The Velvet Underground – Lady Godiva's Operation

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Lady Godiva here dressed so demurely
Pats the head of another curly haired boy, just another toy
Sick with silence she weps sincerely
saying word that have oh so clearly been said
so long ago
Draperies wrapped gently 'round her shoulder
Life has made her that much bolder now
that she's found out how
Dressed in silk, latin lace and envy
Pride and joy of the latest penny faire
pretty passing care
Hair today now dipped in the water
Making love to every poor daughter's son
isn't it fun
Now today propping grace with envy
Lady Godiva peers to see if anyone's there
and hasn't a care
Doctor is coming the nurse thinks SWEETLY
Turning on the machines that NEATLY pump air
the body lies bare
Shaved and hairless what once was SCREAMING
now lies silent and almost SLEEPING
the brain must have gone away
Straped securly to the white table
ether caused the body to wither and writhe
underneath the white light
Doctor arrives with knife and baggage
sees the growth as just so much cabbage
that now
must be cut away
Now come the moment of Great! Great! Decision!
The doctor is making his first incision
One goes here--one goes there
The ether tube's leaking says someone who's sloppy
the patient it seems is not so well sleeping
The screams echo up the hall
Don't panic someone give him pentathol instantly
Doctor removes his blade
cagily slow from the brain
By my count of ten--
the head won't move

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Lyrics submitted by capitol76

Track duration: 04:54


Lady Godiva's Operation song meanings
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32 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:Sex change? Hmmm. Not sure. "Doctor removes his blade cagually slow from the brain/By my count of ten/the head won't move" - I always thought that it's about lobotomy or smth. Drag queen dying on operation.
    Flag Nimbieon January 27, 2011   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:Lady Godiva is undergoing a sex change operation, the doctor or "society" kills him, metaphorically speaking.
    Flag ctrllineon January 23, 2011   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:this is an abstract song, and it seems to be divided up between the part in the beginning with lady godiva and her life and then moves onto a second part seemingly about a botched operation. I think the first part is describing something beautiful, lady godivas sexual desires, and the second part about something ugly and horrifying, and patient waking during what seems to be lobotomy. not to say the two are completely unrelated, I just feel it's two different stories rather than one connected.
    Flag shoekstra1419on November 18, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I subscribe the view that it's about a sex change operation that turned bad. Sounds pretty obvious I find. An operation for a drag queen they knew, it's coherent with Lou Reed at this time, all songs from Transformer are about someone from the Factory.
    Lady Godiva is a good name for a drag queen because the real Godiva was a female activist. She passed through the streets of Coventry naked on a horse to convince her husband to decrease taxes. In a way, we can call drag queens "female activists."
    There's a sexual perversion based on Godiva: the fantasy of naked women on horses.
    Flag LonerLondoneron August 20, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:Drag Queen gets a lobotomy, simple as that. The screaming definitely makes it sound like an involuntary operation.
    Flag personmanthingguyon February 26, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:it's every poor DOCTOR'S son methinks. makes much more sense and that's what it sounds like.
    Flag othatzsokewlon November 18, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I always thought that the doctor originally arrived to do a sex change on this guy, and then sees this cabbage-like growth. I always thought this was the brain, so the doctor's thought (wrongly) 'oh, anyone who wants this done must have a brain like a cabbage' and sticks the knife in.
    Flag Trout Maskon January 06, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Botched sex change, agreed, but this is for breasts, right? "The doctor is making his first incision.
    One goes here--one goes there." Sounds like insertion of implants, doesn't it?
    Flag KatyaOon December 30, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:rawr-im-a-tiger i can also hear the small voice saying "your not a girl!"

    AGGGHH!!
    Flag ziggy_who?on June 13, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Lady Godiva is a transvestite man who really wants to be a woman, "Dressed in silk, latin lace and envy" He/She recently discovered that he/she could get a sex change operation, "Life has made her that much bolder now/that she's found out how" Lady Godiva is the one on the table, but the operation goes awry and he/she dies because of sloppy anesthetizers. The song is split into two parts, the first being Lady Godiva with one of his/her boyfriends, "Making love to every poor daughter's son/isn't it fun" anxiously awaiting the operation. The second part is the operation, gone horribly wrong.
    Flag w124rdon April 30, 2008   Link

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