Sunday, June 11, 2017

Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning

It would be grand to have an original copy of this. But alas, I have to enjoy my reissue copy that came in the Sundazed 45 box set. I find it interesting that the thought at the time was this could be a "successful single", however, obviously Verve had no faith in it as it extremely limited by nature. It is interesting to note that I have [or have had] in my collection copies of  Verve 10459 through Verve 10467  but never 10466 [this single] or 10458 (The Mothers of Invention). Matter of fact, it is not uncommon for me to see some of those in my travels. But never 10466 or 10458. A successful single was never seriously considered. And if you think about Verve as a label, they were venturing outside their comfort zone with bands like VU and Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Verve was built on Jazz and Easy Listening. Around 1965, they started testing the the commercial waters venturing into soul and rock and roll. While they would have some 45 single success ( Righteous Brothers, Howard Tate), for the most they had more success with albums.


"Lou Reed wrote this on a Sunday Morning around 6am. Andy Warhol, who helped finance the album, suggested he write a song about the paranoia associated with the effects of a drug wearing off. Reed wrote this for Nico but then decided not to let the German ex-model sing it. Instead he impersonated her himself.  In The Velvet Underground: An Illustrated History of a Walk on the Wild Side, it is reported that Nico thought of this uncharacteristically upbeat tune as "Sun Day Mourning." It tells you a bit about how Nico's mind worked, and also the split that The Velvet Underground would have with Nico and her mentor Andy Warhol. This song is all about last-minute changes. The inclusion of the track on their first album was literally penciled in, Reed decided to take over vocals at the last minute as they walked into the studio to record it, and John Cale noticed a celesta in the studio and decided to include the instrument for the song on the spot. Cale also played the viola on the song."{taken from http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=6079]

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