Bimble Says: The Lou Reed Memorial Velvet Underground and Solo Careers Poll RESULTS THREAD

hahaha

one of my fave lou photos

I'll sing when you shut the fuck up

19. John Cale "Hedda Gabler"
9 votes, 1 no. 1 vote, 268 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9A8midx5KA

18. John Cale "Buffalo Ballet"
8 votes, 277 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRBkBtunec0

17. Lou Reed & John Cale "Style It Takes"
11 votes, 1 no. 1 vote, 298 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzzgFOLa63A

Yay, I voted for both Hedda Gabler and Buffalo Ballet, neither of which I had heard before this poll. So good job ilx.

my #1, #11, #20

have a feeling like the top 10 will have at most one cale song though

Buffalo Ballet and Style it Takes are both amazing...The "sleeping in the midday sun" bit is my favourite single line from any song in this poll. Ok, maybe 2nd favourite after "you're a ghost la la la la la la la la".

missing a "la" there ;)

(xxpost) I can think of two for sure...I think.

"Style It Takes" is so key (tho I can't remember if I voted for it). Not just a totally wonderful tune, but I think it's a good counter argument to the jaded Warhol image -- "I'll put the Empire State Building on your wall." I mean, there's cynical stuff happening in his work, but he was also interested in this dream-like beauty.

16. John Cale "A Child's Christmas in Wales"
9 votes, 301 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9IKnVVRsmk

all these are TOO LOW

"Style It Takes" has a delicacy that Reed rarely went for, even in the eighties.

not sure if it matters really, but i'd be curious to know if reed or cale wrote the lyrics for "style it takes"... I know Cale has said Reed did the lion's share of lyric-writing, but Cale has played that one by himself quite a bit over the years...

Buffalo Ballet and Style It Takes hit me hard. this is a great great poll!

BB is one of the best songs ever written by anyone

I'd bet Cale wrote Style It Takes. While it does have the cramming-too-many-syllables-per-line thing that Reed is prone to, it inhabits Andy's POV in a way more suited to Cale.

I'll admit the high placement of this next one perplexed me. I mean, nice backing vocals and all but

15. Lou Reed "Andy's Chest"
9 votes, 312 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VV0HCTkHtc

I had always assumed cale wrote the lyrics until right now...it's not out of the question that reed did

just people voting for all of Transformer?

for some reason that is the only Lou-doing-old-Velvets tunes that I think is better than the OG, but I don't think I even voted for it (xps)

yeah "style it takes" is the drella tune that feels the most cale to me.
i <3 andy's chest, just line after line of fun, outlandish imagery. "curtains laced with diamonds dear for you." almost like Lou was hearing the "psychedelic" lyrics of the late 60s and was like "oh yeah, check this out"

Sad that Half Past France from Paris 1919 doesn't look likely to place. Ever since I saw him do it live it's been a favourite.

paris 1919, macbeth, gun maybe the only things I can still see placing

oh man, "Andy's Chest" is great, such a warm-hearted, colorful song - i love both versions

fear! xp

lou knew it too, when defending his work to lester bangs, he went straight to "curtains laced with diamonds, dear, for you"

almost like Lou was hearing the "psychedelic" lyrics of the late 60s and was like "oh yeah, check this out"

yeah it sort of fails by that yardstick tho imho (I am okay with Lou not "getting" psychedelia in general), the song feels like a throwaway with the goofy lyrics. the hook is solid tho.

14. John Cale "Gun"
16 votes, 339 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeMHetUOdYQ

I love how Style It Takes sits right next to 'Work', so there's this high-contrast pic of Warhol - flow of lovely really charming graceful ideas thrown at you (literally seductive), then this wound-up Catholic workaholic who gets in early, knows that you just have to keep doing it – love that weirdly touching bit at the end:

Sometimes when I can't decide what I should do
I think: 'What would Andy have said?'
He'd probably say: 'You think too much –
That's 'cause there's work that you don't want to do.
It's work – the most important thing is work.'

"Andy's Chest" was the first velvets song I ever heard. I was 15 and my older cousin made me a mix tape to hip me to cool shit. VU had just come out. He also included "Temptation in Your Heart". Obv these legendary velvets ppl were p whimsical!

I first heard Siouxsie's version of "Gun" and was no way prepared of the awesomeness of the original

same tape was my intro to (LOL) CVB, Violent Femmes and Young Fresh Fellows

13. Lou Reed "Metal Machine Music"
11 votes, 388 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-Vy4VRRO30

Huh. Figured that was a lock for #1.

lol come on now

12. Lou Reed "Waves of Fear"
13 votes, 389 pts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IUgz-rZuRc

Quine is a monster on "Fear."

^^ should have linked to the clip of Quine's solo.

two awesome picks there

As is Saunders, for that matter.

you mean this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpUuWYrv1cQ

xp

god look at li'l Mike Rathke, he looks like he's in jr. high

I love that Fear's notes credit Eno with "Eno"

Christ, Saunders is playing octaves?! I always thought he was using some kind of harmonizer dealie.

god look at li'l Mike Rathke, he looks like he's in jr. high
think that's doane perry on drums? bizarrely, he went on to join jethro tull iirc. (jesus, the things i remember, if only i could make $$$ remembering these things)

oh wait I'm wrong, it's not perry, it's fred maher...