Your Favorite Lou Reed Songs/Moments

[Niko]

I'm very upset at Lou's death, as many others are.

The Velvet Underground and Nico is an album I found at the perfect time in my life, it's dark and beautiful tones clicking in with my life. All the Vevlet's albums are masterpieces, and going through them was very fun. And then the solo career, which had some brilliant moments.

Great moments:
The whole VU+N album. I will remember my first time hearing that album forever. Heroin especially, I had never heard anything so dark and wonderful.

Sister Ray: this stanza
"Cecil's got his new piece
He cocks it shoots it between three and four
He aims it at the sailor
Shoots him down dead on the floor
Oh you shouldn't do that
Don't you know you'll stain the carpet"

The Sweet Jane riff
D-A-G-Bm-G

Rock and Roll Animal

And all the interviews, they're always interesting and often hilarious
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNxG7JnO1oA


I will miss him.

List yours too...

[guitarfool2002]

Not just a list but also a plea for help in locating a particular VU song...which I've only heard once on WXPN about 4 years ago. I don't own the full catalog and all the catch-all releases, so I'm probably missing whatever album this tune is on.

It's a tune where Lou was in a vocal booth recording his vocal, other members were doing backgrounds. They left the tape roll as they were trying to make Lou break up, and you hear various bits of dialogue like "shut that door" or "somebody close the door" as Lou is trying to get through the take.

I heard it once, loved it, can't locate it. Any ideas?

My favorite is the most lame obvious one...Walk On The Wild Side. Personal musical reasons. Three stand out.

1. Learning guitar in high school, I became obsessed with the tune. I asked my guitar teacher at the time if we could try learning the sax solo at the end on guitar. And we did. Opened up my ears to a ton of possibilities. I'll always point to learning that solo as a watershed moment for me with guitar soloing.

2. That dual bass line...I used to watch the old Letterman show on NBC, and bassist Will Lee was an influence. He'd do this thing where he'd play both bass lines on the same bass at the same time. As a teenage musician, I thought that was terrific. THEN, one night, LOU REED actually came on the Letterman show to perform Walk On The Wild Side, with Will Lee doing the full song using his bass trickery. I still have that on VHS, it got a bit worn out from me watching Will and trying to copy how he did that slick move. And I learned it, with the tapping, and still show off with it every now and then. 

3. Learning to sing harmony...those "doot do doot do doot" female backgrounds...had to learn 'em too. Helped my ears a lot for harmony. Seriously.

So mine is the obvious one, Walk On The Wild Side.

I also fucking love "Rock And Roll"...one of the coolest songs ever. 

[alf wiedersehen]

Not just a list but also a plea for help in locating a particular VU song...which I've only heard once on WXPN about 4 years ago. I don't own the full catalog and all the catch-all releases, so I'm probably missing whatever album this tune is on.

It's a tune where Lou was in a vocal booth recording his vocal, other members were doing backgrounds. They left the tape roll as they were trying to make Lou break up, and you hear various bits of dialogue like "shut that door" or "somebody close the door" as Lou is trying to get through the take.

I heard it once, loved it, can't locate it. Any ideas?

Here you go 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni1xblCi1LA

Electricity comes from other planets.

[guitarfool2002]

Not just a list but also a plea for help in locating a particular VU song...which I've only heard once on WXPN about 4 years ago. I don't own the full catalog and all the catch-all releases, so I'm probably missing whatever album this tune is on.

It's a tune where Lou was in a vocal booth recording his vocal, other members were doing backgrounds. They left the tape roll as they were trying to make Lou break up, and you hear various bits of dialogue like "shut that door" or "somebody close the door" as Lou is trying to get through the take.

I heard it once, loved it, can't locate it. Any ideas?

Here you go 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni1xblCi1LA

Electricity comes from other planets.

Yes! That's It! Loving it!!! Thank you, I needed to hear that. Very much appreciated!

I'm probably getting some of the neighbors awake, I just played Rock And Roll three times in a row loud, now this one is up. 

[Sheriff John Stone]

"Perfect Day"....It still gets to me every time.

[guitarfool2002]

Jenny said when she was just five years old
There was nothin' happenin' at all
Everytime she puts on the radio
There was nothin' goin' down at all, not at all

Then one fine mornin', she puts on a New York station
You know she couldn't believe what she heard at all
She started singin' to that fine, fine music
You know her life was saved by Rock 'n' Roll

Despite all the amputations
You know you could just go out
And dance to the Rock 'n' Roll station
And it was alright, and that you know it was alright


Isn't that at the heart of why we do what we do and love music so much in all our own ways? I think it's spelled out there in that one song. Perfection. 

[Orange Crate Art]

I love all the Velvet Underground albums (well, the ones with Lou. I haven't heard the 'Squeeze' album). The Velvets' music had alot to do with the sound and style of some of the bands I used to be in. I will always treasure the White Light/White Heat album. I never get tired of hearing it. Lou, incredible talent. When I was a kid my parents bought me the Kiss 'Music From The Elder' album for Christmas (thanks again Mom & Dad!). That's when I first heard about Lou Reed ('World Without Heroes'). Then when I was a little older I got my aunt's old copy of 'Transformer'. I was impressed. And by the time I hit my teens and got into punk and indie music I became a huge Velvet Underground fan. I will always love his music. RIP Lou Reed

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

For some reason "Billy" from Sally Can't Dance hits me really deeply and seems to sum up Lou and his prevailing world view perfectly.

Killer bassline from Doug doesn't hurt either.

[pixletwin]

The end of Heroin when everything starts to slow down is my favorite VU moment, ergo I suppose it's my favorite LR moment as well.

[Ovi]

My favourite interviews of his:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeMIWCxHgQk&list=FLX4Lg9Mws_dw8w-TVxbT_Yg&index=42

[Rich E P]

Dirty Blvd.
My fave Lou Reed for sure.  Love much of his other work but this song has my favorite lyrics he ever wrote.   RIP Lou.

[Bean Bag]

Just off the top of my head... that mechanical churning guitar/organ? rhythm that drives Sunday Morning.  Love that.

And "I'm... waiting for my man..." is the coolest thing about doing nothing and being completely cool about it.

[Smilin Ed H]

The New York album - real masterpiece in a arena where the term is considerably overused.

We stick an obit from The Guardian on the blog - and Dirty Boulevard for good measure. Like Rich, it's my favourite track too.

http://fridaynightboys300.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/lou-reed-rip.html

[ontor pertawst]

I love that long, languid take on "Waiting for the Man" on the Quine tapes -- Lou starts improvising verses.

Ever since I was a kid,
I had the strangest dreams...
everything that I saw
didn't seem to be what it seemed...

My second favorite Lou Reed moment is when he and Laurie Anderson came to a film screening that had one of my things in it a few years ago. Suddenly I'm confronted with the two of them, before I could even open my mouth... Laurie Anderson tells me my shoelaces are untied through a big smile. Lou Reed shakes his head a bit melodramatically at me.  I scoot down to tie them, look up -- they're gone.

[Aum Bop Diddit]

So so many but I posit "Street Hassle."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkG9BKgDvNI

Love has gone away
Took the rings off my fingers
And there's nothing left to say

[Jukka]

Waves of Fear. Even the title is perfect, not to mention the song itself and the performance. Blue Mask, such an underappreciated album!

[Outtasight!]

The Blue Mask, New York, Magic and Loss, Set the twighlight Reeling, Ecstasy. Any and all moments from those albums.

[RangeRoverA1]

I also love "Rock And Roll"...one of the coolest songs ever. 

No-no, that nomination applies to "Sweet Jane". It's a perfect song for walking in the street, insanely catchy & just all-around cool from start to finish! Often I choose it as my go-to song for home-made silly vocal imitation, goofing along with intonation, phrasing, accent & so on. That being said, I still love "RaR", some real groovy moments there.

[Gabo]

"I'm just a gift to the women of this world..."

[rn57]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAcnyJxZcao

Think I'd have to go with the viola/organ outtake of "Ocean" from the Fully Loaded 2 CD set. 

Lou sounds more completely insane than on almost anything else he recorded but the vocal is so beautifully understated. Everything about the track is perfect far as I'm concerned.

[bluesno1fann]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-Vy4VRRO30     

[bluesno1fann]

In all seriousness, this is my favourite Lou Reed/Velvet Underground song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOmZimH00oo