I'll Be Your Mirror

Song infobox
Name = I'll Be Your Mirror


Type = Single
Artist = The Velvet Underground and Nico
Album = The Velvet Underground and Nico
track_no = 9
Released = July 1966 (single)
March 1967 (album)
Recorded = April 1966, Scepter Studios, New York City
Genre = Avant-garde rock and roll
Length = 2:14
Writer = Lou Reed
Composer = Lou Reed
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"
Misc = Extra chronology
Artist = The Velvet Underground
Type = singles
This single = "All Tomorrow's Parties / I'll Be Your Mirror'"
(1966)
Next single = "Sunday Morning / Femme Fatale"
(1966)

"I'll Be Your Mirror" is a song by The Velvet Underground. It appeared on their 1967 debut album "The Velvet Underground and Nico". It also surfaced as a single a year earlier with "All Tomorrow's Parties" in 1966.

Lou Reed wrote the song for Nico, who provides lead vocals. Inspiration for the song apparently came about after Nico approached Reed after a show in 1965 saying, "Oh Lou, I'll be your mirror." [cite book |last=Bockris |first=Victor |title=Transformer: The Lou Reed Story |year=1994 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location=New York |isbn=0306807521 |pages=106 ] The song is a favorite of Reed's and "The Velvet Underground and Nico" engineer, Norman Dolph.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=128-129]

Recording

"I'll Be Your Mirror" was the most difficult for Nico to record, as the band wanted her to provide slender, delicate vocals for the song, yet she would sing louder, more aggressive vocals take after take. Sterling Morrison described the ordeal in an interview:

The members of the band enjoyed her particular performance on the song so much that after she left the band in late 1967, live vocals for the song were done imitating Nico's accent. [cite journal
last = Barrios
first = Greg
date = 1970-03-06
title = An Interview with Sterling Morrison
journal = Fusion
issue = 8
quote = Barrios: Last night as Doug was singing "I'll Be Your Mirror", I detected a Germanic accent... Morrison: Oh yeah, we mimic the way she did it. She never said "I'll be your mirror," it was "I'll be your mirrah." It's amazing how those songs are still so good. ]

Mentor and manager Andy Warhol suggested that the album have a built-in crack in it so the line "I'll be your mirror" would repeat infinitely on a record player until the listener moved the needle themselves, but nothing ever came of this idea.

Alternate versions

cepter Studios, April 1966

A different mix of the song appears on the acetate cut of the Scepter Studios session, with an alternate track of more aggressive lead vocals by Nico. She also sings "to show that you're home" at the end of the second verse rather than "so you won't be afraid". The backing vocals that sing "reflect what you are" are also almost inaudible on this version of the song, and the guitar is louder.

ingle version, July 1966

A 45 rpm single version of the song was released in July 1966 with "All Tomorrow's Parties". The single is identical to the album cut except that it does not fade out at the end. Instead, it goes on for about five seconds ending with a guitar chord. This version of the song later became available in 2002 on the "Deluxe Edition" of "The Velvet Underground and Nico".

References