Lou Reed
Lou Reed was an influential American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. He first came to prominence as the guitarist and principal singer-songwriter of The Velvet Underground (1965-1973). The band gained little mainstream attention during their career, but in hindsight became one of the most influential of their era. As the Velvets’ principal songwriter, Reed wrote about subjects of personal experience that rarely had been examined in rock and roll, including bondage and S&M ("Venus in Furs"), transvestites ("Sister Ray" and "Candy Says"), drug culture ("Heroin" and "I'm Waiting for the Man"), and transsexuals undergoing surgery ("Lady Godiva's Operation"). As a guitarist, he was a pioneer in the use of distortion, high volume feedback, and nonstandard tunings.
Reed began a long and eclectic solo career in 1971. He had a hit the following year with "Walk on the Wild Side", though for more than a decade Reed seemed to willfully evade the mainstream commercial success its chart status offered him. One of rock's most volatile personalities, Reed's work as a solo artist has frustrated critics wishing for a return of The Velvet Underground. The most notable example is 1975's infamous double LP of recorded feedback loops, Metal Machine Music, upon which Reed later commented, "no one is supposed to be able to do a thing like that and survive." By the late 1980s, however, Reed had won wide recognition as an elder statesman of rock.
“I'm waiting' for my man,Got twenty-six dollars in my hand.He's never early, he's always late,First thing you learn is that you always gotta' wait'- Waiting for the Man”
“It's just a temporary thing.”
“those were different times.”
“You know, some people got no choice, and they can never find a voice, to talk with that they can even call their own. So the first thing that they see, that allows them the right to be, why they follow it, you know, it’s called bad luck..”
“I'll be your mirrorReflect what you areIn case you don't knowI'll be the sunThe wind and the rainThe light on your doorTo show that you're home.When you think the nights is in your mind,That inside you're twisted and unkindLet me stand to show that you are blindPlease put down your hands, 'cause I see you.I find it hardTo believe you don't knowThe beauty you areBut if you don'tLet me be your eyesA hand to your darknessSo you won't be afraid.When you think the night is in your mind That inside you're twisted and unkindLet me stand to show that you are blindPlease put down your hands, 'cause I see you.I'll be your mirror.”
“When you think the night has seen your mind,That inside you're twisted and unkind,Let me stand to show that you are blind.Please put down you hands 'cause I see you.I'll be you mirror, reflect what you are.I'll Be Your Mirror ”
“There's a bit of magic in everythingAnd then some loss to even things out.”
“Let's do what you fear mostThat from which you recoilBut which still makes your eyes moist”
“I always believed that I have something important to say and I said it.”
“Things always seem to end before they start”
“And no kinds of love are better than others.Some Kinda Love”
“Please don't set me free Death means a lot me”
“I'm still not sure I didn't die”
“Rock & roll is so great, people should start dying for it. You don't understand. The music gave you back your beat so you could dream...The people just have to die for the music. People are dying for everything else, so why not for music? Die for it. Isn't it pretty? Wouldn't you die for something pretty? ”
“You're going to reap just what you sow.Perfect Day”
“I love women, I think they're great.”
“Life is like Sanskrit read to a pony.”