The Velvet Underground – Heroin

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  General Comment:I still maintain that VU are a bunch of over-rated hipster degenerates.
  As are most rock'n rollers...
  
  And Andy Warhol's burning corpse is not worthy to kiss my assurance that I am absolutely right.

  Flagged NomadMonadon January 14, 2013   Link

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    And what's more, I take it as a compliment to be rated down by the merely mediocre majority! Me against your sick world - and I already WON ha ha ja ha ha ha ha ha ha

    Flagged NomadMonadon January 28, 2013  
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  Song Meaning:"I wish I was born a thousand years ago...suit & cap" I have always interpreted as a reference to the poem "Kubla Khan"by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which is oft associated with opium, the raw material from which smack is made and which has some of the same pharmacological effects.

  Flag i32768on December 27, 2012   Link

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    Yeah, there's a definite Romantic quality to this song, particularly evident in the lyrics you mentioned and their continuation, "away from the big city/where a man cannot be free...." The Romantic movement in the arts and literature was largely a reaction against what the Romantics viewed as the unemotionalism and rationalisation of nature and was characterised by a "return to simpler times" kind of attitude along with a more emotional/intuitive approach and idealisation of nature. Coleridge, who was a lifelong opium addict (he originally started taking it as an analgesic), was considered to be one of the original Romantics. Coleridge himself explicitly wrote that _Kubla Khan_ was inspired by an "opium dream;" it's not clear to what extent his drug experiences influenced his other works. I was reminded of _Rime of the Ancient Mariner_ by the lyrics about sailing; I wonder if it's just a coincidence that you and I both linked this song to Coleridge's poetry, or if these were intentional allusions on Reed's part — or, perhaps, the similarities are not intentional, but are a consequence of both Reed's lyrics and Coleridge's poetry being, er, opioid-inspired.

    Flag picturesofthesunon January 16, 2013  
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  General Comment:this song makes me shed a tear

  Flag sirsumeron August 05, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:seek out yo la tengo's version (a cover of a different arrangement)
  
  ira seems to give it new meaning

  Flag helooksdafton January 08, 2012   Link

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• +1
  General Comment:Wait...what the hell happened to the lyrics?

  Flag arrstaron December 01, 2011   Link

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  Song Meaning:I agree that he's not saying whether it's good, bad, or indifferent -- he's just saying "here it is, this is how it goes..."

  Flag SavesMySoulon November 13, 2011   Link

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• -1
  Song Meaning:I agree that he's not saying whether it's good, bad, or indifferent -- he's just saying "here it is, this is how it goes..."

  Flag SavesMySoulon November 13, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:Great song.

  Flag dubsteppon May 19, 2011   Link

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• +2
  General Comment:As Lou has said, the song is about heroin. Not for it, not against it, just about it. That's only one part of its brilliance (very few, if any, songwriters have had the courage to deal so head-on with drugs since); it's also brilliant musically, with everything so primal, from the simple guitars raving up and down, the screeching viola and perhaps most importantly, Moe's pounding drums. Just beautiful!

  Flag leamancon December 27, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:I have no idea what this song is about! Please help!

  Flag katzenfreundinon December 20, 2010   Link

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    you're kidding, right?

    Flag megznbaconon December 20, 2010  

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    There are two possible responses to that. I will post them both.
    
    1. Are you fucking serious?
    2. Good one.

    Flag arrstaron November 20, 2011  

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    This song is about a boy, and his love for his pet iguana, who wanders off one day. Though the boy serches relentlessly for his iguana, he nevers finds him, because the iguana was eaten by a giant squirrel named peanuthead. The boy grows up to be a cereal killer. It's a profoundly sad song.

    Flag MoTrubbleon February 23, 2012  

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    It's about heroin, but in a typical Lou Reed style. He doesn't say it's good, nor does he say it's bad. He just says "this is what it is, make up your own mind." What's amazing about it though is the music. The music is slow and calm when he's "normal," but when he's high, or starting his rush, the music picks up the tempo. Mo Tuckers drumming speeds up, simulating his heartbeat, and John Cale's screeching electric viola sounds like the madness swirling around in an addicts mind. It's brilliant.

    Flag squatchmoon January 14, 2013  

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