Member-only story
Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground Covered
Is there a song that is covered more than ‘Sweet Jane?’ How many Joy Division covers besides that live version of ‘Sister Ray’ are there? Is there a better cover version transformation than the Cowboy Junkies’ version of ‘Sweet Jane?’
Somehow ‘The Velvet’s and Lou Reed as principal songwriter inspire a massive amount of homage from the left of the dial bands. Just recently, Keith Richards produced a fabulous and fitting career coda. Richards on a new album of Lou Reed interpretations (The Power of the Heart) looks back on the seedy side of his drug days with all the gravel and gravitas his eighty-year-old throat can deliver.
Here is my highly subjective tour through just a few of the covers.
Firstly, through discovery. Like many, it was an elder sibling who switched on first. Bringing home a reissue of the 1974 wrap up album and he and I soon discovered a few high rotate new tunes.
Of course, we already knew about Lou from the radio and walking on the wild side with the coloured girls. From there, it was the pathway into current punk, post-punk, and indie music that almost always paid homage to Iggy and Lou, and sometimes David. Little wonder that there was that 1970s fun as the three of them sparked off each other.