The Velvet Underground White Light/White Heat Song by Song Thread

Such a dangerous, weird and wonderful album it is.

 

I listened to the Gymnasium live bonus disc...that's some dark **** too, like the hypnotic version of Sister Ray. That disc sounds like a template for all coming punk bands.

 

Here She comes Now

Guitars tuned down a whole step.

Opens with lilting folky chords of E and E suspended 4th. A mild gallop feel to the rhythm guitar and drums. Folky fills from the second guitar from Lou. Lou's vocals at :17 in the verse sound tentative and bent at points. Viola is somber and adds to Lou's vocals. When the B section enters with A major, he sounds more secure about his expectations. The turnaround chord is a borrowed chord of C major and you expect to hear the D chord follow but it doesn't and your ear hangs suspended.....will she ever come? The verse returns and Lou sounds mellow. The B section...I guess we can call it a chorus...reappears, he sounds more emphatic. The turnaround chord follows and the verse is used to outro the song. Lou sounds improvisatory and the song fades with him repeating ever, ever, ever.....

Beautiful song that stands out like a desert island amidst the noise of most of the rest of the album. Trademark Lou structure with 8 bars of blues like verses a four bar B section or chorus and then the turnaround post chorus. The other guys helped with the song and it is a winner IMO. Sounds just sloppy enough to make it brilliant. About a guitar to me but could mean something else.

 

cool info on the play! the legendary mario montez in the nuns chorus (wish I was in ny around this time!) I bought a used book years ago and inside found a flyer for one of Jackie Curtis's plays from the early 1970's. a great time for art
so.....lady godiva goes in for....some sort of operation, ends up losing his manhood (the cabbage?) and a lobotomy go bad? sister ray is easier to follow.

 

Nirvanas cover of this song is one of the few VU covers I really like. Simple but pretty song with the lyrical double entendre adding another winking layer. A reprieve before the all out assault of side 2 with I heard her call my name and Sister Ray.

 

I've been waiting for this one IMO it's the best thing the Velvets ever did. 2 minutes of absolute trancelike dreamscape magic and perfection. The magic is in the arrangement. I've never heard anything like it from anyone else. It's ornate, moody, dreamy and filled with tremendous hooks ("if she ever comes now now....").
A gorgeous folky guitar pattern with dreamy viola, crunchy garage sounding rhythm guitar and some rather interesting percussion from Mo. There's a basic beat coupled coupled with repeated light 'ticks', almost sounding like Mo playing the metal frame of one of her drums (or could be a wood block). It's sounds like two different percussive parts (possibly an overdub). The percussion is much clearer on the mono lp and 45 mix. I love how the bass doesn't come in until the end but just a few low notes adds more sonic punch to the proceedings. The only other song I've ever heard that comes close to this kind of dreamy moody ornate sound is the Rising Storm's 'Frozen Laughter' from their '67 lp. Otherwise this little gem is in a class by itself.

 

And Jack Smith on costumes.

 

I don't think I ever caught that! Thanks!
I like this song, it's got layers.

 

Good cover by Cabaret Voltaire too, though they get rid of most of the chords and make do with two (I think).

The Velvets were so good at arranging their songs, everything about this is perfect, esp. the drumbeat.

 

it really could've gone on for another 7-8 minutes id be ok with it. ive always loved lous speedy stuttering delivery which he whips out occasion/ id love to hear how they constructed this in the studio, outtakes, anything. creepy beautiful

 

Here She Comes Now

Best VU song? Absolutely. Sends me into a reverie. It feels like I could never fathom the quiet seductive beauty of this song.

The lyric is as mysterious as the music and hopefully always will be. A 'she' that is made out of wood? My personal theory used to be that it could be a boat, others suggest Lou Reed's favourite guitar at the time he wrote it. And I guess we will never know.

The only thing that comes close is the demo version. I'm so glad we have that too.

At times I like to imagine that this is what a 3rd album with Cale could have been like.

Sometimes I line all up the versions I have and play them back to back. The only VU song I have attempted on guitar. (And I can't even play guitar).

 

I once thought I noticed that there were two versions of this logged on the MGM recordings database. I had hoped a second one would show up on the 45th box.

 

Glad you appreciate HSCN as well. It's just one of those rare 'atom smashing' quality songs where all the stars and planets are properly aligned for a brief moment , more perfect than perfection
I'm not sure what to make of the 'she's made out of wood' line. Is it just a throwaway line or is she a mannequin or some reference to one of the weirdos passing by at Andy's Factory?
I love the early 'Wollensak' demo version of HSCN as well. I'm glad that tape got an official release on the first VU CD box set. The early demo has the same hypnotic beauty of the official version mainly because of Cale's viola. I too have always wished Cale could have remained in the band. That magic that he and Reed created was of another universe that few others have visited such as Syd Barrett with Pink Floyd or Dylan's body of work between late '65 through Blonde On Blonde.

 

I think it refers to Lou's Ostrich guitar. A few times he he was taking it out of the case in front of the band and he said, "here she comes"......or something similar. Hence, the lyrics.

 

That's news I can use. Thanks!

 

I was going to say my favorite 2 minutes in a row on Side 1 but Godiva has that equaled or beat by some. I know I'm not doing myself any favors with my posts that are not exemplar-rarily complimentary but I appreciate the space and opportunity to contribute my thoughts here fwiw! I feel like this is barely a song even though I really like it and I like the vocal tone and the repetition and the variants in its nervous delivery. I hear the song title in the song but also in a shakey voice, on the last go-round, I hear 'the shiver comes now now' and I like hearing it that way with the quivering vocal. The style, arrangement, and performance seem of a group of 'the Nico songs' from the debut and a few more from the upcoming 3rd album (mentioned upthread). Listening to the song once tonight it kind of makes me want to hear it in a bigger context as a lead-in to another song. I guess Heroin is the 1st that comes to mind but I'm sure that there are others on my mind.

 

No. Have a read of the lyrics, preferably from Lou’s Between Thought and Expression book. The operation is a lobotomy, nothing more. There is no simultaneous sex change or genital mutilation (no doctor on Earth would ever attempt two such, completely different, operations at the same time).

The cabbage referred to is the brain. It’s a common term for someone who has become brain-dead. I’ve never heard the penis referred to as a cabbage, ever.

 

“Here She Comes Now”

It’s a pretty tune, and there’s a mantric quality to the lyric, but I have to agree that it’s a very slight song. Just a sketch of an idea, to me, barely developed. I’m not hearing the genius others here attribute to it, but that’s okay. There’s plenty of genius to go around on this album.

FWIW, I agree that it’s probably about Lou’s guitar. I certainly prefer that interpretation to the oft-stated (elsewhere than on this thread) opinion that it concerns the female orgasm.

This is part of the frustration for me, also. I’ve always thought the placement of the song as the final track on side one is meant as a kind of musical joke: here she (my guitar) comes now — turn over the record and hear her in all her glory.

 

These song by song threads are one of the great things about this forum. Never cease to amaze me in a good way.

 

I hate the orgasm idea . I presume this is the idea once floated that 'made of wood' means 'wooden', referring to a (sexually) unresponsive woman. Not an idea I personally could willingly entertain.

For me the position of the song is perfect. It's the lull-in-the-storm moment of the album – at the end of side one, half-way between heaven and hell. Or half-way between hell and hell, depending on your proclivity. Whichever, it's preparing us for the next track.

 

Yeah, it’s not convincing, and, even for the times, an extremely crass idea. I don’t think that’s what Lou had in mind at all.

Absolutely. For me, the sequencing of the song is almost as important as the song itself.

 

I do agree that this is the accepted inspiration for the song. However, for me, it's one of those Reed lyrics which seem to expand into other meanings beyond their starting point. To me its a kind of hazy-dreamy melancholic song of love, longing and innocence.

Is it my imagination that Reed sings '...looking thin', just after the point where the bass comes in?

Also, has anyone tried to decipher the lyrics in the demo version of Here She Comes Now?

 

Reminds me of "I'm sticking with you / 'cos I'm made out of glue" or "Your wife has married a midget's son", Lou had a playful, goofy side in the 60s.

 

whew ok, not quite as nightmarish