The poignant final words of Lou Reed
There are few words which truly encapsulate the complexities of Lou Reed, the only word that seems to come close is simply, ‘icon’. From forming The Velvet Underground to working on his long and successful career as a solo artist, Reed had a colossal impact on the face of alternative music and the world of rock and roll. An endlessly uncompromising figure, the New Yorker remained active in music right until the bitter end.
Lou Reed was an intimidating figure throughout his long career in music. His hard-line approach to life and incredible artistic vision made him the boogeyman of journalists and a hero for fans. By 2010, however, the Tai Chi master was growing old and frail. On a tour of Australia that year, Reed was noted for his rapidly declining health, struggling to operate, having to be helped out of chairs and experiencing a nasty fall on a moving walkway in an airport. On top of his physical frailty, the songwriter was also struggling with diabetes and a host of other illnesses. Nevertheless, he persisted.
That same year, Reed managed to perform with Gorillaz at Glastonbury, along with the likes of Clash bassist Paul Simonon. However, the performance was certainly not one of his finest. Often losing track of the music and becoming lost, the Glastonbury set was a depressing realisation of how far the Velvet Underground founder had fallen. Despite his rapidly declining health, Reed was still working on writing and recording new material.
At the time, his management and record label had their hearts set on a ‘greatest hits’ style project, something which certainly would not have suited Reed’s non-conformist attitude. Instead, the songwriter opted to record Lulu, a collaborative effort between himself and Metallica. While the album certainly does not hold a candle to some of Reed’s earlier work, it speaks volumes about the musician’s uncompromising artistry.
The end was nigh for Reed, with his diabetes and liver disease becoming increasingly challenging to handle. He devoted much of his final years to writing, including prefaced a book about his hero and mentor, Delmore Schwartz. There was some glimmer of hope for the musician after receiving a liver transplant at a top hospital in Cleveland. However, his body rejected this new liver after a short while.
Following the rejection of his new liver, doctors weren’t left with many other options. Grappling with the topic of his own mortality, Reed returned home to Long Island, New York, to spend his final days surrounded by friends and family. In these last few moments, Reed was said to have worried about his legacy, with his sister recalling him saying, “I don’t want to be erased”.
As day broke on Sunday morning, October 27th, 2013, Lou Reed asked to be helped out onto the front porch of his home. Side-by-side with his partner, Laurie Anderson, the final utterances of Lou Reed were, “Take me into the light”, a fitting end to the undisputed king of New York’s underground.
When was Lou Reed’s final performance?
Seven months prior to his death, Reed appeared onstage for the final time. At a show in Paris, at the Salle Pleyel on March 6th, 2013, alongside Anohni and the Johnsons, Reed took to the stage to perform the seminal Velvet Underground track, ‘Candy Says’. For the most part, Anohni left the performance entirely up to Reed, spending most of the track in the shadows, standing in awe of the ageing musician.
‘Candy Says’ is a tender, vulnerable effort at the best of times, but the context in which it was performed in Paris makes it all the more haunting and emotional. By this point in 2013, Reed was well aware of the fact he did not have long left. His weathered voice seems to hang on every word of the song, all too aware of his own mortality.
