Interview With Lou

There is an interview (by a guy named Peter Grant) with Lou Reed at icliverpool. Here are some choice bits:

This 62-year-old American singer-songwriter, who was awarded France's Order of Arts and Letters in 1992 to add to his countless collection of grammys and gold discs, is playing mind games. Lou continues: "Peter Grant - he was Led Zeppelin's manager. And he's dead." I give a sigh of light relief, but there is a deadly silence on the other end of the trans-Atlantic line before a very slow laugh emerges from Lou.

..."What?" he says.. It is just one of many more 'WHATs?' when he can't quite understand why he is asked this or that. That is until he starts to talk about music and art - and then he speaks volumes, especially about his own output, notably his multi-disciplined Raven project. "That is a very, very good album you should go out and get it."

...Lou, who was with The Velvet Underground from 1965 to 1970, once said of himself and his own personal philosophy: "Nobody has ever been able to put their finger on me because I'm not really here. At least not the way they think I am. It's all in their heads." "What I'm into is mindlessness. I just empty myself out. So what people see is just a projection of their own needs. I don't do or say anything."

...I ask him if he will be singing two of his most famous hits when he plays to an audience of 1,500 fans at the Phil - the much-covered Walk On The Wild Side and Perfect Day which was re-recorded for the BBC. I ask because I want to know and I am sure his fans do, too. "So you are one of those journalists who want to ask ask me what will I play?"

..."I am an artist," he says. " I have 37 albums out there. I will be playing songs for Lou Reed. I could play the same song 17 times but it's got to be fun for me too. "I am musician - an artist. I try and play my music. If I don't play it's like a comedian telling a joke to an empty room. I can't do beautiful voices. I can't do Otis Redding, Al Green, B. B King or Carl Perkins. I just do me - doing my songs.. Some of them I've never ever done in public before. I'll be doing Lou Reed's favourites."
-------
I love his quote about "The Raven." Advanced Artists always say that their last album is an amazing and complex work of art, which it is.