All Tomorrow's Parties (song)
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| "All Tomorrow's Parties" | ||
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| Song by The Velvet Underground | ||
| from the album The Velvet Underground and Nico | ||
| Released | March 1967 | |
| Recorded | April 25, 1966 Scepter Studios, New York City | |
| Genre | Avant-garde rock and roll | |
| Length | 6:00 | |
| Label | Verve Records | |
| Writer(s) | Lou Reed | |
| Composer(s) | Lou Reed | |
| Producer(s) | Andy Warhol | |
| The Velvet Underground and Nico track listing | ||
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| The Velvet Underground singles chronology | ||
| "All Tomorrow's Parties" / I'll Be Your Mirror (1966) |
"Sunday Morning" / "Femme Fatale" (1966) |
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"All Tomorrows' Parties" is a song by The Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground and Nico.
Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of the Warhol clique; according to Reed, the song is "a very apt description of certain people at the Factory at the time. ... I watched Andy. I watched Andy watching everybody. I would hear people say the most astonishing things, the funniest things, the saddest things." [1]
The song features a piano motif played by Cale (initially written as an exercise) based largely on tone clusters, and guitar by Reed. It was one of the first pop songs to make use of prepared piano[2] (a chain of paper clips were intertwined with the piano strings to change their sounds).
Nico provides lead vocals. The song was originally recorded with only one track of Nico's vocals; they were later double-tracked for the final album version. ) Most versions of the album use this version of the song, though the initial 1987 CD release uses the original mix without the double-tracking.
An edited version was released as a single. It did not chart.
The song has lent its name to both an avant-garde music festival, a William Gibson novel and an issue of The Invisibles.
[edit] Other versions
Both Nico and Lou Reed have recorded solo versions of the song. Other artists who have covered it include Apoptygma Berzerk, the Ass Ponys, Buffalo Tom, Japan, Jeff Buckley, Icehouse, Los Tres Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the Oysterband, Rasputina, Tom Robinson Simple Minds, Siouxsie and the Banshees, June Tabor,
[edit] References
- ^ Frike, Peel p.22
- ^ Mitchell, Tim Sedition and Alchemy : A Biography of John Cale, 2003, ISBN 0720611326
