12. The Velvet UndergroundLoaded
CF: We’re still friends with Lou.
TW: And also with John Cale.
CF: Unfortunately John Cale wasn’t on this one, it was sort of mark II of the Velvet Underground and it had two marvellous songs, ‘Sweet Jane’ and ‘Rock and Roll’. Lou was still singing in those days. I always say: Lou, if you’re reading this, please start singing again. He had a great style and he’s right up there with the greats and gave up on singing. As we get older things sometimes happen with the voice. In those days he was young and vital. The chord progressions in those two songs in the guitar introduction were wonderful and very moving.
TW: I knew about Velvet Underground when I was 17 in New York City in college, getting into all kinds of trouble, but I never got to see them. It was a big attraction for me later on when I was older and finally graduating and I wanted to move to New York. The Velvets weren’t together any more but this is the place that nurtured and gave them their essence.
I was always fascinated by him: are these really friends that’s he’s writing about? What’s going on here? Likewise with Berlin because it was so dark and I didn’t know whether it was attractive or not to me, but musically that orchestration, those arrangements were just lush.
