I know a lot of people have written about Lou Reed and his music, but I haven’t. I find this odd because he is one of my absolute most admired and loved singers of all time. His music is still relevant today, maybe more so. He was a bit before his time in so many ways, but that is what made him original, unique and exactly where he needed to be. I remember hearing “Walk on the Wild Side” for the first time. My whole face lit up and I started singing along, “Doo do doo do doo do do doo…” My dad just looking at me as if I even knew what half of the words meant. I didn’t of course, but I would find myself later on going back to that song and later loving Velvet Underground too. Discovering his music as if it were new and shiny to me, learning that drugs, sex and rock and roll are all related and play off of one another. You don’t necessarily need one to have the other, but when mixed all together… Lou Reed is the outcome.
His ability to be hard to figure out, was that he thought he was what you see is what you get. He didn’t pretend to know all the answers, maybe getting irritated if you thought he did. He was all about the music. Let the music speak for itself… So I will. I am positive if I ever would have been lucky enough to interview him I would have left in tears or so mad I couldn’t see, but it would have made me a better writer. Maybe.
Here are some of my favorites…
