ago, when we met for what turned out to be the last time.

Gathered on the patio of a friend's house in the Hamptons, a group including Lou watched the summer sun descend over a marsh. That evening, Lou appeared weakened—he was still recovering from his liver transplant—but in a fairly buoyant mood. Sipping from a cup of water, he recalled how he loved to listen to doo-wop and R&B and early rock ‘n’ roll during his teen years in Long Island—songs like the Excellents’ original “Coney Island Baby.” Among his favorite radio programs, he said, was Alan Freed's Moondog show. With a breeze ruffling his silver hair, he corrected me about where the show was broadcast: I’d assumed New York, but it was Cleveland. Lou blinked a few times behind his wire-framed glasses, finished his water,, and then, unprompted, he launched into a spirited impersonation of Freed’s kooky on-air routine.

For an instant he sounded like a kid. He looked like a kid, too. And for that instant, I envisioned Lou this way, no longer as an ailing man of 70, but a pop-music-crazy kid, living only for his radio and his record player and the songs that poured from them, beyond the call of fathers and of mothers, as he listened—beyond the call of everyone but the people who made the songs or took those songs to heart and lived through them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-08 19:40 by lettingitbleed.

It's a Stones site, we talk about the Stones, its nice to branch out at times. Because we share Facebook links I am aware that Gazza and I share a lot of the same musical tastes. The passing of Lou Reed has reminded me of how powerful a force in my life rock and roll has been. When angry and alone rock and roll could sooth me, when tired an bored it could lift my spirits. It was a way to connect with new people. Rock album covers are what I learned to paint as a young man adapting to many different media. Rock and Roll music is what I wanted to play and explains the two guitars I still pass time on in my house wishing I were better than I am at playing. Rock and Roll music was what I learned to sing in front of people in a loud blues shout between Van Morrision and Bruce Sprinsteen ( oh Lord don't serve me drinks at a karaoke bar, you will loose me, but I guarantee you a surprise.)

A few weeks ago, an old friend in Indiana sent a link via Facebook to my sister and I . It was Lou singing Take a Walk on the Wild Side, and she said that she could not here this without thinking of me. In NZ, old CDS are sold in groups of 5 in "rock classic collections" for the price that I used to pay for each individually. By pure cosmic coincidence the week prior to his death, I had loaded my car with 10 Lou Reed CDS. They are still in there. When John Lennon died, I mourned with the world. But this is different. Perhaps because I am older this has hit me more. Or perhaps because when I played music for friends I played the Beatles or John, but when I played music for myself I played Lou or Patti Smith, something less accessible to the masses..


I read Laurie Anderson's touching story in Rolling Stone about holding Reed when his heart stopped. I was terribly moved, and it sparked a hidden memory.. By chance listening to some CDs while driving yesterday, I ran across the song , FLY INTO THE SUN. Suddenly Laurie's talk about him wanting to be in the sun made so much more sense, Lou was being Lou and chasing an artistic vision he had and had even shared with us, and again I was impressed with his will power to make his own path.


I would not run from the holocaust
I would not run from the bomb
I'd welcome the chance to meet my maker
and fly into the sun

Fly into the sun
fly into the sun
I'd break up into million pieces
and fly into the sun

I would not run from the blazing light
I would not run from it's rain
I'd see it as an end to misery
as an end to worldly pain

An end to worldly pain
an end to worldly pain
I'd shine by the light of the unknown moment
to end this worldly pain

And fly into the sun
fly into the sun
I'd shine by the light of the unknown moment
and fly into the sun

The earth is weeping, the sky is shaking
the stars split to their core
And every proton and unnamed neutron
is fusing in my bones

And an unnamed mammal is darkly rising
as man burns from his tomb
And I look at this as a blissful moment
to fly into the sun

Fly into the sun
fly into the sun
I'd burn up into a million pieces
and fly into the sun

To end this mystery
answer my mystery
I'd look at this as a wondrous moment
to end this mystery

Fly into the sun
fly into the sun
I'd break up into a million pieces
and fly into the sun


Fly into the sun Lou, I miss the fact that you cannot sing to us about the experience.

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seitan
Lou Reed - See that my grave is kept clean

oh man

One of the encore songs from the 1992 Magic and Loss concerts, featuring the great Jimmy Scott.






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-09 04:33 by tatters.

Here's a little more of Little Jimmy.

Mostly lovely thread here. Thanks everyone.

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TeddyB1018
Mostly lovely thread here. Thanks everyone.

Really. can't echo this enough. Thanks to quite a few posters for links and thoughts.