"Satellite of Love" | ||||
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Single by Lou Reed | ||||
from the album Transformer | ||||
A-side | "Vicious" (Europe) | |||
B-side | "Walk and Talk It" (North America and Australia) | |||
Released | February 1973 | |||
Genre | Glam rock [1] | |||
Length | 3:42 | |||
Label | RCA Victor | |||
Songwriter(s) | Lou Reed | |||
Producer(s) | David Bowie, Mick Ronson | |||
Lou Reed singles chronology | ||||
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Official audio | ||||
"Satellite of Love" on YouTube |
"Satellite of Love" is a song by American musician Lou Reed. It is the second single from his 1972 album Transformer . At the time of its release, it achieved minor US chart success (No. 119), though it later became a staple of his concerts and compilation albums.
"Satellite of Love" was composed in 1970 while Reed was still a member of the Velvet Underground. Fellow member Doug Yule, in a 2005 interview, recalled Reed's first mentioning the song to him in the summer of 1970 while they were riding in the back of a limousine with Steve Sesnick: "Steve was there going on about "how we needed airplay", and Lou said "I have this song 'Satellite of Love', and he mentioned the satellite that had just gone up which was a big deal in the news at the time, cause the space race was happening, and Steve Sesnick said 'Yeah, yeah – that'll do it!'" [2] While the band had soon recorded a demo track in the summer of 1970 during the sessions for Loaded , it did not make the final album.
The song is about a man who observes a satellite launch on television, and contemplates what Reed describes as feelings of "the worst kind of jealousy" about his unfaithful girlfriend. [3] The chorus is:
David Bowie, who produced the album with Mick Ronson, provided background vocals, especially for the final chorus. Reed wrote later: "He has a melodic sense that's just well above anyone else in rock & roll. Most people could not sing some of his melodies. He can really go for a high note. Take 'Satellite of Love', on my Transformer album. There's a part at the very end where his voice goes all the way up. It's fabulous." [4]
The existence of the original Velvet Underground version was unknown until the release of the box set Peel Slowly and See in 1995. It also appears on the 1997 Rhino Records 2-CD version of the Loaded album.
In addition to being more up-tempo, the band's version contains a significant change in the lyrics. The lines:
were originally recorded as:
Reflecting on the original lyrics, Reed said, "Jesus. Best left forgotten. Obviously, I didn't want to use real names yet. I probably wanted to make sure I wasn't using a name that really meant something to me." [3]
The song topped the Far Out 's top ten list of Lou Reed's songs. [5] Cash Box called it "another strange effort that should attract a varied crowd of record buyers" and "stands a great commercial shot at scoring many chart points." [6] Record World called it a "cosmic composition" and said that "David Bowie's genius is there in the production." [7]
"Satellite of Love '04"
Chart (2004) | Peak position |
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Netherlands (Single Top 100) [8] | 100 |
UK Singles (OCC) [9] | 10 |
"Satellite of Love" | ||||
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Single by Morrissey | ||||
Released | 2 December 2013 | |||
Length | 3:46 | |||
Label | Parlophone | |||
Songwriter(s) | Lou Reed | |||
Producer(s) | David Millward, Mick Ronson | |||
Morrissey singles chronology | ||||
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Morrissey's live cover of the song was digitally released on 2 December 2013 as a tribute to Reed, following his death in 2013. The song was recorded on 25 November 2011 in at the Chelsea Ballroom of Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in Nevada. [10] [11] [12] The 7" and 12" vinyl version and a three-track digital version were also released on January 28, 2014. [13] All three versions of the single were supported by additional live tracks, including a rendition of the Smiths' song "Vicar in a Tutu", a cover of Buzzcocks' song "You Say You Don't Love Me" and his 1992 song "You're Gonna Need Someone on Your Side". [13] [14] The cover topped the U.S. Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart. [15]
12"
A-side
B-side
7"
A-side
B-side
Digital download
Chart (2014) | Peak position |
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US Billboard Hot Singles Sales [15] | 1 |
U2 performed the song for the 1992 Zoo TV Tour featuring Lou Reed via a giant screen. Tyler Golsen of the Far Out Magazine listed the live performance as one of "seven of the best Lou Reed covers of all time." [16]
The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness was a benefit concert held on Easter Monday, 20 April 1992, at Wembley Stadium in London, England, for an audience of 72,000. The concert was produced for television by Ray Burdis, directed by David Mallet and broadcast live on television and radio to 76 countries around the world, with an audience of up to one billion. The concert was a tribute to Queen's lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury, who died of AIDS on 24 November 1991.
Lewis Allan Reed was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band The Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Although not commercially successful during its existence, the Velvet Underground came to be regarded as one of the most influential bands in the history of underground and alternative rock music. Reed's distinctive deadpan voice, poetic and transgressive lyrics, and experimental guitar playing were trademarks throughout his long career.
Michael Ronson was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session musician who recorded five studio albums with Bowie followed by four with Ian Hunter, and also worked as a sideman in touring bands with Van Morrison and Bob Dylan. A classically trained musician, Ronson was known for his melodic approach to guitar playing.
Your Arsenal is the third studio album by English singer Morrissey, released on 27 July 1992 by record label HMV.
Velvet Goldmine is a 1998 musical drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes from a story by Haynes and James Lyons. It is set in Britain during the glam rock days of the early 1970s, and tells the story of fictional bisexual pop star Brian Slade, who faked his own death. The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival and won the award for the Best Artistic Contribution. Sandy Powell received a BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design. The film uses non-linear storytelling to achieve exposition while interweaving the vignettes of its various characters.
Transformer is the second solo studio album by American recording artist Lou Reed. Produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, the album was released on November 8, 1972 by RCA Records. It is considered an influential landmark of the glam rock genre, anchored by Reed's most successful single, "Walk on the Wild Side", which touched on controversial topics of sexual orientation, gender identity, prostitution and drug use. Although Reed's self-titled debut solo album had been unsuccessful, Bowie had been an early fan of Reed's former band The Velvet Underground and used his fame to promote Reed, who had not yet achieved mainstream success.
Beethoven Was Deaf is a live album by Morrissey, recorded around the time of the tour for Your Arsenal. The songs were recorded live at Paris Zenith on 22 December 1992, except for "You're the One for Me, Fatty," "Certain People I Know," "The National Front Disco," "We'll Let You Know," "He Knows I'd Love to See Him," "You're Gonna Need Someone on Your Side" and "Glamorous Glue" which were recorded in London 2 days before.
"Walk on the Wild Side" is a song by American rock musician Lou Reed from his second solo studio album, Transformer (1972). It was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson and released as a double A-side with "Perfect Day". Known as a counterculture anthem, the song received wide radio coverage and became Reed's biggest hit and signature song while touching on topics considered taboo at the time, such as transgender people, drugs, male prostitution, and oral sex.
1969: The Velvet Underground Live is a live album by the Velvet Underground. It was originally released as a double album in September 1974 by Mercury Records. The September 1988 CD re-release was issued as two separate single CD volumes, with one extra track per disc. Since many of the band's studio albums were out of print in the United States from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, 1969 was one of the more popular albums by the band, and is a fan favorite. Spin magazine's Alternative Record Guide included it in the top 100 alternative albums of all time in 1995.
Final V.U. 1971–1973 is a box set by the Velvet Underground, comprising live recordings from after founding members Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison had left the group. It was released by Japanese record company Captain Trip Records in August 2001.
All the Young Dudes is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Mott the Hoople, released in 1972. It was their initial album for the CBS Records label, after three years with Island Records in the UK and Atlantic Records in the United States and Canada.
"Queen Bitch" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was originally released on his 1971 album Hunky Dory before appearing as the B-side of the single "Rebel Rebel" in the United Kingdom in early 1974. Co-produced by Bowie and Ken Scott, the lineup consisted of the musicians who would later become known as the Spiders from Mars: Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and Mick Woodmansey.
"I'm Waiting for the Man" is a song by American rock band the Velvet Underground. Written by Lou Reed, it was first released on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. The lyrics describe a man's efforts to obtain heroin in Harlem.
Lou Reed Live is a live album by Lou Reed, released in 1975. It was recorded at the same concert as Rock 'n' Roll Animal ; on December 21, 1973, at Howard Stein's Academy of Music in New York. It features three songs from Transformer, one song from The Velvet Underground & Nico and two songs from Berlin. Between this album and the remastered Rock 'n' Roll Animal, the entire show has been released, albeit in a different order than the original concert setlist.
Slaughter on 10th Avenue is the debut album by English guitarist Mick Ronson, then-guitarist of David Bowie's backing band the Spiders from Mars. It was released in February 1974 by RCA Records.
Play Don't Worry is the second album by English guitarist and singer Mick Ronson, recorded in 1974 and released in January 1975 after his several projects in the early seventies together with David Bowie, Lou Reed and the band the Spiders from Mars. It contains mainly covers arranged by Ronson for his own sound, covering everyone from Pure Prairie League, The Velvet Underground and Little Richard. The backing track to "White Light/White Heat" was salvaged from Bowie's Pin Ups sessions. The title track was co-written by Bob Sargeant, later producer to The Beat amongst others, who released an album First Starring Role in April 1974 which included Ronson on recorder and producing four tracks.
"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.
"Pale Blue Eyes" is a song by American rock band the Velvet Underground, written and sung by Lou Reed. He recorded a demo with John Cale in May 1965. It was included on the band's 1969 album The Velvet Underground.
"Andy's Chest" is a song written by Lou Reed, inspired by the 1968 attempt on Andy Warhol's life. In June 1968, radical feminist writer Valerie Solanas shot Warhol and Mario Amaya, art critic and curator, at Warhol's studio. The Velvet Underground, of which Reed was the frontman, initially recorded the song in 1969, but the definitive version appears on Reed's solo release Transformer, co-produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson.