Words & Music, May 1965

Every music nerd's dream. The artist, the demo, what Reed did, how he did it, and how it was found. I'm just going to briefly retell the story that has been printed in various music rags already. When Lou Reed died in 2013, they were cleaning out / cataloging the detritus of his life when they came across a sealed package. The address was Reed's parents' place, and it was postmarked May 11, 1965. Which means whatever was inside was made before that date. Earlier that year, Cale and Reed sat down to record some songs, with the most basic of acoustic instrumentation, and when they finished, Reed mailed the reel to himself, saying it was the cheapest way for him to copyright the songs. He never opened it. What lay therein were the earliest known versions of beloved VU and Reed songs such as "Heroin", "I'm Waiting for the Man", and "Men of Good Fortune", the latter one appearing with different arrangement and lyrics on his solo album, Berlin. A lot of people see this as a music artifact, something curious but not necessarily something to return to to enjoy for its own sake. I disagree. But that's probably because I love what's going on here, just voice and guitar and harmonica, Reed trying out a bit of Dylan worship before he goes on to help create The Velvet Underground.