VA - BBC Lou Reed Remembered [Мы помним Лу Рид][2013, Documentary, HDTVRip 720p]

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# It was good what we did yesterday

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# And I'd do it once again

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# The fact that you are married

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# Only proves you're my best friend

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# But it truly, truly is sin

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# Linger on

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# Your pale blue eyes

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# Linger on

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# Your pale blue eyes. #

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During a career lasting over five decades,

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Lou Reed transformed rock music.

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With his band, The Velvet Underground,

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he never achieved commercial success,

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but virtually invented the alternative rock scene.

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A solo artist, he never lost sight of his desire to disturb,

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shock and thrill.

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# What goes on in your mind?

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# I think that I am falling down... #

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Tonight, friends, colleagues, and fans remember him.

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Guitarist Lenny Kaye, who became part of the Patti Smith band,

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was one of the countless musicians inspired by the Velvet Underground

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during their now legendary summer-long residency

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at Max's Kansas City in 1970, shortly before Lou left.

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Lou really had this romantic streak.

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He told me about a song by a group called Alicia & the Rockaways that

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was very close to him when he was growing up on Long Island,

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and over the next three years,

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I made it my point to search it out and find it for him.

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# Why can't I be loved?

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# Why doesn't someone take me?

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# If I've been asleep

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# Won't someone please come in and wake me? #

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Lou loved pop music, that was what his root was, in a sense.

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He loved a beautiful, simple lyric, a heartfelt emotion.

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He could push the limits of what was possible within rock'n'roll,

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sexually and pharmacologically, and sensually.

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But you could always feel his beating heart underneath that.

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His songs are so, so beautiful, you know?

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I'm Set Free and Pale Blue Eyes, I mean...

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these are songs that come from not something that wishes

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to confront, but something that wishes to heal.

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Lou could be very prismatic.

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He liked creating alter egos to reflect different

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sides of his personality. Lisa says, you know, Jenny says.

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And yet, they were all resolutely him.

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# Candy says...

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# Caroline says that I'm just a toy...

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# Lisa says...

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- # Stephanie says
- Stephanie says

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# When answering the phone...

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# Caroline says

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# As she gets up off the floor... #

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His solo career is really... It just keeps moving back and forth.

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# Last great American whale

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# Last great American whale... #

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And then, you know, in the glorious late '80s and '90s

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when he started doing those beautiful song cycles about his environment

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and his past in New York.

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# Last great American whale

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# Well, Americans don't care very much for anything

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# Land and water the least

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# Animal life is low on the totem pole

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# And human life is not worth much more than infected yeast

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# Well, Americans don't care too much for beauty

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# They'll shit in a river and dump battery acid in a stream

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# They'll watch dead rats wash up on the beaches

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# Complain if they can't swim... #

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His meditation with John Cale on Drella, Andy Warhol.

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He's getting more reflective.

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You could feel his questing mind.

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# There's only one good thing about a small town

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# There's only one good use for a small town

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# There's only one good thing about a small town

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# You know that you want to get out

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# When you're growing up in a small town, you know

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# You'll grow down in a small town

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# There's only one good use for a small town

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# You hate it, and you know you'll have to leave. #

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I think Lou understood that, as Lou Reed,

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he had a certain sense of power.

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But, at the end of the day, you've got to come home, close the door

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and live with your creation, your Frankenstein creation.

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I'll be your mirror, reflect what you are in case you don't know.

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You look at his work and what you're seeing as the Lou Reed

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you are seeing was really yourself.

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Writer Victor Bockris worked for Andy Warhol's Interview magazine

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in the early '70s

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and went on to write books on The Velvet Underground,

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William Burroughs, Warhol himself, and John Cale.

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His first Lou Reed biography, Transformer, was published in 1995.

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I'll get back to you in a few minutes

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and let you know what else is going on.

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He's a poet, he was inspired by poets.

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He comes out of poetry, he comes out of Baudelaire and Poe

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and all that - Rimbaud.

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He saw that rock'n'roll was a totally adolescent musical form

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at that time.

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It was really written for adolescence and sold to adolescence and so on.

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And he made a conscious decision -

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how about making rock'n'roll for adults?

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Which is sort of like writing a more complex,

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existentialist novel, as opposed to an adventure story for kids.

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And so therefore, when you write War And Peace or whatever,

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of course there are great ecstasies and there are great depths.

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He really studied very hard the short story form,

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Raymond Chandler particularly, to see how to translate that into song

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lyrics, where you tell a story in a song, even though it's fragmented.

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Because Lou originally wanted to be a writer.

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When he went to college, he was a writer,

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he was writing short stories and things in college magazines.

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He actually published his own magazine.

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And when he had the electric shock treatments, he couldn't remember.

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He'd read something, and he couldn't remember what he'd read.

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He'd open a book and didn't know where he was,

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because it takes away your short-term memory for while, for a week.

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Plus, you have to remember his parents made him do this

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to cure him of homosexuality.

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Can you imagine your parents... They took him there without telling him.

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They said, we're going to go to see a doctor. OK.

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You get there, and you're going to have shock treatments then and there.

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That is such an incredible betrayal.

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I think the betrayal of the parents, particularly the mother,

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was as shocking as the actual treatments themselves, you know?

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In terms of his whole psyche.

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Bob Quine told me,

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he said that all the time he hung out with Lou for a few years,

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one time - he only saw Lou frightened once.

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That was when they were walking up the street

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and they bumped into his parents.

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Lou particularly was into amphetamines.

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His mind was full of images from his life, from his experiences,

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from literature and so one, and he's pouring it out.

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I don't think amphetamines or any drugs shape those images.

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These people were working very hard,

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these were very serious people doing something very serious.

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They weren't taking drugs just for fun. We all took drugs to work.

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That was the whole idea of drugs, originally.

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I think Lou had a wonderful, wonderful life.

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I think he loved all of it. He lived life...

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He said, "My week beats your year."

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I think he's absolutely correct.

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He experienced things and he really went into the depths of them

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and the heights of them.

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That's why I think we should celebrate Lou Reed,

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because he was one of those great explorers who went seeking

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and brought back the goods, he kept giving us music.

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It's very thrilling music, it's enthralling music, it's music that

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changes your life, music you keep in your heart and you don't forget.

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It becomes part of you. That's a great achievement, you know?

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That's why I love Lou Reed, and that's why I love his music.

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Actor Mary Woronov was one of the Warhol crowd

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in the heyday of the Silver Factory.

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She first met Lou and The Velvet Underground there in 1966,

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when Andy was both their mentor and manager.

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The factory was silver wallpaper, black floors,

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silver couch full of come stains.

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It was very grim.

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The Velvets - first of all, they're dressed entirely in black.

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They're very strange looking.

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They seem to know what they're doing

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and completely never acknowledge any audience.

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They were using feedback,

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they were using this stuff that you couldn't call music.

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# Seasick Sarah had a golden nose

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# Hobnail boots wrapped round her toes... #

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I heard later on that they were going to play at this happening -

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they called them happenings then.

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Someone started dancing and then I started dancing

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and then other people sort of started to dance,

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but the music was so strange, it didn't have a beat or whatever.

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It had a strange beat, a strange, I don't know,

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echoey... It was just awesome, I'd never heard anything like it before.

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People were leaving in droves.

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The Velvets did not care, did not stop playing.

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They started playing Heroin, and this guy runs up

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and throws his works down on the floor and starts to shoot up.

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Well, the cops came. It was awful.

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We were always having these major horror stories.

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Nothing ever went right.

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Heroin was New York's answer to LA's The Doors' This Is The End.

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That's how powerful it was.

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And it was the answer,

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because they were all running around like hippies

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and we were in black and white.

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You know, they liked free love, we liked S&M.

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# It's my wife and it's my life

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# Because a mainer to my vein

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# Leads to a centre in my head

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# And then I'm better off than dead... #

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Lou loved the transvestites, he loved the absurd humour.

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He loved the nightlife and the kinkiness of it. He just loved it.

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He was not interested in entertaining jack shit, he was interested

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in these bizarre things like Venus In Furs or like, you know, Heroin.

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And so he wrote about what interested him.

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It was just really entertaining and it was sexy and hot.

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And... You know, if you were high enough,

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I guess you could spend the whole night flirting with it.

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Also, Lou used to go, he would go all night also, and then call a cab

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and that would be that.

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And I would take the subway back to Brooklyn Heights

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cos I was still living with my parents, so there was one night when

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Lou couldn't get a cab, and he had to come with me to my parents' house.

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# Sunday morning

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# It's just the wasted years so close behind... #

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I put him on the couch and I went to my little room, you know, and

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then I heard my mother saying, "You have to get up, you have to get up."

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So I get up and I walk out,

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and there's my father at the breakfast table,

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and my mother is standing over the breakfast table, and there is Lou,

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having conversation with them in his leather jacket, you know, like this.

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And I sat down, you know, "Hi, Mom, hi, Dad.

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"Are you going to work yet so Lou can get some more sleep?"

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I don't know what to say to them.

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But it was stuff like that,

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everybody sort of didn't plan anything,

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or didn't have anything in mind.

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Things just happened.

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I think the real difference - besides the kind of music we played,

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which was a big difference - we were there with Andy Warhol.

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And all the attitudes that brought with it.

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And all the talent

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and incredible creative force that went along with Warhol.

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The nice thing about being with Andy is it made me brave.

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Being mean to us or dismissing us didn't mean anything,

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no-one ever heard of us to dismiss us, so they would go after Andy.

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When we were going to record, he pulled me aside.

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His advice to me, he said, "Everything is really great,

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"make sure you keep the dirty words in."

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That was it.

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He meant, keep it rough.

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Don't let them turn it into this...

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This thing anyone else could do.

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Don't let them tame it down, don't let them make it

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so it doesn't disturb anyone. Andy wanted to disturb people.

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Shake it up.

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Harvard graduate Andrew Wylie met Lou in 1972 in Max's Kansas City,

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where the Velvets had played regularly

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and where the Warhol crowd were still hanging out in the back room.

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It was an achievement to get into the back room.

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Usually, you would be hounded out if you didn't pass the depravity test.

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What's the depravity test?!

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You had to be fairly oblivious to odd behaviour.

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- You couldn't be too straight.
- You got through, obviously, anyway.
- Yup.

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He had I think Swastikas dyed on the side of his head,

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and he was fairly lean, I would say.

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He was dramatically interesting.

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Well, I think if you grow up in a middle-class setting -

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as he did - and you don't embrace it -

249
00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:05,440
and he didn't -

250
00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:10,880
then you can either head uptown or head downtown.

251
00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:13,240
And he headed downtown.

252
00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,360
# I'm waiting for my man

253
00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:23,960
# 26 in my hand... #

254
00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:28,920
Forgive me, but it's interesting on the wild side.

255
00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:31,320
# Up to Lexington 125... #

256
00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:36,160
Everyone assumes it's just about depravity, but it's not.

257
00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:37,960
It's interesting.

258
00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:43,080
Lou was particularly verbal.

259
00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:46,320
The most intelligent, verbally speaking,

260
00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:49,280
person I've met in rock'n'roll by miles.

261
00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:54,000
So I don't think he cared that other groups were more

262
00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,280
successful at all, actually.

263
00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:00,280
I think he knew how good he was.

264
00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:05,880
The most important thing about Lou is the writing.

265
00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:10,680
Lou's lyrics are really, really interesting to read,

266
00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:12,360
absent the music.

267
00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:15,000
He is comparable to Francois Villon.

268
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,960
He's as good as they get on the page.

269
00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:25,600
This room costs 2,000 a month, you can believe it, baby, it's true.

270
00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:30,000
Somewhere there is a landlord laughing till he wets his pants.

271
00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:33,680
No-one dreams of being a doctor or a lawyer or anything.

272
00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:36,120
They just dream of dealing on the boulevard.

273
00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:41,400
Give me your hungry, your tired, your poor, I'll piss on them.

274
00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:43,960
That's what the statue of bigotry says.

275
00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:47,360
Your poor huddled masses,

276
00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:51,040
why don't we just go club them to death, get it over with?

277
00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:53,480
Dump them on the boulevard.

278
00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:54,720
Get it out.

279
00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:58,880
# To the dirty boulevard I'm going down

280
00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:02,200
# To the dirty boulevard Get it out

281
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,640
# To the dirty boulevard going down... #

282
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:12,880
When he died, the first thing that passed through my mind

283
00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:16,720
and out of my mouth was he's as good as it gets.

284
00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:21,000
You don't get better than Lou as an artist.

285
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:24,360
People don't get made better than that.

286
00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:32,960
Lou's second album, Transformer, was released in 1972.

287
00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:34,520
It was a huge success,

288
00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:38,000
despite cataloguing the sexual shenanigans of Warhol's factory

289
00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,200
in the hit track Walk On The Wild Side,

290
00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:43,600
the hymn to Lou's fascination with the transvestite superstars

291
00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:46,400
Candy Darling, Jackie Curtis and Holly Woodlawn.

292
00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:50,840
My friends called me up and said, "Oh, turn on the radio.

293
00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:54,240
"Lou Reed just wrote a song about you."

294
00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:57,400
# Holly came from Miami FLA

295
00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:02,200
# Hitchhiked her way across the USA... #

296
00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:07,840
And then we went to a party and he was there

297
00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:12,760
and he was in the corner, a shy, quiet guy.

298
00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:17,600
So I asked him, how do you know so much about me?

299
00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:21,960
He said, "Holly, because you have a big mouth."

300
00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:26,320
What he said was the truth.

301
00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:32,040
I plucked my eyebrows and shaved my legs and became a she.

302
00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:35,560
# In the back room, she was everybody's darling... #

303
00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:42,560
He was surrounded by that, because of the factory, the Warhol crowd.

304
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:44,720
So I think he was...

305
00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:49,480
..I want to say voyeuristic,

306
00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:56,200
but he just wrote songs about what he saw and knew.

307
00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,720
# Do, do-do, do-do, do-do-do-do do, do-do, do-do... #

308
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:06,560
When Lou wrote Walk On The Wild Side, he made me immortal.

309
00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:10,240
So now, honey, whenever you...

310
00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:15,680
..drop a quarter in the jukebox

311
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:19,720
and there's, "Holly came from Miami FLA."

312
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:30,440
One of the things people forget about the songs is how

313
00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:32,480
compassionate they are.

314
00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:37,120
Irony, detachment, is just a method of telling a story, after all,

315
00:22:37,120 --> 00:22:39,400
and it doesn't mean you're not sincere.

316
00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:41,440
The fact that you have distance

317
00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:44,960
and aren't frothing all over yourself about something...

318
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:48,240
..doesn't mean you're not sincere

319
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:51,440
and doesn't mean the songs don't carry any emotional wallop.

320
00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:54,760
I think things sometimes carry more of an emotional wallop

321
00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:57,920
if when you tell it, you are a bit detached.

322
00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:01,480
You catch people a bit off guard, they're not looking for that.

323
00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:06,480
And I also think that it makes things sound true.

324
00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,400
Because you're not trying to impress somebody,

325
00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:12,240
you're not trying to make them cry, you're not trying to make them

326
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:14,240
say it, you're not trying to make them scared.

327
00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:17,840
You are telling a story in a straightforward way.

328
00:23:24,360 --> 00:23:28,560
Photographer Mick Rock first met Lou in London in 1971,

329
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:33,680
when Lou hadn't sold any records, as either the Velvets or a solo artist.

330
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:38,280
They were introduced by one of Mick Rock's constant photographic

331
00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:40,440
subjects, David Bowie.

332
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:43,880
That night, he took the pictures that were to fix Lou's image

333
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:45,840
for years to come.

334
00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:47,640
The Transformer image.

335
00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:53,360
I went backstage to meet him.

336
00:23:53,360 --> 00:23:56,160
David took me back to say hello to him before the show

337
00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:01,400
and he was in a corner on his own, and it was kind of dim.

338
00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:04,920
There was something kind of bat-like about it.

339
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:11,360
It did seem to confirm all of one's suspicions. Not exactly Nosferatu.

340
00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:17,120
It was very organic, the whole thing.

341
00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:22,760
There was no record label bungling in trying to control anything,

342
00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:25,480
because Lou would've bitten them if they'd tried to do that.

343
00:24:28,120 --> 00:24:31,560
He actually took the best photographs of me taken in the '70s.

344
00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:35,280
I remember staying up with him for two or three days once,

345
00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:38,440
and at some point, he said, "Give me the camera."

346
00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:42,480
They are actually all, for the most part, in focus.

347
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:47,200
He'd come over, he would be on a tour, I would go

348
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:51,080
and see the show, hang out with him a bit, and then just have a session.

349
00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:57,120
But they were very simple affairs. Lou was self-styled.

350
00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:01,680
I've got a lot of great pictures of him just laughing.

351
00:25:03,120 --> 00:25:05,440
I threatened to publish them too many times.

352
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:08,600
I said, "I'm going to punk with your image, Lou, you know that?"

353
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:12,800
# You do what you got to do You do what you can

354
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:19,400
# You do what you want to do But I love you, Suzanne

355
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:22,160
# You'll try anything once

356
00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:25,520
# Try anything twice

357
00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:28,200
# You do what you want to do

358
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:30,000
# But I love you, Suzanne

359
00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:35,800
# I love you when you're good, honey I love you when you're bad

360
00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:39,480
# You do what you want to do

361
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:41,800
# But I love you, Suzanne... #

362
00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:45,120
He wasn't really such a dark person as a human being.

363
00:25:45,120 --> 00:25:47,520
I mean, look at the beautiful love songs,

364
00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:51,200
and how, in a way, how simple they are, lyrically, how direct.

365
00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,160
Like A Perfect Day. I mean...

366
00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:00,960
..my mother loves that - she's 93.

367
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:02,640
He could touch many...

368
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:05,040
And of course, I'll Be Your Mirror, which, I think

369
00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:07,880
he wrote that while he was in college.

370
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:10,760
One of the most beautiful love songs ever written.

371
00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:19,520
What's curious about that is that he gave it to Nico to sing to him.

372
00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:22,320
While they were having their love affair.

373
00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:29,480
# I find it hard to believe you don't know the beauty you are

374
00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:34,040
# But if you don't, Let me be your eyes

375
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:38,600
# A hand in your darkness So you won't be afraid... #

376
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:41,640
Lou wanted to plumb the depths and check it all out,

377
00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:43,360
and I understood that.

378
00:26:43,360 --> 00:26:46,240
We went to visit this mate of his.

379
00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:50,520
He lived in an apartment that was absolute chaos.

380
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:57,400
Lou said he was the best B&E guy in New York.

381
00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:59,720
B&E is Breaking and Entering.

382
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,480
I mean, you've got to remember how intelligent the guy was.

383
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:13,760
This is a super intelligent, super cerebral, very informed guy.

384
00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:23,120
I mean, Lou was a born contrarian, you know?

385
00:27:23,120 --> 00:27:26,200
- Would you describe yourself as a decadent person?
- No.

386
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:29,440
- How would you describe yourself?
- Average.

387
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:34,200
No?

388
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:35,520
I think so.

389
00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:40,640
If people were just talking very superficially to him,

390
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:42,240
he would bite them.

391
00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,000
I thought I knew what I was saying,

392
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,520
but if I listen to you much more, maybe I won't.

393
00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:51,600
He was always very sweet with me, but I saw him torture a few journalists.

394
00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:53,520
Tell me when the thing is running.

395
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,920
Sometimes he did it just for the sport, I think.

396
00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:00,960
But once he got the reputation, he thought, "OK, I'm going

397
00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:02,680
"to live up to it."

398
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:08,120
- Are you a transvestite or a homosexual?
- Sometimes.
- Which one?

399
00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:15,520
No. I'm not going to sit here and do the lecture circuit.

400
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:18,000
My God.

401
00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:22,000
David, you should keep in mind I got a BA in English,

402
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:23,280
I graduated college.

403
00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:26,720
I'm aware of irony and distance.

404
00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:38,120
I come from a middle-class background.

405
00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:42,680
So I'm street with a BA.

406
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,440
You know, it's like an interesting combination,

407
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:49,040
because it gave me the ability to phrase some of these

408
00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:52,640
things in something other than the vernacular of the street.

409
00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:56,120
So I wasn't just a one-trick pony.

410
00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:58,760
There were more sides to me than that.

411
00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:12,640
The Transformer album was Lou's brief glam period.

412
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,760
Produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, its fusion of sex,

413
00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:20,280
drugs and glamorous androgyny became an inspiration to those who

414
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:22,440
were anything but straight.

415
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:24,960
For me, the most important thing about Lou Reed was what

416
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:28,520
he did musically, and I think, you know, if you're a kid

417
00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:31,240
and you want to be cool, there's two albums,

418
00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:34,200
The Velvet Underground & Nico and Transformer.

419
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:39,600
Those two records are so much part of the rock'n'roll rites of passage.

420
00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:43,400
You know, you can't really be considered credible or cool

421
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:45,520
if you do not have those records.

422
00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:52,800
My first kind of experience of Lou Reed was Walk On The Wild Side,

423
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:58,000
I think. That was the real beginning of my love affair with Lou Reed.

424
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,040
You know, because that song I think was...

425
00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:03,040
If you were a little gay kid in suburbia,

426
00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:05,800
that song had you walking on invisible heels.

427
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:08,280
It was just so otherworldly.

428
00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:12,880
Even more than Bowie because I think although Bowie was sexually

429
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:16,880
ambiguous, Lou Reed delivered it with a kind of so what quality.

430
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,160
It was almost like, who cares, you know?

431
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:23,280
That's why I love the '70s, because the '70s, you know,

432
00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:26,440
a lot of stuff was just made up - Mick Jagger and Bowie in bed,

433
00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:29,120
Marc Bolan and Mickey Finn having an affair.

434
00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:31,800
It was all great stuff but it probably wasn't true.

435
00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:34,680
But, you know, you don't really want like that to be true,

436
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:37,000
you just want it to be glorious gossip.

437
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:49,560
I had to see him and it was around the time of Rock'n'Roll Animal

438
00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:52,640
and Sally Can't Dance, the bleached hair.

439
00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:55,360
Looking back, I think he was pretty wasted at that gig

440
00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:58,880
but I didn't notice. I just thought, "He's fantastic."

441
00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:11,560
I discovered recently that Lou Reed wasn't very fond of Transformer,

442
00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:14,040
which is really shocking. He didn't like it.

443
00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:17,520
He would never talk about it. So, it's one of those weird things.

444
00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:23,000
With certain rock stars, they embrace a kind of sexual ambiguousness

445
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:27,120
but when they get sensible and marry, they want to just say,

446
00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:30,280
"Oh, no, that I don't want to talk about the camp bit."

447
00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:32,200
# What is in the mind... #

448
00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:35,000
If I was going to describe Lou Reed, I would say

449
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,120
he was always effortlessly cool, even as an older man.

450
00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:41,800
# Caroline says... #

451
00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:45,600
I don't really think of Lou Reed as druggie, hard, brutal and savage.

452
00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:49,760
I think of things like Caroline Says or They're Taking Her Children Away.

453
00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:56,520
# You can hit me all you want to

454
00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:02,840
# But I don't love you any more... #

455
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:05,640
If you are a kind of quirky kid in ten years' time,

456
00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:07,720
you probably will find Transformer.

457
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:10,720
It might be in your dad's record collection

458
00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:13,680
or your grandfather's record collection, whatever.

459
00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:16,800
But I think if you've got an ear for music, you'll hear that

460
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:18,960
and it will resonate with you.

461
00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:21,440
I think that's the power of all great music.

462
00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:30,600
The whole glam thing, like, was kind of great for me

463
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,720
when I met Bowie and he was into that. So I got into that.

464
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:37,880
All it was was, it was something I'd already seen...

465
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:41,560
..with Warhol.

466
00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:44,680
But I hadn't done that thing so the '70s was like a chance for me

467
00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:50,040
to get in on it, in a sense, no-one knew me from Adam particularly.

468
00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:52,600
I could say I was anything, be anywhere.

469
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:55,320
I mean that was one of the great things. You could...

470
00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:58,720
And I learned that from Andy. You could be anything.

471
00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:07,280
Perversely, Lou followed the hugely commercial Transformer

472
00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:10,520
with a disturbing concept album, a tale of drug addiction,

473
00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,680
domestic violence and suicide that is Berlin,

474
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:17,120
produced by Bob Ezrin in London and released in 1973.

475
00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:22,240
Back home, Lou's personal life was crumbling

476
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:28,120
And his appetite for narcotics was keener than ever.

477
00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:33,160
# You were five foot ten inches tall

478
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:39,280
# It was very nice

479
00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:47,480
# Candlelight and Dubonnet on ice... #

480
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:54,360
He was an amazing combination of being slightly awkward

481
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:59,520
within his own skin and yet being completely consumed with,

482
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:03,880
and focused on, a particular idea.

483
00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,440
And so you put the two of them together

484
00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:11,120
and what you get is this kind of nervous determination.

485
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:16,640
I felt really connected to Lou, emotionally,

486
00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:21,680
very sensitive to what he was going through and so I tried to...

487
00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:29,920
I tried to use his state of mind as an advantage, a resource,

488
00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:33,080
and I tried to get to him to see it as a resource.

489
00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:36,800
He doesn't come in and feel like I'm not in the mood today

490
00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:39,400
and I'm sorry and I'm letting you down.

491
00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:42,400
He would come in and say, "I'm not really in the mood today."

492
00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:45,120
And I would say, "You're not in the mood for that but wow,

493
00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:46,880
"what if we did this one?"

494
00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:50,560
And he'd think about it and go, "Yeah. I can do that one."

495
00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:57,040
# How do you think it feels

496
00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:01,200
# When you're speeding and lonely?

497
00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:03,360
# Come here, baby

498
00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:08,000
# How do you think it feels

499
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:12,400
# When all you can say is if only? #

500
00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:16,240
You know, drugs were a big factor in what happened to all of us

501
00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:18,440
around the record.

502
00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:22,720
And at certain points during the day, it, I think...

503
00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:28,840
..stalled what we were doing but we quickly recover

504
00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:30,520
and then get back on track.

505
00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:33,160
Those musical moments, those things that

506
00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:37,920
happened in the performance, those were transcendent, clear-headed.

507
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:41,400
They were above and beyond whatever substance

508
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,800
we may have ingested four hours before. Do you know what I mean?

509
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:48,960
I think on a certain level,

510
00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:52,480
I may have misjudged how London would affect Lou.

511
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:56,320
People were surrounding him, pulling at him, outside of the sessions

512
00:35:56,320 --> 00:36:00,080
so there was a lot going on in his mind while we were making Berlin.

513
00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:06,320
When I delivered it to RCA, I said, "OK."

514
00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:11,200
Lou and Lou's manager at the time, I said, "Here we go. I got it.

515
00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:13,880
"We're going to deliver it." They said, "OK, let's go."

516
00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:16,840
We delivered it and I looked around and they were gone.

517
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:20,280
They had left the building.

518
00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:25,520
# Mummy! Mummy! #

519
00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:31,000
The aftermath of Berlin, for Lou, was fairly devastating.

520
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:36,720
It wasn't just a matter of the press writing crushing reviews about it.

521
00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:41,960
And they got really personal. I mean, they were very nasty and direct.

522
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:43,560
But it wasn't even that.

523
00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:48,120
I think the whole experience of living in that dark place,

524
00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:52,440
you know, really, it's a place of this dissembling of the human being,

525
00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:56,480
ending up in suicide. You can't get darker than that.

526
00:36:58,720 --> 00:37:01,680
Days were short and nights were long.

527
00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:03,800
It was raining and it was just sort of...

528
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:07,880
It was an overall fairly depressive experience,

529
00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:10,280
while being artistically uplifting.

530
00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:16,200
He said he couldn't stand to listen to it.

531
00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:17,640
He locked it in the closet

532
00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:21,160
and didn't want to see it again for years, which is actually the truth.

533
00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:24,080
We didn't listen to it again for years.

534
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:29,120
I, on the other hand, came off of it having had my first

535
00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:33,360
experiences with certain drugs and was just feeling like hell.

536
00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:55,040
In 1972, Berlin was one of the darkest experiences of our lives.

537
00:37:55,040 --> 00:38:01,160
In 2006, it was positively... uplifting.

538
00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:09,560
It was the most energetic, spiritual, beautiful experience,

539
00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:14,280
live on a stage, that I'd ever had and I think that Lou had ever had.

540
00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:16,960
# They are taking her children away

541
00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:26,520
# Because of the things she did in the streets, in the alleys

542
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:29,920
# And the bars

543
00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:33,720
# She couldn't be beat That miserable, rotten slut.

544
00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:37,680
# She couldn't turn anyone away... #

545
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:43,480
Berlin was used in a lawsuit against me,

546
00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:49,400
by management, to show that I shouldn't be allowed to do

547
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:53,280
projects on my own, with people of my own choosing,

548
00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:57,880
because if I did, this is the kind of album I would put out.

549
00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:00,960
Can you imagine this? It's a nightmare come true.

550
00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:04,320
I'm in court, having this baby that I love...

551
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:07,200
Ezra and I killed ourselves over this album.

552
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:09,880
We thought it was going to be like a cinematic experience,

553
00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:14,760
except on a record with strings, this real grandeur

554
00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:18,600
and there it is being used in court against me in a lawsuit where

555
00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:21,440
they are really, really trying to hurt me, make no mistake.

556
00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:28,880
Guitarist Steve Hunter played on the original

557
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:32,800
Berlin recordings and became part of Lou's band for the subsequent

558
00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:34,320
Rock'n'Roll Animal tour.

559
00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:37,640
They were reunited in 2006

560
00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:41,000
when Lou played Berlin live for the first time.

561
00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:46,400
I wasn't a fan, until I heard Walk On The Wild Side.

562
00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:50,760
I couldn't believe he got away with saying some of the stuff

563
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:54,280
he got away with and it was on top 40 radio we heard that.

564
00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:56,560
And I thought, "Now that's a true rebel.

565
00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:58,680
"That's a guy who is pulling it off.

566
00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:01,640
"There were always other people who thought they were rebels

567
00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:03,920
"but this guy's getting away with it."

568
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:07,200
"Even when she was giving head," that's on the radio?

569
00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:08,600
I couldn't believe it.

570
00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:12,000
I was completely shocked and I was secretly saying, "Yeah, Lou!"

571
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:16,480
You know? That's way to go, man. I'm glad you got away with that.

572
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:18,720
I think that's very cool.

573
00:40:18,720 --> 00:40:23,960
There was a side of Manhattan in those days that was just

574
00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:28,720
under the surface. It wasn't way down. It was just under the surface.

575
00:40:28,720 --> 00:40:30,520
So, when I would go to the studio,

576
00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:34,720
you would get out on a summer's day at ten o'clock at night...

577
00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:40,200
..and there would be people starting to coagulate around the area, you know?

578
00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:43,160
OK, what's going on? Is it a parade or something?

579
00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:46,120
I would come back out at two or three in the morning and there

580
00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:49,880
are hookers and drug dealers and all kinds of stuff going on out there.

581
00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:53,160
And here I am, this little skinny guy with a couple of guitars.

582
00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:55,200
I thought I was going to get killed.

583
00:40:58,080 --> 00:41:02,840
Any time you can meet a composer or even just a poet who doesn't

584
00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:06,760
mind stripping away and looking at the ugly side

585
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:10,280
and making you see the ugly side as maybe not so ugly,

586
00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:13,280
it's like driving by an accident - you have to look.

587
00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:15,360
And I think Lou made you look.

588
00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:20,920
When I heard some of the lyrics of Berlin, I was completely

589
00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:24,680
blown away, that he was talking about a side of drugs

590
00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:28,480
and drug usage that people who were doing drugs

591
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:30,160
didn't want to hear about.

592
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:32,360
I don't want to hear the ugly stuff of drugs.

593
00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:33,880
I want to hear how cool it is.

594
00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:39,760
# The rich son waits for his father to die

595
00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:45,680
# The poor just drink and cry

596
00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:49,640
# And me

597
00:41:51,240 --> 00:41:55,080
# I just don't care at all... #

598
00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:00,320
I would never have wanted to get into a fight with him, ever,

599
00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:01,960
because I don't care how big...

600
00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:04,960
Somehow I get the feeling he would tear things off of me

601
00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:07,720
that I don't want torn off, you know?

602
00:42:07,720 --> 00:42:12,200
Lou is a street New York guy and a survivor,

603
00:42:12,200 --> 00:42:16,120
so whatever it took him to survive, he could do that.

604
00:42:18,240 --> 00:42:21,120
Lou reminds me a lot of Edgar Allan Poe.

605
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:25,520
I read The Pit And The Pendulum and was just...

606
00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:27,480
I couldn't believe someone could write

607
00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:31,080
a story like that in eight pages or however long it is, that had

608
00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:33,880
me scared to death, just reading the words.

609
00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:37,560
But then Poe would turn around and do Annabel Lee,

610
00:42:37,560 --> 00:42:41,680
this incredibly romantic, beautiful poem, to a cousin or something.

611
00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:46,120
He was just as weird and quirky and looked at the dark side of life, like Lou.

612
00:42:47,200 --> 00:42:50,840
They both were able to be dark and romantic at the same time.

613
00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:03,160
# On Avenue B, someone cruised him one night

614
00:43:04,960 --> 00:43:08,280
# He took him in an alley and then he pulled a knife

615
00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:16,680
# And he thought of his father as he cut his windpipe

616
00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:20,600
# And finally danced to the rock minuet... #

617
00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:27,080
I think New York lost its best reporter because he was

618
00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:31,760
so observant, so keen, so gentle

619
00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:35,120
and hard at the same time.

620
00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:37,320
And it was always so heartfelt.

621
00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:43,240
I don't know if you've ever heard a song called Rock'n'roll Minuet...

622
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:49,360
But that song, you can't listen to that song and not feel something.

623
00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:00,840
# Paralysed by hatred and a piss ugly soul

624
00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:07,160
# If he murdered his father, he thought he'd become whole

625
00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:13,720
# While listening at night to an old radio

626
00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:19,320
# Where they danced to the rock minuet... #

627
00:44:56,520 --> 00:45:00,840
Lou's passion for sonic terrorism and the avant-garde inspired

628
00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:03,720
Thurston Moore and the music of Sonic Youth.

629
00:45:03,720 --> 00:45:06,800
Moore treasures Lou's double album Metal Machine Music,

630
00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:08,920
released in 1974.

631
00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:11,760
Despite being comprised of nothing but feedback

632
00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:14,960
and guitar effects, Lou toured it in 2010.

633
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:25,680
I figured that nobody would really talk about Metal Machine Music

634
00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:28,040
and how significant that record was.

635
00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:33,040
To me, that record... was completely fantastic.

636
00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:36,360
I mean, there was no such thing as a noise record

637
00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:39,080
and that was the first noise record I ever heard and it

638
00:45:39,080 --> 00:45:42,680
was by Lou Reed, who was supposed to be doing Sally Can't Dance part two.

639
00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:44,600
It certainly wasn't that.

640
00:45:58,600 --> 00:46:01,920
'Sing along with Lou Reed on his new Reed, Sally Can't Dance

641
00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:03,640
'on RCA records and tape.'

642
00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:07,640
I just figured it was going to sound like the way it looked.

643
00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:11,480
You know, which was this bad ass kind of like glitter rock Lou Reed

644
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:15,400
on the cover with his leather jacket. That cover is just beautiful.

645
00:46:15,400 --> 00:46:19,000
And the liner notes were just so striking and kind of just,

646
00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:22,880
"My week beats your year," he ends those liner notes.

647
00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:25,320
What a thing to say.

648
00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:31,320
And then, the review of Metal Machine Music just had the word "no",

649
00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:35,080
written like 100 times.

650
00:46:36,920 --> 00:46:40,040
You know, I was talking to someone from Rolling Stone recently

651
00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:44,760
about Metal Machine Music and the journalist was...

652
00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:46,040
Like, well, you know,

653
00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:48,680
"Nobody's ever listen to that record all the way through."

654
00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:52,400
I was like, "Oh, I have, numerous times."

655
00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:53,640
Like I still do.

656
00:46:53,640 --> 00:46:57,520
I actually had it on quad. I had a quadraphonic version.

657
00:46:57,520 --> 00:46:59,640
I had it on quad eight-track tape.

658
00:46:59,640 --> 00:47:02,520
I have all variants of Metal Machine Music.

659
00:47:02,520 --> 00:47:05,920
It's one of the most important records in the my life.

660
00:47:25,080 --> 00:47:27,920
It was inevitable that sooner or later, Lou should bump into

661
00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:31,520
novelist Paul Auster, another writer dedicated in his own

662
00:47:31,520 --> 00:47:34,760
way to the dramas, dropouts and dangerous delights

663
00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:39,160
of a New York City that by now, in the 1990s, was fast disappearing.

664
00:47:39,160 --> 00:47:42,880
# Life's like a mayonnaise soda

665
00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:45,640
# And life's like space without room

666
00:47:46,960 --> 00:47:50,000
# And life's like bacon and ice cream

667
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:52,160
# That's what life's like without you... #

668
00:47:53,800 --> 00:47:56,400
I remember there was a moment when, the time when

669
00:47:56,400 --> 00:47:59,960
we were closest and seeing each other fairly often,

670
00:47:59,960 --> 00:48:03,240
he told me that he wanted to write a novel. He had figured out a plot.

671
00:48:03,240 --> 00:48:08,320
He wanted to write a crime novel. And I said, "Well, good luck, Lou."

672
00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:12,960
And a few months later, he said, "You know, it's damn hard. I can't do it.

673
00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:16,520
"I don't have the ability to make a big story."

674
00:48:16,520 --> 00:48:21,600
So, I think his form was the short lyric and he did brilliantly.

675
00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:26,000
His songs ARE the words. I mean, Lou was not a singer.

676
00:48:26,000 --> 00:48:30,040
He was able to present his songs in a brilliant way but it's

677
00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:33,600
the combination of the personality coming through the voice.

678
00:48:34,640 --> 00:48:37,000
I remember a very amusing song, I think it was

679
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:43,400
a song about Laurie Anderson and their love for each other and...

680
00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:46,160
The song had to do with all her ex-lovers.

681
00:48:46,160 --> 00:48:52,200
He wants to throw them off the roof of her loft and see them

682
00:48:52,200 --> 00:48:54,920
run over by cars on Canal Street.

683
00:48:56,320 --> 00:49:00,800
I thought this was hilarious and so vivid.

684
00:49:00,800 --> 00:49:04,160
Some of his songs are very funny, too. They are not all grim.

685
00:49:08,080 --> 00:49:09,960
We worked on two films together.

686
00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:12,480
The first one is called Blue In The Face

687
00:49:12,480 --> 00:49:15,080
and Lou has a prominent role in the film.

688
00:49:15,080 --> 00:49:19,600
He is Lou Reed, the resident philosopher

689
00:49:19,600 --> 00:49:22,960
of the Brooklyn Cigar Company, sitting behind the counter

690
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:27,000
and I was the one off-camera, throwing questions at him.

691
00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:30,560
I'm scared in my own apartment. I'm, I'm...

692
00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:34,600
You know, I'm scared 24 hours a day, but not necessarily in New York.

693
00:49:35,760 --> 00:49:39,240
I actually feel pretty comfortable in New York.

694
00:49:39,240 --> 00:49:41,760
I get scared like in Sweden.

695
00:49:41,760 --> 00:49:45,360
Each one of his comments is hilarious.

696
00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:51,240
You know, it's kind of empty. They are all drunk. Everything works.

697
00:49:51,240 --> 00:49:54,480
Acerbic, strange, unpredictable.

698
00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:56,560
You go to the medicine cabinet, open it up

699
00:49:56,560 --> 00:50:00,920
and there's little poster saying, "In case of suicide, call..."

700
00:50:00,920 --> 00:50:05,720
You turn on the TV, there's an ear operation. These things scare me.

701
00:50:05,720 --> 00:50:07,200
New York, no.

702
00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:09,280
I really think in a way, he steals the movie.

703
00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:12,240
He's the heart of the movie and he's not doing anything,

704
00:50:12,240 --> 00:50:14,600
just sitting there and talking.

705
00:50:14,600 --> 00:50:18,720
My childhood was so unpleasant that I absolutely don't think

706
00:50:18,720 --> 00:50:21,880
I remember anything I think before...age 31.

707
00:50:21,880 --> 00:50:27,240
I don't follow the world of pop music that closely

708
00:50:27,240 --> 00:50:30,720
but I can tell you that I look out at the scene,

709
00:50:30,720 --> 00:50:33,920
what I know of it, and I don't see anyone like him.

710
00:50:36,120 --> 00:50:38,280
There is no-one doing what he did

711
00:50:38,280 --> 00:50:41,520
and so in a sense he's irreplaceable.

712
00:50:41,520 --> 00:50:46,160
That is why, I think, we are going to keep needing him in the future.

713
00:50:46,160 --> 00:50:50,200
I think his stuff is going to go on being listened to for a long,

714
00:50:50,200 --> 00:50:51,760
long time.

715
00:50:53,240 --> 00:50:55,080
One, two, three...

716
00:50:55,080 --> 00:50:58,840
# If you are close the door

717
00:50:58,840 --> 00:51:01,520
# I never have to see the day again... #

718
00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:10,520
In 1993, the original Velvet Underground reformed.

719
00:51:10,520 --> 00:51:13,400
Their music was as unrepentant as ever,

720
00:51:13,400 --> 00:51:18,360
driven once more by their proto-punk drummer, Maureen Tucker.

721
00:51:18,360 --> 00:51:21,000
If Lou had resented the lack of recognition for the band

722
00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:22,440
first time around,

723
00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:27,560
now was the time to remind everyone just how influential they had been.

724
00:51:27,560 --> 00:51:30,560
We are looking forward very much to playing for people who have

725
00:51:30,560 --> 00:51:33,800
always said, "I wish I could have seen a Velvet Underground show."

726
00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:35,760
Well, now you can,

727
00:51:35,760 --> 00:51:41,040
with the original four members, in great shape, up and barking.

728
00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:45,920
Our reunion tour was like a dream come true.

729
00:51:45,920 --> 00:51:49,280
That was really, really exciting, for me to be playing with them

730
00:51:49,280 --> 00:51:51,920
again. It's really, really was.

731
00:51:55,040 --> 00:51:58,200
Lou changing in those 30 years almost...

732
00:51:58,200 --> 00:52:01,000
I would say, the major thing, the only thing really,

733
00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:02,880
I guess that I noticed is that...

734
00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:08,360
..in 1993, he was a big deal.

735
00:52:08,360 --> 00:52:12,000
And in 1968, he wasn't.

736
00:52:13,560 --> 00:52:15,400
# Na, na, na, na, na, na

737
00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:17,120
# Na, na, na, na, na

738
00:52:18,840 --> 00:52:20,560
# Na, na, na, na, na, na

739
00:52:20,560 --> 00:52:22,640
# Na, na, na, na, na... #

740
00:52:22,640 --> 00:52:25,600
We had a sound check one night for six hours.

741
00:52:27,160 --> 00:52:31,240
And that was being pretty darn picky about how your guitar sounds.

742
00:52:41,560 --> 00:52:45,720
The first time I saw Lou play in a long, long time, I think

743
00:52:45,720 --> 00:52:52,360
it was 1986 or '87 or something, in Atlanta, and it was the first

744
00:52:52,360 --> 00:52:57,920
time I had seen him play to a big audience and I cried. I truly did.

745
00:52:57,920 --> 00:53:01,720
I was not hysterical but tears coming down.

746
00:53:01,720 --> 00:53:03,520
I was so excited for him.

747
00:53:05,560 --> 00:53:08,560
I always had a special...not a concern, I don't want to say

748
00:53:08,560 --> 00:53:13,120
I was always worried about Lou. I don't mean that but...

749
00:53:13,120 --> 00:53:18,440
Later on, after the Velvets, I would often really worry about him.

750
00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:21,000
I don't want it to sound like more than it was.

751
00:53:26,520 --> 00:53:29,920
# Some kinds of love

752
00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:32,360
# Margarita told Tom

753
00:53:34,400 --> 00:53:37,000
# Between thought and expression

754
00:53:38,760 --> 00:53:40,960
# Lies a lifetime

755
00:53:42,600 --> 00:53:45,000
# And some kinds of love

756
00:53:47,240 --> 00:53:49,040
# Possibilities end

757
00:53:50,560 --> 00:53:53,320
# Oh, if only to miss one

758
00:53:55,000 --> 00:53:57,200
# Would seem to be groundless

759
00:53:57,200 --> 00:53:59,520
# My body, ta ta ta... #

760
00:54:03,560 --> 00:54:05,680
My friend Lou...

761
00:54:05,680 --> 00:54:09,240
I miss knowing he's out there, knowing he's happy

762
00:54:09,240 --> 00:54:11,840
and playing music and is out there in the world.

763
00:54:14,040 --> 00:54:16,960
When the people who made up your life,

764
00:54:16,960 --> 00:54:21,440
especially your young life, die and I don't mean just your friends

765
00:54:21,440 --> 00:54:25,160
or your relatives but the people who made

766
00:54:25,160 --> 00:54:29,400
up your world - the actors who are big at the time, the musicians,

767
00:54:29,400 --> 00:54:34,800
the politicians, when they start dying, that's scary.

768
00:54:34,800 --> 00:54:36,680
It starts getting kind of scary.

769
00:54:36,680 --> 00:54:40,160
But...when it's someone...

770
00:54:41,240 --> 00:54:43,800
..you've just loved for so long

771
00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:47,000
and he's always been out there doing his thing

772
00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:51,560
and you just know he's out there in the world,

773
00:54:51,560 --> 00:54:53,640
that was very difficult.

774
00:54:53,640 --> 00:54:57,680
That was really, and still is, I'm still feeling really weird about it.

775
00:55:12,760 --> 00:55:16,600
But you have to understand what a nice, sweet guy he must have been

776
00:55:16,600 --> 00:55:19,400
because he married Laurie Anderson and that was it.

777
00:55:19,400 --> 00:55:22,360
That was a love affair. That was the love of his life.

778
00:55:23,400 --> 00:55:26,640
It's hard to believe he's gone. I mean it just...

779
00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:30,640
Thank God he had Laurie with him, to...

780
00:55:33,080 --> 00:55:36,040
..you know, make it go gently.

781
00:55:37,400 --> 00:55:40,240
Yeah, I cried. I cried.

782
00:55:42,160 --> 00:55:45,960
He was a gladiator and he...

783
00:55:45,960 --> 00:55:50,160
You know, he was an amazing artist.

784
00:55:50,160 --> 00:55:54,120
He was an exceptional human being by any standards.

785
00:56:01,200 --> 00:56:05,480
I carry Lou Reed with me in a way,

786
00:56:05,480 --> 00:56:08,040
like I carry my family,

787
00:56:08,040 --> 00:56:14,080
and losing him was surprisingly one of the biggest blows of my life.

788
00:56:19,640 --> 00:56:25,360
Lou voiced to those things that his entire generation was feeling

789
00:56:25,360 --> 00:56:28,800
and generations after, too,

790
00:56:28,800 --> 00:56:31,840
but when he said, "My life was saved by rock'n'roll,"

791
00:56:31,840 --> 00:56:33,920
he was talking for me.

792
00:56:35,600 --> 00:56:38,840
The thing I'd like to add is I'm going to miss that guy.

793
00:56:38,840 --> 00:56:43,720
You know, he was always... good for a nice hug.

794
00:56:45,320 --> 00:56:48,600
The guy I got to know riding a motorcycle through

795
00:56:48,600 --> 00:56:50,320
the wilds of Pennsylvania...

796
00:56:50,320 --> 00:56:53,120
You know, he's in front and I'm on the back

797
00:56:53,120 --> 00:56:56,360
and we're both kind of... We're hardly Hells Angels.

798
00:56:56,360 --> 00:57:03,080
And he's like, waggling his bike like that and we scoot along...

799
00:57:05,520 --> 00:57:10,400
It was just kind of a normal day, in a weird way, I have you think,

800
00:57:10,400 --> 00:57:13,640
yeah, it was a perfect day and I'm glad I spent it with Lou.

801
00:57:15,080 --> 00:57:17,280
Pff...

802
00:57:17,280 --> 00:57:21,600
Erm... When he was sick before he died,

803
00:57:21,600 --> 00:57:25,480
I went to see him in Southampton, in the hospital.

804
00:57:26,840 --> 00:57:28,880
And...

805
00:57:30,200 --> 00:57:32,680
He... Urgh.

806
00:57:32,680 --> 00:57:35,280
He reached up and...

807
00:57:35,280 --> 00:57:40,840
we held hands and I kissed him and he was crying

808
00:57:40,840 --> 00:57:45,600
and it was just awful, awful.

809
00:57:47,360 --> 00:57:51,400
Erm... I'll miss everything he was -

810
00:57:51,400 --> 00:57:56,240
funny, brilliant, gifted.

811
00:57:58,400 --> 00:58:01,040
There won't be another one like him.

812
00:58:13,120 --> 00:58:17,400
# You're going to reap just what you sow

813
00:58:22,920 --> 00:58:27,600
# You're going to reap just what you sow

814
00:58:32,840 --> 00:58:37,440
# You're going to reap just what you sow. #

815
00:58:38,720 --> 00:58:41,920
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