Of all the tributes to, and stories about, Lou Reed over the past week, this is one of the most fascinating - even though it doesn't directly concern Reed himself, but rather Herbie Flowers , the legendary British bass player who created the immortal bass line that opens Reed's massive solo hit, Walk On The Wild Side. When I first heard Walk On The Wild Side, it seemed the ultimate late night New York song: a transgender story (which apparently radio stations in the 1970s and since didn't even pick up on, despite the line, " Shaved his legs and then he was a she ") featuring characters from Andy Warhol's Factory , which sounded as if it had been recorded at about 1 am in some smoky lowdown basement hangout in the East Village. The video above reveals the immense influence of Herbie Flowers - who had worked with David Bowie , who produced Walk On The Wild Side and the Lou Reed album it came from, Transformer , on Bowie's own classic breakout s...
I still remember the morning (in England) I heard that John Lennon was dead. I had just woken, Ann (my wife then) told me - it was like hearing JFK had been assassinated. I think John Lennon probably made a larger contribution to the world than JFK - Lennon changed how I thought, affected how I lived my life (I credit Yoko Ono with these changes, too) - and made some of the most beautiful music ever created. I would rank him alongside Mozart, with a touch of Gandhi and the humor of Einstein.
ReplyDeleteI've often imagined what music would have poured from his soul, what passion he would have shared, what influence he would have had on culture, on politics, on our lives. Dear John, we miss you. A day never sets without millions of us hearing your art. Between the moon and the sun, we still remember you.
ReplyDeleteThank you both for your comments. John was an inspiration and a visionary. If you read, listen to or watch the news, sometimes it's hard to see the peace that is within us, but we are born with a harmony that fills the cosmos, even if at times that harmony resembles beautiful - or terrifying - chaos. Peace is possible. Peace is now. Peace is us. We are love...and we all shine on, like the moon and the stars and the sun. (To have written that line alone would make a life worthwhile).
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