>
>And since we're on the subject--I've been wondering for awhile about the
>Velvet's "Who Loves the Sun." I can't decide if this song is Lou Reed's
>concession to the "peace and love" demographic, a send-up/parody of that
>same demographic, or both. s on this one are encouraged.
>
>Lance . . .
Well, the Velvets are ALSO of their time and place...IMHO, in the case of
that song...remember that it's point is "Who Loves the Sun?...no, Not
everyone!". (take that Paul McCartney... .The cut is deliberately ironic,
exploiting uh "cheese" before we had the word. (Actually we did, we just
called it "plastic".)
I'd say the way to understand that song is as a send-up of the way the
mainstream would attempt to TALK TO the so-called "peace and love
demographic" in shampoo ads and sitcoms and soundtracks. It's no concession
to anything--though they might have hoped that it could be a hit by
mistake! (very Andy Warhol, all that is--was Warhol saluting the Campbell
Soup demographic?)
The sound of Who Loves the Sun is pure "something for the kids" Hollywood
soundtrack style of that year--(references--Check out: Themes and
soundtracks from, say, "Goodbye Columbus" or "I Love You Alice B Toklas ")
with ultra-white "bah-bah-bahs" courtesy of the Association, Spanky and
Our Gang and the Mamas and Papas. But the point of the words is how this
stuff does NOT apply to the singer.
Which reminds me: Another place to check out irony 60s style: much of the
best writing of "Papa" John Phillips--who is talked about as a sort of
ultimate mid-60s hippoid now...was in this vein. (No pun originally
intended--but a song like "Straight Shooter" shows how the darker his
lyrics would get, the more he'd lay on the sort of "catchy" melodies you're
hearing in "Who Loves the Sun" too...That's how it would be done.
Randy Newman started doing the same thing right about then--nastier the
news, sweeter the sound. And John Phillips would soon write one of the
first good country rock hits BTW, influenced by Creedence, "Mississippi"....
(As a longtime resident of the East Village who can still see Mr. Reed walk
by here every now and then..I thought I'd take this argument all the way by
using California examples!)
Meanwhile: the Velvets simply were not a cynical band. You were supposed
to be able to take all the hard news possible and STILL FUNCTION. It was
not about nihilism. As best stated in that lil ditty that follows "Here
Comes the Sun"----"there are even some evil mothers, who think that life is
just dirt..."
