The two artists Lou Reed wanted to emulate: “Everything that was missing from my world”
Many people were shocked when they first heard that Lou Reed enjoyed rap music; however, it shouldn’t have come as that much of a surprise. There were many facets to Lou Reed as a musician, but one of the most significant parts of him that stood out was his ability as a lyricist. He could describe the world around him and his internal struggles beautifully, which rap music also does well, so it makes sense that he would be a fan.
“Sometimes it’s like a synth orchestra. I’ve never heard anything like it,” Reed once wrote when discussing the Kanye West album, Yeezus. “He obviously can hear that all styles are the same. Somewhere deep in their heart, there’s a connection. It’s all the same shit. It’s all music – that’s what makes him great.”
Reed was open-minded when it came to music, so long as there was some level of human emotion embedded into what he was listening to. This came across in what he wrote, as songs such as ‘Perfect Day’ and ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ appealed to different parts of but very real sides of human emotion.
As such, when it comes to emulating artists, he went to the origin of displaying human emotion in his music. The blues was one of the most important genres in music history, as it’s now considered a staple that tonally led towards the development of rock n roll and R&B. Lyrically, however, the genre gave a voice to people who previously might have struggled to speak up for themselves.
When discussing the kind of musicians he was keen on emulating, he cited two legends of the blues genre: Little Richard and Fats Domino. “’The Fat Man’ by Fats Domino, and Little Richard… “tutti-Frutti’ and ‘Long Tall Sally’. When I heard them on the radio, they encompassed everything that was missing from my world,” he said, “Put it this way: Wherever Little Richard was… was where I wanted to be.”
‘The Fat Man’ has an embedded narrative element that can certainly be heard in what Lou Reed went on to make. He sings about the trouble he comes into when living in the city, painting a picture of his surroundings while standing on the corner of Rampart and Canal Street. He decided to leave, saying that “Women and a bad life” are “Carrying this soul away.”
Little Richard also drew from real-life experiences when he wrote ‘Long Tall Sally’. The singer said that she was a family friend who persistently drank whiskey and would always claim to have a cold as an excuse to drink hot toddies all day.
The way that Lou Reed drew from the real world when writing lyrics is a clear reflection of the artists who inspired him. While he was a fan of a range of genres, including hip-hop, he initially fell in love with the raw honesty of the blues, which went on to influence everything he ended up making.
