9. The Velvet UndergroundRock & Roll
We keep running over the same fertile ground and it’s like, how many Velvet Underground songs can you choose? But to me, The Velvet Underground is The Velvet Underground & Nico, and I do like White Light/White Heat, but I can relate to this song. See, I don’t like Lou Reed as a person but I was so sad that I cried when he died. He epitomises New York and I hate New York; I hate it but I love it! The New York that he is doesn’t exist. I love John Cale, though. I love that guy. I love who he is now and I love his band and I love that Chelsea Girl recording and his attitude and his whole career has been cool.
But anyway, in the song, the picture that Lou’s painting is about how your life is saved by something; it’s the only thing that’s happening. There’s nothing happening in your life but you tune in to this thing and it grabs you. And it saves your life because it gives you something you identity with and so that song captures the whole story right there. And for him to be able to articulate that… see, because he already has that experience with the doo-woppers, and that led him to get involved with music in the first place. So he already had that experience before that and here it is coming up at the start of the 70s and he’s whipped this one out in a totally different style than the doo-woppers.
He’s speaking the truth and it’s an amazing track. I tend to DJ this one too. And it has the aesthetic too. Not all of my choices have this aesthetic.
