I\' m Waiting for the Man

I' m Waiting for the Man is a song of the group of American Rock The Velvet Underground, written and composed by Lou Reed. It appears on their first album, The Velvet Underground and Nico , left in 1967.

The song tells how a man buys an amount of Héroïne for 26 dollars with Harlem, with the corner of Lexington Avenue and of the 125e street, the “man” of the title being a Dealer of drug. In addition to usual the guitar, low and battery, one hears a piano there. It is one of the most popular songs of the group, and one of many which have as a subject the drug taking. After its departure of the group, in 1970, Lou Reed continue to play it in concert.

In 2004, the magazine Rolling Stone the class in 156e position on its list of the 500 better songs of all times.

Alternate versions

Ludlow Street Loft, June 1965

This song belongs to a unit recorded by Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison in the loft of the group, on Ludlow Street, with Manhattan. This version, stripped of percussions, is marked by an influence more Folk, even Blues, that the version of the album. It was published in the box Peel Slowly and See .

Scepter Studios, April 1966

Before the final version is re-recorded in the T.T.G. Studios, with Hollywood, another catch was recorded in Scepter Studios, with New York. This catch is a little shorter, the piano is less audible and a tambourine replaces the battery. Moreover, Reed sings I' m waiting for the man at the beginning of the song, then on the version of the album, it sings systematically I' m waiting for my man .

Recoveries

Lou Reed, John Fixes, Nico and Maureen Tucker, members of the group, recorded all of the Reprise again S of this songs during their careers solo. Other artists took it again, like Bauhaus (with Nico), David Bowie, Sheep one Drugs, The Celibate Rifles, Orchestral Operations in the Dark, Vanessa Paradis, Be 67 and Slaughter & The Dogs.

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