Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DV--The Velvet Underground: Sweet Jane

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

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CLXXVIII--The Velvet Underground: Heroin

I have to admit to being surprised, even though at the time it came out I'm sure I read over it, that "Heroin" was listed at #455 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".  While it certainly isn't your prototypical rock and roll tune, it's definitely one of the ten best, probably one of the five best, and maybe even the best rock and roll song ever written.

As with a few other artists featured here on FNJ, there really isn't much my meager writing abilities can add to the legacy of the Velvet Underground.  There have been numerous books, articles, and blog posts written about one of the most influential bands in the history of rock and roll, but keep in mind that the band released a total of five albums, never had even the slightest sniff of commercial success, went through numerous incarnations in their, more or less, eight year (1964-1972) career, and they were still considered the #19 greatest band of all time in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" (and is proof that Rolling Stone isn't always wrong...).  They did reunite a time of two in the nineties, and the last time they played together was at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.  Sadly, of the band's four core members--Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Maureen Tucker--only Cale and Tucker are still with us.

Lou Reed originally wrote "Heroin" in 1964 while he worked as a songwriter for a record company, which, surprisingly enough, wasn't interested in a song about shooting narcotics into one's veins.  The song was worked on for a few years before being released on the Velvet Underground's debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico in 1967.  Needless to say, there weren't a lot of radio stations playing a song about shooting narcotics into one's veins in 1967, so there'll be no call outs for the Billboard Hot 100  this week.  The album would go on to sell approximately 30,000 copies, never getting higher than #198 (kind of weak bullet?) on the Billboard 200, but would end up at #13 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time."  A reminder that time can often be kind....

As noted above, there isn't much I can add to the song's legacy any more than I can to the band's legacy, but in taking the time over the past several days to listen to it again and again, I couldn't help but notice (as one who followed Reed's career from the early 80's onward), how much the guitar sound that Reed uses in "Heroin" would remain with him throughout his career.  I was surprised how much I hadn't noticed Maureen Tucker's drumming in the song (one can't help but be overwhelmed by Reed's deadpan vocals, the jangly guitars, and Cale's screaming electric viola) before, and how essential it is to the song's greatness.  Listen closely (and whether it was conscious or not, I've never read) you'll hear how much it sounds like a heartbeat, rushing up and down, one would suppose, as a heroin user's would.  I'm not a fan of the drug culture, and I'd rather do a swan dive from the Golden Gate Bridge than stick a needle full of heroin into my veins, but the song, and the Velvet Underground's interpretation of it, is one of the most powerful musical listening experiences I've ever had.  I don't know that rock and roll ever has really risen to be an art form in the way literature or film have, but "Heroin" is about as close as any rock and roll song has ever come.

Lyric Sheet: "I don't know just where I'm going/But I'm going to try for the kingdom, if I can/Cause it makes me feel like I'm a man/When I put a spike into my vein..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee