from CD Loaded (Fully Loaded Edition), recorded: 1970, released: 1997This chugging, stripped down version of the track found on the Velvet’s album Loaded makes a very strong case as my favorite love song for all time; the funny thing is, I never liked the rendering they chose to include on the original album, and didn’t give it any attention. Only after the CD reissue of that album had dropped, with all the demo versions and other assorted goodies on it, did I stop and listen---and boy did I stop! Harmonica (er, ahem, mouth harp), light & steady drumming, acoustic guitar and some electrified finger-picking turned all the way down; it all comes across very Dylanesque, in a good way, but that may be what ultimately made Lou choose to slow it way down and blues it out for the official release. This version trucks along nicely, sunny vibes, but textured with minor-chord-melancholia, just like I love; the harmonica’s melodies tie things up with such antique emotion, as only that instrument can. “I found a reason to keep livin’, and the reason, dear, is you…I found a way to make it all stop repeating, and the reason, dear, is you…I found a reason to keep singin’, and the reason, dear, is you…” No fancy, mystical lyricism here, just some of the most graceful yet potent compliments one could ever be paid. Lou Reed being Lou Reed, he couldn’t just write a simple love song, so we are treated to a duo of existential verse, “…I do believe, if you don’t like things you leave, go someplace you never been before…” Admittedly, if I’ve had a little too much to drink or puff, that line can get my eyes welling up a little…all the miles, all the highways… He leaves things on a hopeful path however, “…I do believe, you are what you perceive, what comes is better than what came before…” We control our own destinies, our own identity, even if society does its damnedest to define those things for us; we truly are what we perceive---the looking-glass self, as Cooley would say. Adoring, but in such an introspective way that it doesn’t sound the least bit trite, this demo is the only version I ever need to hear. 831 bebe
