Happy Days

The Velvet Underground - Heroin



From jaunty and twee to "dear god, could they be any more morose and miserable?". Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Lou Reed is in the house with his merry band of pranksters, The Velvet Underground. And they're here to tell you about kittens, flowers, sweetness and light. Actually, they're here to talk about heroin and how it makes them feel (apparently, like Jesus's son and how they guess, but just don't know). And who said men never talk about their feelings?

Reed also manages to perform admirably on the Rock Nutter Scale (tm). To whit:
Drugs? Umm, yes. Reed knew his way around heroin and quaaludes. And probably everything else.

Name? Prosaically no. Real name: Lewis Allan Reed.

Weird and Unstable Behaviour? Does repeated affairs with transvestites count? Or hanging out with Warhol and his factory? Read Please Kill Me and any doubts will be erased. Also, 3 words: Metal Machine Music.

Upbringing? He was given electroshock theraphy for homosexual tendencies. Seems suitably weird.

Trouble with the Law? Not really.

If you ever thought about doing heroin, listen to this song and you'll realise that it really can't be any fun. That said, maybe it's more fun than actually listening to this song. Especially when the screaming feedback starts. That's when it gets really fun. Thanks for that, John Cale, my eardrums were doing fine before you started trying to perforate them with viola feedback.

It may not be a fun song to listen to, but that doesn't mean that it is bad in any way. The point of this song is, rather than to glorify heroin, to demystify it, to express in music the anticipation of feeding an addiction, the rush of the drug, the bliss that follows it, and finally the all-encompassing wash of the chaotic feedback as everything comes together. The song starts slowly with clean guitars and Reed's near-monotone, building to a false crescendo at the first chorus, slowing up again for the verses and building in pace and volume again for the choruses, a rollercoaster of excitement and anticipation and relief, finally reflecting the narcotic bliss and pain and rush, driven by Maureen Tanners more and more frantic drumming and Cale's screaming viola feedback but offset by the mellowness of Reed's voice, before the calmness envelops the listener again and normalcy returns.

It's all very harrowing in fact. It would probably sound a little derivative and unauthentic were it released in a post-Trainspotting world, but its context is original and Reed's cachet as a true rock nutter can only enhance this songs claim to glory.

(Let's be clear here, the closest I've come to heroin is watching Trainspotting)

Verdict: Not fun, but addictive

Tomorrow: The Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack