- European Son
Song infobox
Name = European Son
Artist =The Velvet Underground
Album =The Velvet Underground and Nico
track_no = 11
Released = March1967
Recorded = April1966 ,Scepter Studios ,New York City
Genre =Avant-garde rock and roll
Length = 7:46
Writer =
Composer =Lou Reed ,John Cale ,Sterling Morrison ,Maureen Tucker
Label =Verve Records
Producer =Andy Warhol
Tracks =
#"Sunday Morning"
#"I'm Waiting for the Man "
#"Femme Fatale"
#"Venus In Furs"
#"Run Run Run"
#"All Tomorrow's Parties"
#"Heroin"
#"There She Goes Again "
#"I'll Be Your Mirror "
#"The Black Angel's Death Song "
#"European Son ""European Son" is a song written and performed by the American rock and roll band
The Velvet Underground . It appears as the final track on their 1967 debut album "The Velvet Underground and Nico ". It's also the album's longest song at more than seven and a half minutes."European Son" is dedicated by the band to
Delmore Schwartz , a literary mentor of singerLou Reed 's. Wanting to dedicate a song to Schwartz, "European Son" was chosen because it had the least amount of lyrics (rock-and-roll lyrics being something Schwartz abhorred).cite book |last=Harvard |first=Joe |title="The Velvet Underground and Nico" |origyear=2004 |series=33⅓ |year=2007 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |location=New York, NY |isbn=0-8264-1550-4 |pages=132 / 136] The song is sometimes referred to as "European Son to Delmore Schwartz". [cite book |editor= Clinton Heylin |title= All Yesterday's Parties: The Velvet Underground in Print 1966-1971 |edition= first edition |year= 2005 |publisher=De Capo Press |location=United States |isbn= 0-306-81477-3 |pages=200, 251]The song could be seen as a precursor to the band's next album "
White Light/White Heat " and certainly to the song "Sister Ray ", a seventeen-minute-long rock improvisation.Recording
The song begins with two stanzas of lyrics sung by
Lou Reed , then a loud crash is heard (caused byJohn Cale hitting a stack of plates with a metal chair) after the first minute or so. Afterward, the song becomes improvisational for six minutes. It makes particular use of distortion andfeedback . The song's manner of dissonant ensemble improvisation can be compared to thefree jazz ofOrnette Coleman andAlbert Ayler .Trivia
A slowdowned version of the songs bassline appears on Moby Octopad by
Yo La Tengo References
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