Lou Reed makes up with Susan Boyle by directing her new music video
By Brian FairbanksNovember 8th, 2010, 10:35 amComments (3)
Remember how I cheered when one of my musical idols, Lou Reed, scoffed at letting a lame TV show use "Perfect Day"? Well, now I have to eat my words a bit because it turns out Lou Reed doesn't hate America's Got Talent after all... or maybe it's that he just loves Susan Boyle.
The former glam rocker (oh, and inventor of noise, punk, goth, indie rock, etc. etc.) has supposedly made up to Boyle for refusing to let her sing his 1972 Transformer cut by directing the music video version. This isn't something I'd normally go in for -- talking about her at all -- but it would be news to me when Reed (seen above with former muse Nico) does anything other than mope around the West Village with his wife Laurie Anderson.
Her cover isn't as unbearable as I expected it to be, but Reed's video is amusing for several other reasons: 1) it's set against a bombastic backdrop in the Scottish Highlands 2) is still somehow less bombastic than Reed's own version 3) Double Rainbow!
4) because I'm still pretty convinced no one (especially Lou) has so far bothered to inform Boyle that this is a song rumored to be about doing a shitload of heroin.
Commentarium (3 Comments)
It would actually be alright except for the orchestra/choir bit during the chorus. I mean, not my cup of tea, but a pretty legitimate interpretation. More than a little condescending/hipster doofus of you to assume that Boyle isn't a Velvet Underground fan and might not have known what the song was originally about. You can't say it doesn't make sense presented like this and she might have just seen an opportunity. Maybe Boyle's having a bit of fun.
Where does he say she wasn't a VU fan? and what difference does that make, since A) it was a Lou Reed solo song and never recorded with VU and B) even if she was a VU or Lou fan, she probably didn't know that the song was about heroin. A song called "Heroin" on the other hand....
I honestly don't think it's a bad remake. I still prefer the original. At least Black Eyed Peas didn't redo the song.
Now you say something