songs for drella: c/d

"...There's only one good thing about a small town
- you hate it, and you know you have to leave."

It was a very cold clear fall night
I had a terrible dream
Billy Name and Brigid were playing under my stair case on the second floor about two o'clock in the morning

I woke up because Amos and Archie had started barking
That made me very angry because I wasn't feeling well and I told them I was very cross the real me that they just better remember what happened to Sam the bad cat that was left at home and got sick and went pussy heaven

It was a very cold clear fall night
Some snowflakes were falling
Gee, it was so beautiful
and so I went to get my camera to take some pictures
And then I was taking the pictures
but the exposure thing wasn't right
and I was going to call Fred or Gerry
to find out how to get set it
I was too late
and then I remembered they were still probably at dinner
and anyway
I felt really bad and didn't want to talk to anybody
but the snowflakes were so beautiful and real looking
and I really wanted to hold them
And that's when I heard the voices
from down the hall near the stairs
So I got a flashlight
and I was scared and I went out into the hallway
There's been all kinds of troubles
lately in the neighborhood
and someone's got to bring home the bacon and anyway
there were Brigid and Billy playing

And under the stair case
was a little meadow sort of like the park at 23rd street
where all the young kids go and play frisbee
Gee, that must be fun
maybe we should do an article on that in the magazine
but they'll just tell me I'm stupid and it won't sell
but I'll just hold my ground this time, I mean
it's my magazine, isn't it?

So I was thinking that as the snowflakes fell
and I heard those voices having so much fun
Gee, it would be so great to have some fun
So I called Billy
but either he didn't hear me or he didn't want to answer
which was so strange
because
even if I don't like reunions I've always loved Billy
I'm so glad he's working
I mean it's different than Ondine
He keeps touring with those movies
and he doesn't even pay us and the film
I mean the film's just going to disintegrate and then what
I mean he's so normal off of drugs
I just don't get it

And then I saw John Cale
he's been looking really great
He's been coming by the office to exercise with me
Ronnie said I have a muscle
but he's been really mean since he went to AA
I mean what does it mean
when you give up drinking and then you're still so mean
He says I'm being lazy but I'm not
I'm just can't find any ideas
I mean I'm just not
let's face it
going to get any ideas up at the office

And seeing John made me think of the Velvets
and I had been thinking about them
when I was on St. Marks Place
going to that new gallery those sweet new kids have opened
but the thought I was old
and then I saw the old DOM
the old club where we did our first shows
It was so great
And I don't understand about that Velvet's first album
I mean I did the cover
I was the producer
and I always see it repackaged
and I've never gotten a penny from it
How could that be
I should call Henry
but it was good seeing John
I did a cover for him
but I did in black and white and he change it to color
It would have been worth more if he'd left it my way
but you can never tell any body anything I've leaned that

I tried calling again to Billy and John
they wouldn't recognize me it was like I wasn't there
Why won't they let me in

And then I saw Lou
I'm so mad at him
Lou Reed got married and didn't invite me
I mean is it because he thought I'd bring too many people
I don't get it
could have at least called
I mean he's doing so great
Why doesn't he call me?
I saw him at the MTV show
and he was one row away and he didn't even say hello
I don't get it
You know I hate Lou
I really do
He won't even hire us for his videos
And I was proud of him

I was so scared today
There was blood leaking thought my shirt
from those old scars from being shot
And the corset I wear to keep my insides in was hurting
And I did three sets of fifteen pushups
and four sets of ten setups
But then my insides hurt
and I saw drops of blood on my shirt and I remember
the doctors saying I was dead
And then later they had to take blood out of my hand
'couse they ran out or veins
but then
all this thinking was making me an old grouch
and you can't do anything anyway so
if they wouldn't let me play with them in my own dream
I was just going to have to make another
and another
and another
Gee, wouldn't it be funny if I died in this dream
before I could make another one up

And nobody called

And nobody came

Still in my top 20 songs ever list after all these years.

must buy again. immediately.

but i haven't listened to it... well, probably since it came out.

and i knew nothing about warhol then; simply that i loved this music. which in turn got me into the velvets, which in turn got me into ... well, everything. this will be an interesting journey.

"open house" seems to take me back to, umm, being 16 in a way with which i'm not entirely comfortable. the guitar particularly ;)

aaargh. "you scared yourself with music/i scared myself with paint/i drew 550 different shoes today/it almost made me faint/open house". somehow this lives in a little part of my subconscious.

absolutely blinding. this has informed so much of what i've listened to in the last 15 years, and i've never realised.

wow.

-- Lynskey (pau...), November 26th, 2002.

^^^what a priss^^^

I believe
Life's serious enough for retribution
I believe
Being sick is no exucse
I believe
I would have pulled the switch on her myself

(That's how lots of people feel when a dear friend has been assaulted by a wingnut.)

woah @ A DREAM 17 years on.

eerie -- I heard this last week. "Nobody But You" and "Style It Takes" are just perfect.

I just bought this a week ago, and was surprised by how much I liked it, but then, in turn, surprised that I thought I wouldn't like it, and so forth. "Forever Changed" is pretty incredible.

Style it Takes (live) on.. snl?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzzgFOLa63A

pretty sure that clip is from Sanborn's "Night Music" - arguably the best live music show ever broadcast on network TV

good record! used to have the "deluxe edition" with a (i think) black velvet cover, but i'll be damned if i know where that went. looooove the version of "Style It Takes" on Cale's Fragments of A Rainy Season. "You want your freedom, make your freedom mine."

"Night Music" also hosted a fabulosu Pere Ubu performance of "Breath."

also Sun Ra, Sonic Youth, etc etc

this really was an unbelievable show

Show 208

The Pixies
Sun Ra
Syd Straw
Arthur Baker
Al Green
Sister Carol

still no dvd for the original film?? going for a fortune on amazon/ebay.

you tube to the rescue! (partly at least)
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=songs+for+drella&search=Search

Ha! The person who came up with a much better thread title for this was rebuffed! Despicable! Fuck an ILM! At least it wasn't locked, but why post there?

ARRGH! Even Grimly Fiendish knows this one! Holy hell! Grimly? You know this one? I'm surprised.

Come on guys, talk to me about it. I've got the itch. Sometimes lately I just think I could be happy listening to Lou Reed and John Cale forever. That it would be pretty impossible to exhaust the pleasure I could get from those two men, musically. I'm playing "The Dream" for the first time, now, though. I don't think I actually got this far into this album on the bus last time I played it.

Grimly...you know this???

"Images" sets my soul on fire, and the hairs on my arms stand on end. There are people who know what it is to feel passion about music, and there are those who don't. There are people who can write sane, 1000 word essays about music, maybe they are even paid for it, and I respect that because I can't relate to it. I side with those who are speechless.

It reminds me of when the last Kate Bush album came out after 12 long years. Now didn't that separate the men from the boys? Some people said "oh shame on you fuckers for losing your critical faculties" and others said "for god's sake shut the fuck up and listen". You know which side I'm on.

bump

(came here to blather about hearing Drella for the first time this weekend...but Bimble's posts say it all so BUMP instead.)

Yeah, the last is a classic Bimble post.

one day someone will compile his posts into a Bimble Listener's guide and it will be awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6L0UD_zn4A

they still look so young here don't they? i love the looks Cale is giving Reed, also how they left the bum notes in.

i guess it's pointless doing a poll for it as A Dream would trounce all the others.

Nah – pretty sure I'd vote for "Style It Takes" or "Small Town."

yeah, it'd be either "style it takes" or "open house" for me.

I would have pulled the switch on her myself

cale's "look" in that smalltown video is classic.

this was one of the first cds i ever purchased. i first got into the velvets and then into this album so i did not find it as amazing as others on this thread (even compared to "loaded"). i liked it a lot though and haven't listened to it for 15 years or more. this was much more like a velvet reunion than the live reunion they did a couple of years later which was rubbish. favourite song, several ones, john cale's "style it takes" of course but i also liked lou reed's straightforward "work" for some reason. quite primitive and simple but i have a soft spot for that kind of strong, puritan working attitude as it is something i lack so much. overall this album is quite consistent and an absolute classic. i have to listen to it again.

Incredible, totally. There's a really good bootleg from Tokyo knocking around; it's odd to hear live reaction throughout, but totally worth a listen. They do the whole album, then Pale Blue Eyes as an encore at the end, and the roof sounds like it's going to come off.

Sounding especially wonderful this Saturday afternoon

https://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/628339639633248256/lou-reed-john-cale-st-anns-church-brooklyn

anyone grab the RSD vinyl reissue?

drella was officially pulled back to the 10/24 RSD drop, which didn't prevent some stores from selling it anyway, but they were in the minority.

damn you CJV, listening to that it's hitting me all over again

<3

Picked this up today — it was the only thing I wanted from the RSD list. Sounds effin great! I don’t think I’ve heard this since about 1994.

Turns out, after some confusion, that the run was indeed 8500 copies, which probably means I’ll be buying a few more copies at half price somewhere down the road.

streaming free through the 19th.

https://stannswarehouse.org/show/lou-reed-john-cale-songs-for-drella-a-fiction-1990/?utm_campaign=586306_Drella%20Talks%2011%2F13&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&dm_i=63KQ,CKEA,5KDQYY,1B3GI,1

awesome. Thanks for the link!

I only got/heard this within the last year or so and recently re-listened, pretty damn good. I look forward to spending more time with it.

The new 4K restoration of the film, screening in New York this week and next week

https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2021/films/songs-for-drella/

Coming to a streaming service near you!

https://www.uncut.co.uk/news/unearthed-lou-reed-and-john-cale-songs-for-drella-concert-film-coming-to-streaming-137643/

I revisited this album last week (after several decades)… it’s really a masterpiece

I discovered it over lockdown. Love it to death.

Yes it's a late masterpiece. Supposedly the movie is made from the footage also available on Youtube? Would love to see it in high quality.

Managed to avoid listening to this all these years but maybe tonight is the night.

I think there was a laserdisc and VHS of the performance, but I'm not sure if it made it to DVD.

OMG never mind, I watched the trailer for the restored version and it looks INCREDIBLE, the version I have is terrible by comparison.

Never heard of MUBI… anyone have experience with it?

I have subscribed for years and think it’s great although am always a little disappointed when something is streaming in the UK and Ireland but not the US.

Fascinating interview with original director of the Drella film Ed Lachman, lots of technical detail about the new restored version. Lachman has a pretty amazing CV; cinematographer for Carol, Far From Heaven, The Virgin Suicides etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADENLtNXoBw

I don't listen to this much, but I still quote it. I think Lou would think that sufficient.

This is pretty well-done and fun to listen to after watching the doc. Surprisingly good meshing of latter day Lou and John. In particular enjoying wordy Lou lyrics more than expected.

Is “Trouble with Classicists” based on some stuff Andy actually said?

I can’t believe you never listened to this, James!

Lou called me a rat and I fired him.

But Billy said
Both those nerds are dead

https://mubi.com/films/songs-for-drella

Ah brilliant!

The story behind the restoration:

https://filmmakermagazine.com/112486-a-haunting-symbiosis-on-ed-lachmans-newly-restored-lou-reed-john-cale-concert-film-songs-for-drella/

I was pretty cool towards the album, but I found the movie on YouTube (a LaserDisc rip) and surprisingly it made a huge difference for me. Something about it made the whole project much more affecting - everything from the projected backdrops to just seeing John and Lou's faces. Probably helps that Lachmann is one of the great cinematographers and that comes through too in the lighting and composition.

Scanning from the original long-lost negatives makes a huge difference. Glad it's streamable but definitely see it projected if you can. I hope this gets a Blu-ray release as well.

Enjoy, MUBI UK and Ireland subscribers!

John channelling the dreaming Andy is incredible.

xp Can we license the UCAN rights for ILX TV?

Could be. Have to get back to you.

God. Haven't watched the restored live show but like a fool I decided I'd listen to the album while I did some work this afternoon, now I have a great ball of grief welled up in my chest, what a fantastic record and so emotionally complex.

Criterion Channel's got the remastered concert film streaming now.

Cale hair in classic form.

I love this line from Dave Connolly’s AMG review of words for the dying:

Perhaps Cale's own unusual hairstyle (which resembles a book of carpet samples more than anything) led him to re-evaluate the impact of an actress who could dance with ten pounds of fruit on her head.

might be my favourite reed, favourite cale

i had no idea it was considered "lost", i had on (terribly recorded) videotape for years

"but I have some resentments that can never be unmade"

vmic

Loved this v much.

All the more moving for Lou’s unwillingness to emote. But “A Dream” just kills me every time.

This is an interview with Lachmsn btw.

https://theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/apr/14/they-didnt-go-round-the-corner-for-beer-lou-reed-and-john-cales-songs-for-drella

*Lachman

lol @ at that url

https://i.imgur.com/NbbJuZB.jpg

It's like one guy has hair where the other needs it, and vice-versa

My Songs For Drella statement has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my Songs For Drella statement. pic.twitter.com/qZkO5LXhIW

— Andrew Male (@Andr6wMale) November 6, 2022

classic drella tbh, coaxing two highly stormy ppl into the same art space to see what trasnpires

the factory was a drama factory, it's all good fun until some loses a lung

Now reminded somehow of The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again) and thinking they should have worked that into Patriot somehow. #onethread