The Velvet Underground & Nico

All Tomorrow's Parties

"All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released as the band's debut single in 1966. The song is from their 1967 debut studio album, The Velvet Underground & Nico.

Recording

The song was recorded at Scepter Studios in Manhattan during April 1966. It features a piano motif played by Cale (initially written as an exercise) based largely on tone clusters. The repetitive keyboard part was inspired by the style of Cale's musician friend Terry Riley, with whom Cale had played in La Monte Young's mid-1960s group Theatre of Eternal Music. It was one of the first pop songs to make use of prepared piano (a chain of paper clips were intertwined with the piano strings to change their sounds). The song also features the ostrich guitar tuning by Reed, by which all of the guitar strings were tuned to D. Drummer Maureen Tucker plays tambourine and bass drum while guitarist Sterling Morrison plays bass, an instrument that he...

Releases

The 7-inch single was released with the B-side "In Vogue", which was originally featured on the Quiet Life album. However, this version is a live version from Tokyo in March 1980, with the single stating that it was taken from the 1982 'Assemblage Special Edition Cassette' (however, it was originally released on the Live in Tokyo EP in 1980). The 12-inch single features two B-side tracks, also live versions from Tokyo: "Deviation" and "Obscure Alternatives", both of which originally featured on the band's second album Obscure Alternatives. A limited edition bonus 12-inch single "European Son" was also released.

European Son

"European Son", also known as "European Son (to Delmore Schwartz)", is a song by the American rock band the Velvet Underground, which appears as the final track on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It is also the album's longest track at more than seven and a half minutes.

Composition

"European Son" is dedicated to poet Delmore Schwartz, who had been Lou Reed's advisor at Syracuse University. Wanting to dedicate a song to Schwartz, "European Son" was chosen because it had the fewest lyrics; Schwartz made his distaste for rock lyrics clear. The first pressing of The Velvet Underground & Nico listed the song as "European Son (to Delmore Schwartz)".

Recording

The song begins with two stanzas of lyrics sung by Lou Reed over a D major chord played by Reed and Sterling Morrison and a walking bassline played by John Cale; about one minute later, a loud crashing sound produced by Cale hitting a stack of plates with a metal chair is heard. Six minutes of instrumental improvisation, making extensive use of distortion and feedback, follow.

Femme Fatale

"Femme Fatale" is a song by American rock band the Velvet Underground from their debut studio album The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967), with lead vocals by German singer Nico.

Background

The song was composed in the key of C major. At the request of Andy Warhol, band frontman Lou Reed wrote the song about Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick. According to Reed, the title was inspired by Warhol saying, about Sedgwick, "Oh, don't you think she's a femme fatale, Lou?"

Critical reception

AllMusic critic Mark Deming thought that "Femme Fatale" was among the four best songs on the album. American music journalist Stephen Davis called "Femme Fatale" a beautiful song that portrays the vivid, conflicted and emotional undercurrents of 1966.

Background and composition

Duran Duran recorded a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale" in 1992, which, according to the author Steve Malins, was suggested by the guitarist Warren Cuccurullo's friend Frank Zappa. Their version has been described in a number of ways: Malins referred to it as a "grand, echoey version" and an "intriguingly atmospheric treatment", noting that it relocated the song's mood "from the icy, street hassle of New York into LA's glimmering Californian sunshine". Stuart Maconie of Q described the cover as a stadium rock interpretation, while Annie Zaleski of Ultimate Classic Rock highlighted its "dreamy" qualities, writing that it added introspection to their seventh studio album Duran Duran (1993).

Release and reception

Following the release of "Too Much Information" as a single, Capitol Records planned to issue "Femme Fatale" as the next single from Duran Duran, accompanied by a video directed by the photographer Ellen von Unwerth. According to Malins, this plan was abandoned after "Too Much Information" failed to gain significant radio momentum, which led to the single campaign being discontinued. The song was, however, released as a single in France in 1993.

Heroin

"Heroin" is a song by the American rock band the Velvet Underground, released on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. Written by Lou Reed in 1964, the song, which overtly depicts heroin usage and its effects, is one of the band's most celebrated compositions.

Critic Mark Deming of AllMusic writes, "While 'Heroin' hardly endorses drug use, it doesn't clearly condemn it, either, which made it all the more troubling in the eyes of many listeners." In 2004, it was ranked at number 448 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and was re-ranked at number 455 in 2010.

Writing and recording

In an interview with WLIR in 1972, Reed said he wrote the lyrics while working as a songwriter for Pickwick Records, a budget label that mostly released inexpensive sound-alikes.

Reception

Larry Flick, writing for Billboard, described Idol's version as a "clench-toothed reading of the Velvet Underground classic" with the use of Smith's "Gloria" adding a "spooky incantation". He added that while Idol's rock following "may grimace at his rave musings", the artist's "penchant for caustic sounds and frenetic rhythms makes this track ring remarkably true". In contrast, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called it "one of the worst covers ever recorded" in his review of Cyberpunk.

Other cover versions

The song has been covered by several artists, including Mazzy Star, Human Drama, Echo & the Bunnymen, Roky Erickson, and Third Eye Blind.

References in popular culture

Denis Johnson's short story collection Jesus' Son, and the film based on it took its title from the lyrics of this song.

I'll Be Your Mirror

"I'll Be Your Mirror" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico. It appeared on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico.

It also surfaced as a single a year earlier with "All Tomorrow's Parties" in 1966.

Recording

"I'll Be Your Mirror" was the most difficult for Nico to record, as the band wanted her to provide slender, delicate vocals for the song, yet she would sing louder, more aggressive vocals take after take. Sterling Morrison described the ordeal in an interview:

I'm Waiting for the Man

"I'm Waiting for the Man" is a song by American rock band the Velvet Underground. Written by Lou Reed, it was first released on their 1967 debut studio album, The Velvet Underground & Nico.

The lyrics describe a man's efforts to obtain heroin in Harlem.

Recording

Along with "Venus in Furs" and "Heroin", "I'm Waiting for the Man" was recorded in May 1966 at TTG Studios while the band was staying in Hollywood. It has been musically described as garage rock, proto-punk and hard rock. The lyrics describe a man's efforts to obtain heroin. Despite the song's title, the lyrics refer to "my man" rather than "the man" throughout.

Reception and legacy

In a song review for AllMusic, Dave Thompson called it "one of the all-time classic rock songs ... Over chunky guitar, clunking piano, and jackhammer drums, Reed half-sings, half-intones what he would once describe as a love song about a man and the subway." He notes that it has been recorded by numerous artists, including "David Bowie and the Stooges [who] both cut fascinating takes on the song". Most members of the Velvet Underground have performed the song based on their own interpretations.

Run, Run, Run

"Run Run Run" is a song by the Velvet Underground originally released on the band's 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico.

Cover versions

Beck covered the entirety of The Velvet Underground and Nico including "Run Run Run" as part of his Record Club project.

Sunday Morning

"Sunday Morning" is a song by the Velvet Underground. It is the opening track on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico.

It was first released as a single in December 1966. The song is written in the key of F major.

Recording

In late 1966, "Sunday Morning" was the final song to be recorded for The Velvet Underground & Nico. It was requested by Tom Wilson, who thought the album needed another song with lead vocals by Nico with the potential to be a successful single. The final master tape of side one of the album shows "Sunday Morning" only penciled in before "I'm Waiting for the Man".

Reception

AllMusic's Mark Deming described the song as "dreamy pop", while Cash Box called the single a "haunting, lyrical emotion stirring chant."

Cover versions

"Sunday Morning" has been covered by many artists, including Thea Gilmore for her favorites album These Quiet Friends (2025). Yugoslav punk rock band Psihomodo Pop recorded a Serbo-Croatian version for their 1988 debut album Godina zmaja. English electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) also covered the song on their 1993 album, Liberator.

The Black Angel's Death Song

"The Black Angel's Death Song" is a song by the Velvet Underground, from their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It was written by Lou Reed and John Cale.

In a footnote to the lyrics, Lou Reed wrote: "The idea here was to string words together for the sheer fun of their sound, not any particular meaning."

Recording

The song was recorded in April 1966 at Scepter Studios in Manhattan. The music is dominated by the piercing sound of John Cale's electric viola, creating dissonance throughout the song. Also throughout the song are loud bursts of audio feedback, primarily from Cale hissing into the microphone. Reed and Morrison's guitars in the song are tuned down a whole step, as is common with a handful of other songs on The Velvet Underground & Nico.

There She Goes Again

"There She Goes Again" is a song by American rock band the Velvet Underground. It first appeared on their debut studio album, The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967).

The syncopated guitar riff is taken from the 1962 Marvin Gaye song "Hitch Hike". Guitarist Sterling Morrison has stated:Metronomically, we were a pretty accurate band.