10) “I’ll Be Your Mirror” – The Velvet Underground and Nico
The first song on this list from the acclaimed Nico album (and also the only song on this list to exclusively feature the “angelical” voice of Nico), also contains some of the most potent lyrics of any song on this list, including That inside you’re twisted and unkind/Let me stand to show that you are blind. The song’s brilliance rests in the simplicity of the melody and the pulsing acoustic guitar, which makes it an instant classic.
9) “Candy Says” – The Velvet Underground
The illustrious career of The VU opens with the soft, soothing vocals of Lou Reed spouting; Candy says I’ve come to hate my body/And all that it requires in this world. The first song from the band’s debut album, it signaled the beginning of the new age of the counter-counter culture movement in music.
8) “I’m Sticking with You” – VU
The classic duet between Reed and Nico, this song has become one of the American standards for simple, yet poignant love songs. The chorus may sound like a nursery rhyme; I’m sticking with you/‘Cause I’m made out of glue/Anything that you might do/I’m gonna do to, but the catchy chorus, including verses with hints from the past like the stagecoach in the rain and soldiers fighting with the Cong contribute to a universal song of desire and longing for a significant other.
7) “I’m Waiting for the Man” – The Velvet Underground and Nico
The archetypal rock and roll song about a man trying to score a bag of heroin with Twenty-six dollars in my hand, Reed captures the gloomy and transcendent scene of a junkie out of his element (Hey white boy, what you doin’ uptown?) waiting patiently for his tardy drug dealer.
6) “Rock and Roll” – Loaded
From the commercially-savvy “final” album from The VU, this song opens with a bleak vision of the music industry in creative shambles; Every time she puts on the radio/There was nothing goin’ down at all, and closes with a repetition of hope on the figurative horizon; And it was alright. Over time it has become a classic, especially following the musical revolution in New York City from 1967-77.
5) “Venus in Furs” – The Velvet Underground and Nico
One of the most infamous guitar riffs in rock and roll history, the song opens with some of the most macabre lyrics ever; Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather/Whiplash girlchild in the dark; then slouches into one of the most lackadaisical choruses ever sung; I am tired, I am weary/I could sleep for a thousand years, but builds upon itself with every verse until it climaxes with Reed slashing his guitar, which didn’t become the norm in music for another thirty years.
4) “Sister Ray” – White Light/White Heat
The greatest song over seventeen minutes long ever recorded (with all apologies to one-hit wonder Iron Butterfly). The mesh of guitars, bass and drums never releases its grip on the listeners’ ears until the album ends. Including the darkest and most provocative lyrics from The VU’s most respected album, it features lines like; I’m searching for my mainline/But I couldn’t hit it sideways and She’s too busy sucking on my ding-dong.
3) “Pale Blue Eyes” – The Velvet Underground
One of the most beautiful and simple songs by The VU, it is a story of heart-felt and cynical love for a married woman (which is only revealed in the fifth and final verse), and contains some of the most timeless lyrics written by Reed; She said, money is like us in time/It lies but can’t stand up and The fact that you are married/Only proves, you’re my best friend/But it’s truly, truly a sin.
Reed’s seething vocals are at their absolute best as he stretches out the chorus (Linger on, your pale blue eyes) as a sign of unmitigated agony and personal torment from six simple words that seem to reach out for a hopeless eternity.
2) “Here She Comes Now” – White Light/White Heat
Considered by most to be the absolute best pop/rock songs by The VU, it highlights the brilliance of White Light/White Heat, and is the reason why it is many fans’ favorite album.
The song actually contains only four lines of lyrics, opening with the melodic repetition of Now, if she ever comes down, now, which leads into one of the best choruses in modern music; Ah oh, it looks so good/Ah oh, she’s made out of wood/Just look and see.
While many bands have attempted to recapture the brilliance through covers, none can come close to the spark of this track, which made The VU one of the most respected and critically beloved bands in rock and roll history.
1) “Heroin” – The Velvet Underground and Nico
Believed to be the very first punk song ever, this track shows how the band refused to be smothered by the shadow of “producer” on the Nico album, Andy Warhol. The raging harmony heats up until it explodes like a splitting-atom of feedback, distortion and splashes of cymbals.
Written by Reed as a love song to his drug of choice (Heroin, it’s my wife and it’s my life), the song ominously precedes the disillusionment of the post-flower generation (with lines like Then thank God that I’m as good as dead). The song builds as the speaker injects himself with his love, describing exactly how it flows through his veins, eventually flooding into his brain.
Also, it shows the political awareness of the band in one of the most heated periods in American history with the climaxing lines; I really don’t care anymore/About all the Jim-Jim’s in this town/And all the politicians makin’ crazy sounds/And everybody puttin’ everybody else down/And all the dead bodies piled up in mounds. Finally, the song comes full-circle with the ominous repetition of And I guess that I just don’t know, an indication of Reed’s then physical and mental condition, and the state of music and the world for future generations.
