December 17, 2012

"And there's even some evil mothers/They're gonna tell you that everything is just dirt..."

"... that women never really faint/And that villains always blink their eyes/And that children are the only ones who blush/And that, life is just to die."

A Velvet Underground lyric.

Are you one of those evil mothers that tell you women never really faint? I kind of am.

37 comments:

KCFleming said...

The dog ate Hillary's homework.

dustbunny said...

I have never fainted but when I was in labor my husband did .the nurse was having trouble finding a vein and after the third or fourth attempt down he went.

sakredkow said...

Lou Reed's always had his own way of looking at things. I gotta respect that.

Swoop swoop, oh baby rock, rock.

campy said...

Evil mothers? I don't believe it.

Only males are evil.

Craig said...

When I took my draft physical in 1972 and it came time for the blood test guys were toppling over like dominoes.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

She fainted, my ass.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I'll believe it when I see her wearing one of those epilepsy helmets.

Anonymous said...

Low blood pressure runs in my family. I used to faint just standing up in the morning. I fainted so many times after giving blood the Red Cross told me not to come back.

I've never known any women to faint. Maybe they have to wear those tight corsets and girdles like in old-time days.

Anonymous said...

If anyone knows how all those lyrics to Sweet Jane fit together, I would like to hear it.

What does Jack's corset have to do with the Stutz Bearcat, "The March of the Wooden Soldiers" and the evil mothers?

SteveR said...

I'm still insanely jealous that Ann saw the Rock n Roll Animal concert.

Anonymous said...

I've had the stomach flu, dehydration, fainted, and been concussed, though not all at once. But I don't see how any of those would stop someone from testifying five days later unless it was bad enough that they are now in a hospital bed being monitored, as opposed to "working from home."

This is total bullshit, just like Obama's claim that doggone-it, he just doesn't know how come no help reached those brave Americans who died in Benghazi and someone will have to look into it.

I remember five years of high dudgeon and hysteria from the Left over the leaking of Valerie Plame's CIA identity -- a story so convoluted it was hard to figure out what happened and what the stakes were, but certainly no one died in Plamegate much less an American ambassador.

If Benghazi happened under a Republican president, the media coverage and liberal outrage would have driven everything off the front page of our papers until that president was defeated in election or impeached. The response to Hillary's excuse would have been scathing.

The Obama presidency has shown definitively the utter hypocrisy of American liberals and Democrats.

Darrell said...

Oh Noes!
Hillary's fallen and she can't testisfy on Benghazi!

What's not to believe?

Astro said...

Maybe Hillary is actually myotonic:
fainting when scared

tomaig said...

Did you really see the Rock and Roll Animal concert? Wow.

I remember listening to that so much that the record wore out.

The first guitar break in White Light, White Heat is about as awesome as rock and roll gets.

tomaig said...

Excuse me...I meant Lady Day, not WL,WH.

That's how lomg it's been...

Robert Cook said...

Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, (separately and together) some nice songs here and there notwithstanding, have always been overrated.

Robert Cook said...

The whole of ROCK AND ROLL ANIMAL has the force of a wet fart in comparison with Iggy and the Stooges RAW POWER and FUNHOUSE, and with pretty much any live performance by the MC5, (who I never saw, but I have heard recordings and seen quite a few videos of the Five Alive!).

In fact, what makes ROCK AND ROLL ANIMAL ultimately just so much flatus is the excessive grandiosity of the guitars...flash and filigree where a punch in the gut is what is needed.

edutcher said...

We're talking the vapors here, fake faint, what women were taught to do before the Civil War when some MAN said or did something "improper" or the road agent reached up under her hoop skirt to check for hidden valuables and she decided she liked it.

Old RPM Daddy said...

@Robert Cook: "In fact, what makes ROCK AND ROLL ANIMAL ultimately just so much flatus is the excessive grandiosity of the guitars...flash and filigree where a punch in the gut is what is needed."

I thought the whole point of Rock and Roll Animal was the theatrical grandiosity of the guitars. And the intro to "Sweet Jane" by Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner still stands. Can't say anything about Iggy and the Stooges, but now that you've brought it up, I'll have to look into it this evening.

SteveR said...

Wow Robert Cook

Anonymous said...

Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, (separately and together) some nice songs here and there notwithstanding, have always been overrated.

As usual, Cook doesn't know what he is talking about but presumes to lecture us nonetheless.
The ratings of the Velvets have been all over the place since the beginning, so it's hard to say they "have always been overrated." The first two albums barely made the Billboard Top 200, while the third and fourth failed to chart at all. If you check Rolling Stone's reviews of VU back in the day you mostly find ambivalence. The group broke up for lack of commercial and critical success.

As I recall the surge to reconsider VU started with Lou Reed's "Rock'n'Roll Animal" and took off after the bands they influenced in glam, punk and indie rock achieved far more success than VU ever did.

It's true that their post-VU work has been spotty, but there's no getting around the power of the original albums, which remain eminently listenable today.

Most of the rock world acknowledges VU's contribution, even if Cook wants to be one of those curmudgeonly types off in the corner complaining that Dylan or the Stones are overrated because he prefers X or Y.

sakredkow said...

Co-sign to creely23

Robert Cook said...

"I thought the whole point of Rock and Roll Animal was the theatrical grandiosity of the guitars."

Oh, I'm sure it was.

But that's what mitigates its impact as "rock and roll."

Oh, and Reed's terrible singing.

Robert Cook said...

"The ratings of the Velvets have been all over the place since the beginning, so it's hard to say they 'have always been overrated.' The first two albums barely made the Billboard Top 200, while the third and fourth failed to chart at all."

I'm not referring to popular success but to retroactive critical appraisals. I also don't say the VU were without merit and don't deserve recognition, but their output doesn't live up to the hype that has accrued around them.

donald said...

Man! I with ya Tomaig.

I have had White Light stuck in my head since the day I bought that cassette. Literally, especially when I'm about to get behind the plate.

I also bought the first Little Steven an The Disciples of Soul tape, I think it Was Voice of America at the same time.

Them's two rocking albums right there.

Anonymous said...

I'm not referring to popular success but to retroactive critical appraisals.

The retroactive critical appraisals have been overwhelming positive, so have the responses of rock musicians who weigh in on the Velvets or cover their music, and so have the responses of millions of fans who still listen to the Velvets. Furthermore the Velvets were seminal influences on three subgenres of rock: glam, punk, and indie.

But never mind all that. Robert Cooks says the Velvets were overrated.

sakredkow said...

I also don't say the VU were without merit and don't deserve recognition, but their output doesn't live up to the hype that has accrued around them.

Well nobody really lives up to they hype that accrues around these rock stars, etc.

One thing about the Velvets that puts them in a special category of artists for me: almost every song on their albums was really good. That's a very tough accomplishment IMO.

tomaig said...

And he says it with LOTS of CAPITAL LETTERS so you KNOW he MEANS IT!

Robert Cook said...

Are "glam" and "indie" really genres of rock music? Glam was nothing but a label for a motley group of bands that sported flashy, glittery, androgynous dress and makeup, but was the music that accompanied the packaging uniquely its own thing, was it anything other than standard rock or rock/pop?

And "indie" really refers to marketing and distribution and the rise of modestly funded independent record labels who signed bands of all stripes who were overlooked or passed over by the majors. Again, was there a particular style of music that could be identified as uniquely "indie?"

Robert Cook said...

"And he says it with LOTS of CAPITAL LETTERS so you KNOW he MEANS IT!"

Tomaig...where did I use capital letters other than in the titles of record albums?

Read better, listen better....

Anonymous said...

Are "glam" and "indie" really genres of rock music?

Cook: I specifically wrote "subgenres" and they are terms that most people who talk or write about rock in detail accept.

But never mind all that. Robert Cook knows best.

donald said...

Robert doesn't like the Velvets Cause Mo Tucker is a tea party gal! Sell out!

PS, She's very nice.

I love Iggy, you can love both.



Robert Cook said...

Are glam and indie even "subgenres?"


They're just labels for, in the first case, the style of dress worn by the musicians, and, in the second case, to a disparate array of musicians who released records on small, independent record labels.

Robert Cook said...

Donald,

I don't dislike the VU, I just think they're overrated. I dislike Lou Reed, in general. The one album of his I actually bought and enjoy listening to is METAL MACHINE MUSIC.

I like Mo Tucker just fine. She played with Jad Fair, who I like from Half Japanese, particularly their early records when David Fair performed in the band. I even saw Half-Japanese play live several times.

Old RPM Daddy said...

"The one album of his I actually bought and enjoy listening to is METAL MACHINE MUSIC."

?!?!
Really?

donald said...

Ok, I'm kinda protective of Mo.



Robert Cook said...

"?!?!
"Really?"


Yes. Really.

I once made the jest that MMM has the virtue unique among Lou Reed albums of lacking any vocals by Lou Reed, but my liking for it is not about that. What at first seems grating becomes sort of hypnotic over the duration, such that the abrupt silence at the end of each section, (marking the end of each original album side) is more startling and disruptive than the continual electronic roar of the music.