The Wit and Wisdom of Sterling Morrisson

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This made me laugh...

"Interviewer: Why do you say that New Wave music is folk music?
SM: Maybe I'm trapped by certain beliefs, but in the early '60s, on college campuses, you went one of two days. Either you were a very sensitive young person, who cared about air pollution and civil rights and anti-Vietnam or you were a very unsensitive young person, who didn't care about civil rights because all the blacks he knew were playing in his band or in his audience. I was a very unsensitive young person and played very unsensitive, uncaring music. Which is Wham, Bam, Pow! Let's Rock Out! What I expected my audience to do was tear the house down, beat me up, whatever. Lou and I came from the identical environment of Long Island rock 'n' roll bars, where you can drink anything at 18, everybody had phony proof at 16; I was a night crawler in high school and played some of the sleaziest bars. You can't quite imagine them in Texas - people didn't carry guns, that's the only difference.
In the '60s I had King Hatreds. I was a biker type and hung around with nasty black people and nasty white people and black rock 'n' roll music. On the other hand, you had very sensitive and responsible young people suddenly attuned to certain cosmic questions that beckon us all, and expressing these concerns through acoustic guitars and lilting harmonies and pale melodies. I hate these people."

― metalmickey, Friday, 28 May 2004 07:29 (twenty-two years ago)

classic. I've read some pretty funny anti-hippie rants from Lou as well.

― AaronHz (AaronHz), Friday, 28 May 2004 07:35 (twenty-two years ago)

so how come all those acoustic demos in the boxset sound like them trying to be bob dylan? (although i can't remember if sterling played on them or not, it could be just lou & john)

― zappi (joni), Friday, 28 May 2004 07:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I met him once (oh god here he goes again)

Him and Mo played Reading Uni a year or so before the first VU reunion in Paris. Mo was great, I'd met her before and chatted to her briefly (five mins). Sterl had a few people around and was anecdoting about the old days and stuff. I made a jokey comment I forget which and he shot me a look which said "We're not all here to listen to you, are we?". To be honest, I wasn't offended as such, just that he struck me as being quite nervous/shy, and was seemingly still on-stage....

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 28 May 2004 07:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Heck, with only an accoustic guitar, even Slipnot sound like Bob Dylan.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 28 May 2004 07:47 (twenty-two years ago)

He continues:

Interviewer: Who in New Wave makes you "afraid" of it being folk music?
SM: Look at a recent Rolling Stone - it's happening to Elvis Costello: "You're rocking to Elvis Costello, but did you ever sit down, Jack, and listen to the lyrics?" Well, no Jack, I never sit down and listen to lyrics, because rock 'n' roll is not sit-down-and-listen-to-lyrics music! Why is it that the Velvet Underground's celebrated lyric-smiths never published a lyrics sheet? Was that to make you strain to hear the lyrics that you could never hear? No. It's because they were saying, "Fuck you. If you wanna listen to lyrics, then read the New York Times." It has nothing to do with the intellectual apprehension of content.

Interesting...

― metalmickey, Friday, 28 May 2004 08:14 (twenty-two years ago)

.. whereas Lou would say the opposite about lyrics, thesedays...

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 28 May 2004 08:16 (twenty-two years ago)

"Anybody who needs Bob Dylan to tell him which way the wind is blowing is a serious mental defective. See, I go back to: How well can you hear the words in a rock 'n' roll song? Listen to Rolling Stones records. The words are mixed so far back... they are non-important. If you're going to rock music to learn something verbally rather than physically or viscerally, then you're in a sad shape, baby. Death to me - and one of the reasons I wanted to stop playing - was when when we had start doing these giant sit-down things - where you stood on the edge of the stage and you'd look at people sitting down, gazing up reverently."

― metalmickey, Friday, 28 May 2004 08:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Truly, he was the rhythm guitarist in the Velvet Underground...

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 28 May 2004 08:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Sterling on Zappa :
"Zappa is horrible. Zappa is nothing. He's never written a song. I've never heard anybody cover a Frank Zappa song, hum one, sing one, whistle one, they don't exist, just album after album of heavy handeed condescending crap. Does he really think he's the only person who could read music? It's ridiculous!"

(from an interview with Ignatio Julia, my copy is the reprint in the "Velvet Underground Companion" -- an excellent read)

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Friday, 28 May 2004 13:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I was going to say, this is quite an old interview ...

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:02 (twenty-two years ago)

"I've never heard anybody cover a Frank Zappa song, hum one, sing one, whistle one, they don't exist"

There's a cover of "Help, I'm a Rock!" on the first West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band LP, which came out in 1968 (1967?). Sterling really shoulda searched that out.

― Vic Funk, Friday, 28 May 2004 14:14 (twenty-two years ago)

so fucking funny that Sterling, lyrics-hater, was a PhD candidate in literature, no?

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Wasn't it medieval English?

He never wrote no lyrics though...

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I mean it's funny anyway even compared to his tugboat captain career, but the literature prof part makes it somewhat poignant.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:17 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah medieval English sure ain't known for its "lyricism."

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I want more quotes! These are all so entertaining.

― David Allen (David Allen), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:23 (twenty-two years ago)

"Well, no Jack, I never sit down and listen to lyrics, because rock 'n' roll is not sit-down-and-listen-to-lyrics music!"

ah, this is going to be my epitaph...

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:41 (twenty-two years ago)

"Pale Blues" ain't no sit-down-and-listen-to-lyrics music! Fuck that!

These are really entertaining, nonetheless.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:53 (twenty-two years ago)

That gig I mentioned above is the only time I know of that Sterling ever sung. "I'm sticking with you", Lou's parts. The audience was quite startled.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:55 (twenty-two years ago)

SterMo & FraZa surely dusting it up down in r-n-r hell at this very moment.

― briania (briania), Friday, 28 May 2004 14:58 (twenty-two years ago)

"Pale Blues"? Wtf. "Pale Blue Eyes." My bad.

(x-post)

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Sterling could whip Zappa's ass any day of the week.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Ain't nothing sadder than an intellectual realizing the great noble savage tradition he ran to could be "tainted" by the cerebral just like...well, just like ANYTHING else. And COME ON, when, you say something like "if you're going to rock music to learn something verbally rather than physically or viscerally, then you're in a sad shape, baby" then you're already far too cerebral for your own damned self.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:02 (twenty-two years ago)

well duh, he was a professor, of course he's cerebral.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:04 (twenty-two years ago)

And these great mythic Long Island rock & roll bars he grew up in...having lived on Long Island for about twenty years, I refuse to believe these were anything but a sixties equivalent of "Da Funky Phish" and other tribute band hell-holes.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:06 (twenty-two years ago)

those were different times.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:08 (twenty-two years ago)

the poets they studied rules of verse, and the ladies? they just rolled their eyes.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:09 (twenty-two years ago)

rock and roll is for the ladies -- proven by lyrics.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Sterling also possibly hated Zappa because of VU business reasons.

― earlnash, Friday, 28 May 2004 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

The point isn't merely that he's cerebral (which is neither here nor there), but that he's a rock & roller expressing his disdain for rock cerebralness in ways that are actually kinda cerebral.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

maybe he was being ironic?

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:12 (twenty-two years ago)

it seems to me he was more anti-stting down than he was listening to lyrics. he was ok with standing up and listening to lyrics. makes sense to me.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I have to assume there was a bit of disingenousness going on when he made these quotes. HE WAS IN A BAND WITH LOU REED, PEOPLE!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I mean holy shit, have you heard those ghastly '65 demos? "Prominent Men"? This is a guy who jumped at the chance to play on "Heroin."

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

all the blacks he knew were playing in his band

http://www.statinstabili.it/images/musica/Velvet_Underground/velvet%20underground.jpg

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:16 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah anthony but you've heard the live boots, right? they'd go lyricless on booker t jams etc. for ages.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

SM always shined the most on the jam trax anyway -- witness the godlike Sweet Nuthin'.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

my point is that mr. Wham, Bam, Pow! Let's Rock Out! picked a pretty funny band to espouse this philosophy with.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Anthony OTM re: disingenuousness not irony.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:23 (twenty-two years ago)

the velvets rocked out like nobody else, asshole.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Anthony OTM re: disingenuousness not irony.

how can you tell?

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:24 (twenty-two years ago)

maybe i'm wrong here, but i think he was simply trying to remind us that before everything there was little richard.
vu were little richard + heroin.

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:25 (twenty-two years ago)

also VU great at meshing lyrical/musical intensity doesn't necessarily dilute Sterling's point, per se.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:25 (twenty-two years ago)

all these indie kids come up thinking that the s/t was like their definitive statement and that the "closet mix" as included on the boxset is the "real" one.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

If he's so pissed off at the developments that he wants to stop playing (altogether?), that implies something other than the detachment of irony.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:28 (twenty-two years ago)

"I thought if sounked like it was recorded in a
closet," he says. "Why did he do it? I don't know specifically. To judge from the result, to bring the voices up and put the
instruments down. I guess he felt the real essence of the tracks was the lyrics. Whereas one thing I always liked about Rolling
Stones records was the voice was always back in the mix."

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

and even then they had "murder mystery" on that album and would TEAR thu "what goes on" and "beginning to see the light" live.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Daddino, maybe you'd have prefered it if SM said "I no like lyrics, like rock! I want rock out! Grrr."

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

If he's so pissed off at the developments that he wants to stop playing (altogether?), that implies something other than the detachment of irony.

well this quote is from when his music career was long over, no?

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm dedicating this spin of "The Gift" to you, Clover. Why the hell do you think that the fact that they ALSO rocked out negates the hilarity of a member of the Velvet Underground decrying attention to lyrics? Morrison was in a band that did A + B and is saying that A sucks and B is great.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

You know, even if the vox were in fact buried in the mix, I've never perceived Rolling Stones songs as having buried vocals, maybe because Jagger is always such a palpable presence. Anyway, I always assumed the indecipherability of the words was due to Jagger slurring his words.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Jagger has said in interviews that lyrics were put lower in the mix when he didn't like them and higher when he was proud of what he said.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I no like lyrics, like rock! I want rock out! Grrr."

Well, if only because he'd be a little more consistent. Tho such consistency wouldn't be terribly exciting, true.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:35 (twenty-two years ago)

consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, bro.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:36 (twenty-two years ago)

he's decrying attention to lyrics AT THE EXPENSE OF the music. and the beauty of the gift is i can just turn the right channel up and the left channel down and nevah hear the words at all if i want.

when they played live they didn't do "the gift" anyway, they just rocked the booker t. jam.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:36 (twenty-two years ago)

well this quote is from when his music career was long over, no?

Well, sure, but much of what he says elsewhere (esp. about Elvis Costello) implies he still held those ideals at the time of the interview.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

sterling clover rules almost as much as sterling morrisson.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, bro.

Yeah, but his form of inconsistency is a bore, too.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I think he was maybe just going a little overboard in his comments. I'm sure he liked Lou's lyrics (to whatever extent he actually did). He was just saying "Hey, this isn't a Donovan record," really.

― Tim Ellison, Friday, 28 May 2004 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

did you not get my reference, Michael?

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:40 (twenty-two years ago)

"Fuck you. If you wanna listen to lyrics, then read the New York Times." was said before Lou Reed has those lyrics from New York put in the NYT op-ed section (and later printed in Beyond Thought And Expression), right?

Sterling Clover will rock as much as Sterling Morrison when he spends a decade as a tugboat captain.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:40 (twenty-two years ago)

whatever Anthony you've never seen Sterling dance.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:40 (twenty-two years ago)

he's decrying attention to lyrics AT THE EXPENSE OF the music.

Sure, but this can also lead to music as bogus as any rock-as-poetry schmaltz, if not as comforming to recieved ideas of what constitutes rock pretension.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:41 (twenty-two years ago)

this is true.

(x-post)

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I sold all my Emerson, Lake & Palmer records, btw.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Michael, yeah, but the V.U. weren't guilty of this themselves. And who ran out and started a pretentious poetry-sucks-let's-rock band after misinterpreting Morrison's comments?

― Tim Ellison, Friday, 28 May 2004 15:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Anyway, certain Donovan records are really instances when the music really overwhelms the lyrics...they're some of the most overproduced joints in the sixties (and great too!)

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

"The Gift" short story is a high-school effort. A lot of the lyrics aren't so great. I think SM was right, the lyrics aren't the most important thing. They're just there to be heard in a fragmented way to create a mood. Who cares what "What Goes On" is about? It's still one of the greatest songs ever.

― Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I care what What Goes On is about! It's about how everything will be alright!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Michael, yeah, but the V.U. weren't guilty of this themselves. And who ran out and started a pretentious poetry-sucks-let's-rock band after misinterpreting Morrison's comments?

This is true, but it doesn't make what he says any sharper.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

OK, Donovan is an easy target--you're right. I like some Donovan a lot, too. Who cares what "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" is about? It's still one of the greatest songs ever.

― Tim Ellison, Friday, 28 May 2004 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I definitely prefer an SM who doesn't think lyrics are the most important thing.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Sia Michel, Stephin Merritt, Stephen Malkmus and Sader-Masoch are all trying to figure out who you're ripping on.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, I'm wrong. I do care what "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" is about. I was getting carried away like Sterling.

― Tim Ellison, Friday, 28 May 2004 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

http://sportsmed.starwave.com/media/pg2/2002/0221/photo/cheers.jpg
"lyrics don't mean SHIT, Diane!"

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 May 2004 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

MD: any idea can lead to bad music. that's the tragedy of ideas.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 28 May 2004 16:10 (twenty-two years ago)

OK:

"They're just there to be heard in a fragmented way to create a mood."

But if you write a set of lyrics with a certain overall poetic syntax, that syntax is obviously significant to you or you wouldn't have created it in the first place. That said, I do like the idea of "they're just there to be heard in a fragmented way." That's been my own history with rock and roll, anyway. I've enjoyed sort of knowing what songs are about, sort of knowing that a song like "What Goes On" seems to have pretty cool lyrics even though I never paid much attention to them.

I just got the new Fall album, though. Note that Fall albums never have printed lyrics (and that the lyrics are fragmented). There is, however, the "Fall Lyrics Parade" project online and they already have all of the new album up. And I sat and looked at the lyrics on the computer as I listened to it the first time through. I only did this, though, because I thought I might write about the album and I was just trying to be efficient. I've enjoyed getting Fall songs by a slower process in the past. Now, though, I probably never WOULD get much out of a new Fall album if I didn't do this because I'd never get around to listening to the thing much! That's not because the new Fall album isn't great, but because there are like six other great new albums that I also haven't gotten to listen to much.

And, hey, I enjoyed listening to the album that way, so there you go.

― Tim Ellison, Friday, 28 May 2004 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Writing fragmented, mood-setting lyrics effectively is one of the most challenging things to do in any form of music. They're great word, and should be taken as a whole with the music.

And besides; I think in any great band, the lead guitarist should be all FUCK LYRICS FAG-FACES, LETS RAWK and the lead singer should be locked in the bathroom with a pen and tears streaming down his face, or in any good band in my book at least.

― David Allen (David Allen), Friday, 28 May 2004 17:39 (twenty-two years ago)

in any great band, the lead guitarist should be all FUCK LYRICS FAG-FACES, LETS RAWK and the lead singer should be locked in the bathroom with a pen and tears streaming down his face,

great - which bands does this hold true for? GN'R? Darkness? Zep? Sabbath?

― 57 7th (calstars), Friday, 28 May 2004 17:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Just Wham.

― David Allen (David Allen), Friday, 28 May 2004 17:53 (twenty-two years ago)

ha ha ha

― 57 7th (calstars), Friday, 28 May 2004 17:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Morrison:

"John and I were very happy with "Sister Ray"-type music. Although I'm teaching English now, I don't really care about lyrics in music. I like energy and emotion, yelling and grunting. Snarls and hisses like in 'The Black Angel's Death Song' - that's Cale hissing. Lou placed heavy emphasis on lyrics, while Cale and I were more interested in blasting the house down."

and

"Cale's departure allowed Lou Reed's sensitive, meaningful side to hold sway. Why do you think 'Pale Blue Eyes' happened on the third album, with Cale out of there? That's a song about Lou's old girlfriend in Syracuse. I said, 'Lou, if I wrote a song like that I wouldn't make you play it.' My position on that album was one of acquiescence.'

The man did have a point. Imagine how utterly worthless a Costello album stripped of vocals would be. (Not that one with vocals is much of anything.)

― kjoerup, Friday, 28 May 2004 17:55 (twenty-two years ago)

so fucking funny that Sterling, lyrics-hater, was a PhD candidate in literature, no?

-- hstencil (hstenci...) (webmail), May 28th, 2004 8:15 AM. (hstencil) (later) (link)

actually, this makes perfect sense to me.

anyway, i think there is a slightly suspect primitivist notion behind some of what he's saying, but i'm willing to guess that he's exaggerating for effect. he's trying to foreground those aspects of rock and roll that he thinks are important, and yes, that aspect of the VU that is often overlooked.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 28 May 2004 21:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't believe you can earn a Ph.D for playing excellent rhythm guitar (& the infrequent solo.)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 12:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Sterl just had a bug up his ass about how everyone thought the Velvet Underground was all about Lou Reed

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 12:32 (twenty-two years ago)

"the infrequent solo"

I've always thought that Sterling did more of the solos on the records than, for some reason, he gets credit for.

― Tim Ellison, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 14:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Could be wrong. If I remember correctly, he did a lot of them on the Paris reunion show video/album.

― Tim Ellison, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 14:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Up to Cale leaving, Reed did most of the solos thereafter I think Sterl did most - but I'm talking on disc, live Lou still blasted 'em out. Then of course there is Doug Yule on "Loaded", what solos did he play?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 14:51 (twenty-two years ago)

yule was the bassist yeah?

― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 21:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Imagine how utterly worthless a Costello album stripped of vocals would be.

Well maybe vocals are crucial, but I could use different lyrics. I was just listening to Armed Forces the other day and wished that his hooks weren't connected to pretentious puns that add up to "Don't Tread On Me, Bitch."

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 21:53 (twenty-two years ago)

yule was the bassist yeah?

Indeed but if you believe the credits on "Loaded", and maybe you shouldn't, he played virtually everything else too: lead guitar, keyboards, drums.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 08:42 (twenty-two years ago)

"We had one protest song in the Velvet Underground and that was "Heroin". And we said, "Thank God I just don't care." You know - we don't like anything that you do - let's not get specific!! We don't want any of it, just leave us alone."

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Saturday, 12 June 2004 06:09 (twenty-two years ago)

four years pass...

Arthur has reprinted the interview from whence this thread sprang: http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/?p=3960
Funny stuff! Though yeah, I think Sterling probably just enjoyed being provocative. The dude was in the Velvet Underground, for god's sake. They were born contrarians.

― tylerw, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 04:05 (seventeen years ago)

twelve years pass...

*bump*

― Double Chocula (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 23 October 2021 00:36 (four years ago)

He's credited as co-writer on a few VU songs, but they're almost all group compositions (probably indicating that they started as jams).
The exception is "Chelsea Girl", the only song credited to Morrison/Reed. My assumption is that he came up with the melody and chord progression to Lou's lyric, because they're not typical of Lou's work. It's a shame he never wrote another.
Supposedly they both play guitar on the song, but I only hear one on the record, and that doesn't sound like Lou either.

― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 23 October 2021 01:07 (four years ago)

Sorry, the song title is "Chelsea Girls", the album is Chelsea Girl.

― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 23 October 2021 01:08 (four years ago)

Was just thinking exactly the same thing about that song within the past 24 hours

― Double Chocula (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 23 October 2021 01:28 (four years ago)

always my favourite Velvet

― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 23 October 2021 01:42 (four years ago)

a helluva guitarist

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 October 2021 02:34 (four years ago)

Yes, great rhythm player and his solos and fills are very distinctive despite being straight ahead rock and roll stuff, without Lou's avant pretensions.

― Starmer: "Let the children boogie, let all the children boogie." (Tom D.), Saturday, 23 October 2021 09:59 (four years ago)

His solo on "Rock and Roll" was the best moment of the reunion.

― Mark G, Saturday, 23 October 2021 12:00 (four years ago)

He has a couple fabulous moments on Luna's Bewitched.

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 October 2021 12:07 (four years ago)

The earnestness of trve kult rockers at the top of the thread is embarrassing. Might as well be quotes from a press release for a new The Hives record.

― Hannibal Lecture (PBKR), Saturday, 23 October 2021 12:29 (four years ago)

He has a couple fabulous moments on Luna's _Bewitched_.

Never listened to this one before, thanks. Couple is right.

― Double Chocula (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 23 October 2021 12:30 (four years ago)

“Chelsea Girls” totally sounds like Sterling-only on guitar, as noted above. Maybe Sterl wrote the music and Lou wrote the words. Not too many people left to ask, I guess.

― Through with “What’s the Buzz” (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 27 October 2021 03:56 (four years ago)

Wait, I take it back, at the very beginning I can distinguish two guitars.

― Through with “What’s the Buzz” (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 27 October 2021 03:58 (four years ago)

Now I can hear two guitars all the way through.

― Through with “What’s the Buzz” (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 27 October 2021 04:01 (four years ago)

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