Best Lou Reed "Somebody Says" Song

Carolyn II

(caroline obv)

Candy

"Lisa Says" looking for a party some action.

"Stephanie Says" - maybe my favorite ever Velvets and one of a handful of the most beautiful songs I know. That viola tremble on "it's such an icy feeling." Shameless.

"Candy Says," by a nose over "Stephanie Says."

However:

CARO-LYNE SEZ I'M NOT A MAN
SO SHE'LL GO GET IT CATCH AS CATCH CAN

is apeshit genius.

Candy. All are fantastic, though.

Caroline II for sure

I guess I have to get a hold of a copy of Berlin to replace the eight-track I got rid of long ago so I can vote in my own poll.

Stephanie. All are hands-down classics, but those strings, that xylophone & the "so cold in Alaska.." refrain get me every time.

the "so cold in Alaska.." refrain get me every time.

Yes, that!

that xylophone

That too!

There are three distinct versions of "Lisa Says" tho - "VU" / "Live 1969" / "Lou Reed" - I would go for the "Live 1969" version

Which Caroline did Stephanie turn into?

The 2nd

"it's so cold in Alaska..."

Stephanie!

funny, i recently put all these on a compilation. "Stephanie," absolutely. i've often thought it too bad he didn't call "Rock and Roll" "Janie Says."

It's easy to confuse "Stephanie Says" with Love's "Stephanie Knows Who", especially since Arthur Lee had a few song-titling idiosyncrasies of his own.

I'm going with "Lisa Says", 1969 Live version, tho all those songs are gorgeous.

"Lisa Says", because I think it has the best lyrics ["VU" version], although "Candy Says" comes close second.

"candy says" though i think i could've voted for any of them.
the "lisa says" from live 69 and Lou Reed has that why am i so shy middle part, which i've always liked. and "stephanie says" is probably the closest we'll come to hearing what the third VU record woulda been like with Cale still on board.

I guess I have to get a hold of a copy of Berlin to replace the eight-track I got rid of long ago so I can vote in my own poll.

-- James Redd and the Blecchs

I had the 8-track too! You know that the tape version of "Berlin" itself was longer than the LP/CD version, right? (Instrumental bit added on to the end.)

Stephanie. I remember when it came out on VU thinking, "How the fuck did this go unreleased for 15 years?"

Yeah, to me the big surprise was that before VU there was something called etc that had "I'm Sticking With You," "Foggy Notion," "I Can't Stand It" and "Do the Ostrich" but no "Stephanie" so it really seemed to come out of nowhere.

Voted "Candy Says" with the live "Lisa Says" in a close second.

i like to think that all of these post-candy are lou doing a find & replace on whatever gal-flame he's into & being an asshole towards at the moment & trying to tailor a song for her

It is SOOO cold in Alaska

i like to think that all of these post-candy are lou doing a find & replace on whatever gal-flame he's into & being an asshole towards at the moment & trying to tailor a song for her

"Coney Island Baby."

Candy.

it's always kind of horrifying to hear lou on Take No Prisoners mercilessly mock Candy, after delivering such an empathy-filled portrait on "Candy Says" ... it's probably a good indication of what the years between 1968 and 1978 did to uncle lou's attitude towards life.

From what I read, he was always like that, but maybe wouldn't have acted it out on stage quite like that before.

no, i'm sure lou reed was at one point a really nice, cuddly guy ... oh who am i kidding, you're probably right.

Candy, darling.

Yeah, to me the big surprise was that before VU there was something called etc that had "I'm Sticking With You," "Foggy Notion," "I Can't Stand It" and "Do the Ostrich"

and "Ferryboat Bill."

Yeah, that one too. "And that's the short and long of it." And "Cycle Annie" by the Beachnuts.

"Stephanie Says" + other goodies turned up on the And So On... follow-up a year or so later.

Oh yeah. That seems to have that great Rosco radio promo for the third album too. Dunno why I didn't spring for it back in the day.

Yeah, it's much better than etc. overall. Also, it's possibly(?) the only record to feature Cale's "Loop," I believe.

Now I remember why I never got it, because etc had some patchy stuff, so I figured there was nothing left for them to dredge up. Guess I was sadly mistaken.

Guess I'm falling in love!

Yes! That's the best/wildest version of that song I've heard anywhere!!!

called etc that had "I'm Sticking With You," "Foggy Notion," "I Can't Stand It"
Ha! Looks like "I Can't Stand It" was on neither etc nor and so on. I think I meant to type "Inside Your Heart."

(You don't look like Martha and the Vandellas)

and that wasn't on etc or and so on either.

Yeah, I knew there was something amiss there, but just couldn't put my finger on it.

xxp

Don't make me pull my copies out.

No, Mark, "Inside Your Heart" was on etc.

Speaking of those old bootlegs, are the mixes radically different from what eventually appeared on VU and Another View? I seem to recall reading something to that effect.

I didn't really notice much of a difference other than the respective tracks being considerably cleaned-up, tbh. Although, now that I think about it, I do remember there being some kinda guitar intro to "Foggy Notion," I think, that later failed to turn up on VU and elsewhere.

I voted for "Candy Says". It's interesting to read what's good about "Stephanie Says" because I've usually found it pretty skippable, but I'll have to go back and relisten.

yeah, i think maybe i've heard the guitar intro version of Foggy Notion somewhere. Don't recall it adding a great deal to the song.

OK, I can get this one right!

Foggy Notion had a guitar intro on the LP version of "VU" that was removed from the CD version.

No, you're right, it probably didn't, but I was kinda surprised when it failed to turn up on VU, nonetheless.

xp

Is that right?

Hmm, maybe I did mix the two vinyl editions up.

I think that little guitar intro was a mistake not intended as part of "Foggy Notion" proper at all. It was, what, 6 notes? Followed by ten seconds of silence.

Tempted to vote Stephanie because of Lee Ranaldo's very good cover, but I think it's Candy by a hair.

Lisa

"Lisa Says", of course.

There is also a pretty good cover version of "Candy Says" floating around out there by Grant Lee Phillips.

I love that guitar intro to "Foggy Notion"! I was shocked when I finally heard the CD years later.

Etc. & And So On have a lot of real quality stuff on them. Not only the radio ad and the pre-Velvets singles and the 'Guess I'm Falling in love" verson, but also a fantastic live version of Pale Blue Eyes (on And So On) with radically different lyrics - never reissued. Thank you VUAS.

Stephanie Says

closest we'll come to hearing what the third VU record woulda been like with Cale still on board.
otm. Combines some of the music box qualities of first album tracks like "Sunday Morning" or maybe "Femme Fatale" or even "I'll Be Your Mirror" with the hushed introspection of the third album.

So I'm voting for "Stephanie" which has basically been neck and neck with "Lisa" because "Lisa" is the best evocation ever of a certain kind of feeling, a feeling of not wanting to be a Good Time Charley (sp?), even if it would be to your obvious advantage to be one, or at least pretend to be one, for just a few seconds, for "just one little smile."

Stephanie > Caroline II >>>> the rest

There should be a song called "Somebody Says"

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"ILX System says"

"This poll is closing tomorrow"

"and all the voting that it requires"

Right, I've decided, I'm voting for "Candy Says"

"What do you think I'd see
If Dadaismus cast his vote for me?"

"Lisa Says" (VU version)

"Candy Says" is beautiful, so that one.

Stephanie Says, Cale's viola does it for me, and the weird "Alaska" lyric. Also the middle-eight is brilliant.

Yeah, "Stephanie" is the missing link between Lou's I Hate Ice Queens songs, "Femme Fatale" and "Here She Comes Now," and the more sympathetic "Candy Says"- in this case the ice is cleverly metaphorically displaced to Alaska.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Yay!

Don't understand that result. Can I be heretical here and admit that I prefer "Caroline Says II" to "Stephanie Says"?

"Sylvia Said" wuz robbed.

"Raven Quoths"

yeah sylvia said>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>all of these

"cindy tells me" by brian eno is another member of this club

Sylvia ... Morales?

The Vulgar Boatmen have a few of these:
"Margaret Says"
"Allison Says"
"Genie Says"

Two of which are mentioned on the pre-poll version of this thread: Exactly how many "(Girl's name) says" songs did Lou Reed do?