"Lady Godiva's Operation" | |
---|---|
Song by the Velvet Underground | |
from the album White Light/White Heat | |
Released | January 30, 1968 |
Recorded | September 1967 |
Studio | Scepter Studios, New York City |
Length | 4:56 |
Label | Verve |
Songwriter(s) | Lou Reed |
Producer(s) | Tom Wilson |
"Lady Godiva's Operation" is a song by the Velvet Underground from their second album, White Light/White Heat (1968). The lyrics of the first half of the song, sung by John Cale, describe Lady Godiva; the lyrics of the second half, sung by Cale alternating with Lou Reed, are full of oblique, deadpan black humor and describe a botched surgical procedure, implied to be a lobotomy. [1] Cale plays electric viola while Sterling Morrison plays bass, an instrument that he disliked, despite his competent abilities. [2] [3]
The song was covered by the Fatima Mansions as a single. [4]
In 1973 Lou Reed said of the song "Listen to the lyrics of my early songs, 'Lady Godiva's Operation' was about a trans-sexual." [5]
Peel Slowly and See is a five-disc box set of material by the Velvet Underground. It was released in September 1995 by Polydor.
Maureen Ann "Moe" Tucker is an American musician and singer-songwriter who was the drummer for the New York City-based rock band the Velvet Underground. After they disbanded in the early 1970s, she left the music industry for a while, though her music career restarted in the 1980s, and continued into the 1990s. She has released four solo albums, where she played most of the instruments herself, and has periodically toured. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as a member of the Velvet Underground.
Holmes Sterling Morrison Jr. was an American guitarist, best known as one of the founding members of the rock group the Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, and singing backing vocals.
Chelsea Girl is the debut solo album and second studio album by German singer Nico. It was released in October 1967 by Verve Records and was recorded following Nico's collaboration with the Velvet Underground on their 1967 debut studio album. It was produced by Tom Wilson, who added string and flute arrangements against the wishes of Nico. The title is a reference to Andy Warhol's 1966 film Chelsea Girls, in which Nico starred.
The Very Best of The Velvet Underground is a compilation album by The Velvet Underground. It was released in Europe on March 31, 2003, by Polydor, the record label that oversees the band's Universal Music Group back catalog.
Live MCMXCIII is a live album by the Velvet Underground. It was released simultaneously in single and double CD/cassette formats on October 26, 1993, by Sire Records, then DVD format on January 24, 2006. The single CD is an abridged version of the double CD edition, featuring tracks 2, 13–16, 5, 6, 9, 18, and 20–23 in that order. There are no different takes of songs across the multiple editions although the actual track times differ by a few seconds between releases.
Gold is a two-CD compilation album by the Velvet Underground. It was released for the North American market on June 14, 2005, by Polydor, the record label that oversees the band's Universal Music Group back catalogue.
"Sister Ray" is a song by the Velvet Underground that closes side two of their 1968 album White Light/White Heat. The lyrics are by Lou Reed, with music composed by John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker and Reed.
"Heroin" is a song by the Velvet Underground, released on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. Written by Lou Reed in 1964, the song, which overtly depicts heroin usage and its effects, is one of the band's most celebrated compositions. Critic Mark Deming of Allmusic writes, "While 'Heroin' hardly endorses drug use, it doesn't clearly condemn it, either, which made it all the more troubling in the eyes of many listeners." In 2004, it was ranked at number 448 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and was re-ranked at number 455 in 2010.
"The Black Angel's Death Song" is a song by the Velvet Underground, from their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It was written by Lou Reed and John Cale. In a footnote to the lyrics, Lou Reed wrote: "The idea here was to string words together for the sheer fun of their sound, not any particular meaning."
"White Light/White Heat" is a song recorded by the American rock band the Velvet Underground. It was released as a single in late November 1967 with the B-side "Here She Comes Now". The following year it appeared as the title track on their second studio album of the same name.
"Sunday Morning" is a song by the Velvet Underground. It is the opening track on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It was first released as a single in December 1966. The song is written in the key of F major.
The ostrich guitar or ostrich tuning is a type of trivial tuning. It assigns one note to all strings, e.g. E-E-e-e-e'-e' or D-D-D-D-d'-d'. The term "ostrich guitar" was coined by the Velvet Underground's Lou Reed after the pre-Velvet Underground song "The Ostrich" by Lou Reed and the Primitives, on which he first recorded using this tuning, the first known commercial composition to make use of a trivial guitar tuning.
"All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut studio album, The Velvet Underground & Nico.
"Venus in Furs" is a song by the Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed and originally released on the 1967 album The Velvet Underground & Nico. Inspired by the book of the same name by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the song includes sexual themes of sadomasochism, bondage and submission.
I Spent a Week There the Other Night is an album by the American musician Moe Tucker, released in 1991.
"Here She Comes Now" is a song released by the American rock band the Velvet Underground in January 1968, from their second studio album White Light/White Heat. As the shortest song on the album, the performance and mix of the song are both considered simple and traditional, making it somewhat distinct from the other five songs on the album, all of which contain some degree of experimental or avant-garde elements in terms of sound.
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. It originally comprised singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. In 1965 MacLise was replaced by Moe Tucker, who played on most of the band's recordings. Though their integration of rock and the avant-garde resulted in little commercial success, they became one of the most influential bands in rock, underground, experimental, and alternative music. Their provocative subject matter, musical experiments, and nihilistic attitude was also instrumental in the development of punk rock, new wave and several other genres.
The Velvet Underground and Nico: A Symphony of Sound is a 1966 American film by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. The film was made at The Factory on January 3, 1966. It is 67 minutes long and was filmed in 16mm black and white.
Andy Warhol's Velvet Underground featuring Nico is a compilation album of the Velvet Underground released by MGM Records in 1971 that features selections from the band's first three studio albums. Originally released as a double LP, the cover artwork and inside gatefold sleeve feature imitations of Andy Warhol's paintings of Coca-Cola bottles, but are credited to other artists on the back sleeve of the album. The album was released in the UK to capitalise on the interest from Warhol's Pork.
When I had to play viola, Sterling had to play bass, which he hated.