At least this week's is only six days late, he says sheepishly....
Some years back, I made a playlist of my youngest son's favorite tunes on my iPod, and at some point, I added about fifty to sixty tunes that I consider to be classics that I thought he should have some knowledge of (for the three of you that care, some he liked, some were meh for him). When the weather is warm, we listen to the playlist while we play catch or shoot some hoops, and a few weeks back this week's tune came on and there was a bridge that I was totally unfamiliar with. I've heard it numerous times through the years and couldn't believe I'd never noticed it. Well, after doing my half-assed research, I discovered that the record label cut the bridge for its release as a single, but that on subsequent releases of the song on compilation albums, the Velvet Underground re-added the bridge because it made the song better (it does). All of which just goes to show...you never know when rock and roll will surprise you yet again....
I wrote about the Velvet Underground in Jukebox, Vol. CLXXVIII, and as the band is still defunct (two deaths, one no longer playing, and the last doing whatever it is musically that pleases him) I'll leave my brief bio right there. I should note, though, that for this week's featured album Doug Yule replaced John Cale (who left to travel the Avant-Garde Trail). I also noticed that when I wrote their original post, I didn't link to their all-important discography, which can be found here. Whew!
"Sweet Jane" was the first single from their penultimate album, the rather heavily entitled, Loaded. Neither the single nor the album charted. However, in another in a long line of examples that prove the maxim "He who laughs last, laughs best," the single is listed at #294 in the most recent Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs, and the album ranks at #242 in their latest listing of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Fun Fact: When recording this week's album, the band was told by its record label that it wanted an album that was "loaded with hits." Hence the name of this week's featured LP: Loaded.
"Sweet Jane" is as close to a perfect single as any band could ever hope for. From its three-chord acoustic guitar (which, ahem, I can play on my guitar, however half-assed) to Lou Reed's animated vocals (dare I say that Lou sounds like he's actually having fun?), from the band's full-throated backing vocals on the chorus (and at the end of many lines) to the "la-la-la's" in the bridge, the song hits every note, every vocal, every instrument with precision. It will forever be a mystery to me how this song is not as well-known as the most iconic rock songs from the seventies--from "Born to Run" to "Dream On," or from "Stairway to Heaven" to "More Than a Feeling," the Velvet Underground created just as big of a masterpiece. A beautiful single, everything that anyone could hope that rock and roll could ever be.
Lyric Sheet: "But anyone who ever had a heart/Oh, they wouldn't turn around and break it/And anyone who ever played a part/Oh, they wouldn't turn around and hate it..."
Enjoy:
Republicans = Nazis
Peace,
emaycee
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