![]() It covers the complete spectrum between weird drug songs and seemingly innocent love songs, but even with ‘Sunday Morning’ there’s an undercurrent of weirdness, mainly due to Lou Reed’s voice. The Beatles or the Stones can’t touch this. One fan of “Sunday Morning” was Ian McCulloch, legendary Lou Reed fan who agreed with Nigel’s assessment, and is most famously know as the front man for Echo & The Bunnymen who told Chris Adams in his book, Turquoise Days: The Weird World of Echo & the Bunnymen, when the lead singer of Echo once said, “ I think is actually the greatest album ever made. The song is almost sunny and catchy enough to be a Mamas & The Papas tune, it’s seductive, yearning beauty-and Reed’s effectively breathy singing-masking an ambiguous unease and uncertainty.” Williamson is right Lou was the only choice for lead vocals on “Sunday Morning.” Nico’s low voice would have stifled, the sunshine making it a monotone song without Reed’s extra layer of lyrical delicacy of light. Author Nigel Williamson described the results of Lou’s vocal in his book, White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground: Day-by-Day, when he wrote, “ Reed’s decision to commandeer the lead vocal is justified by the end result, however ungraciously he might have asserted himself in the studio. But I need a commercial song for Nico to sing.”” That’s when Lou brought Wilson “Sunday Morning” but not for Nico, Reed wanted to sing it. ![]() But there’s nothing on that could be a single, and I want Nico to sing it. Reed’s love theme of obsession, “Sunday Morning” was the last song recorded for The Velvet Underground and Nico because producer Tom Wilson said that V.U.’s album needed a single as Tom Wilson told Paul Morrissey in his book Nico: The Life & Lies of An Icon, “ “You couldn’t put an album out without having a single. “I didn’t have the lyrics…and he said, ‘Why don’t you make it a song about paranoia?’ I thought that was great, so I came up with, ‘watch out, the world is behind you…,’ which I feel is the ultimate paranoid statement in that the world cares enough to watch you.” Andy Warhol was the one who suggested the theme to Lou, giving Reed’s love song a more infatuated undertone. So what was the genesis for Lou’s obsessive love melody? According to Dave Thompson’s Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell: The Dangerous Glitter of David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, “ Reed was strumming a melody one day when Warhol stopped to listen and asked to hear more. Sting and Lou Reed have admitted that their gently soothing aural textures mask the ugly expression of an emotion-obsessive jealously-so powerful it evokes the desire for full-time surveillance.” What you think is song for a picture perfect day becomes something with a more sinister lyrical identity. In his 33 1/3 tome, T he Velvet Underground & Nico, author Joe Harvard claims that the first song for V.U.’s first album was a precursor to two totally different future rock songs as he explained, when he wrote, ““ Sunday Morning” may be the root of the family tree of songs like “Every Breath You Take” and “Satellite of Love,” whose pretty, lulling melodies mask their true thematic darkness. Is “Sunday Morning” an anthem for the paranoid obsessive or a beautiful song dedicates to Reed’s ideal lover on his favorite day of the week? You decide… But just like most Lou Reed songs, it’s all what you feel within the sounds of this classic Velvet Underground single. Despite the lovely arrangement, there’s a dark lyrical undercurrent seething underneath this once apparent heavenly setting. ![]() Don’t Forget the Songs-365: Mach Tres: Day 252Īt first listen, “Sunday Morning” sounds like the idyllic soundtrack to a romantic wake-up call between two lovers entwined- following their inspirations with lustier thoughts in bed.
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