Lou Reed’s favourite soul songs
Even within his first album as the leader of The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed displayed commendable artistic scope and originality. Throughout the rest of his time with the band and his subsequent solo career, Reed maintained his stature as a rock star but exhibited eclecticism that betrayed inclinations far beyond the reach of rock and roll. After all, rock music was forged in the fires of several earlier genres.
“Rock and roll is so great, people should start dying for it,” the Velvet Underground founder once said. “You don’t understand. The music gave you back your beat so you could dream…The people just have to die for the music. People are dying for everything else, so why not for music? Die for it,” he added.
The multifaceted nature of rock music, in a sense, demands its proponents to explore other musical genres and incorporate these genes into a nuanced product. Reed, like many of his contemporaries, drew inspiration from a vast swathe of musical and literary sources.
Whether channelling his literary heroes in his lyrics or incorporating elements from classic soul, doo-wop, rhythm and blues, folk, jazz, or early rock and roll into his music, Reed’s artistic reservoir knew no bounds. With each influence serving as a precious ingredient in the crucible of Reed’s mind, he expertly melded them together to create the most exquisite pop and experimental songs.
Soul was a particularly dominant musical influence on Reed. While he never channelled the genre quite so succinctly as his friend David Bowie did in 1975’s Young Americans, Reed wove traces of the genre into some of his more pop-orientated releases, such as 1972’s Transformer and Coney Island Baby, the latter named after The Excellents’ 1961 doo-wop song of the same name.
Reed was a particularly avid fan of the soul duo Sam & Dave. In 1986, he joined Sam Moore to reincarnate the duo’s famous 1967 single, ‘Soul Man, for the soundtrack of that year’s comedy movie of the same name.
Elsewhere, Reed was envious of Al Green’s vocal abilities. In a historic interview recently resurfaced on Green’s official Instagram page, Reed discussed his early ambitions as a singer. “When I started out, I wanted to sound like somebody too,” Reed began.
“Who?” the interviewer interjected.
“Al Green,” Reed asserted. “I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to humiliate myself by even trying in public to do that. I wanted to sound like Al.”
“Now, I met him once at some award show,” Reed continued. “One of my people said, ‘Do you want to meet Al Green?’ And I said, ‘Oh wow! Sure, I wanna meet Al Green!’ So, we go up and meet Al Green, and I go, ‘Hi Al Green, I love you.’ And then he said, ‘Now, I don’t know the name, I know the face… I know the face! Your music has meant so much to me – influenced me so much!'”
“But in fact, you know, those guys who could sing like that really did mean everything to me,” he added. “Those incredible Black musicians without whom we wouldn’t have this music at all. All this music goes back to Black gospel and blues. And when it stepped out of the church, that was the beginning of the whole thing, and here we are today, but that’s where it comes from.”
In the mid-2000s, Reed sat down with the Helsinki Music Club to list his 100 favourite songs of all time. His selections spanned from jazz through R&B to soul and doo-wop. Below, we have created a playlist containing the soul selections.
Lou Reed’s favourite soul songs:
- Marvin Gaye – ‘What’s Going On’
- Stevie Wonder – ‘Livin’ For The City’
- The Commodores – ‘Night Shift’
- Aretha Franklin – ‘I Never Loved A Man’
- Aaron Neville – ‘Tell It Like It Is’
- Johnny Taylor – ‘Who’s Making Love’
- Clarence Carter – ‘Making Love (At the Dark End of the Street)’
- Carla Thomas – ‘Gee Whiz’
- Etta James – ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’
- Sly & The Family Stone – ‘Everyday People’
- Sly & The Family Stone – ‘Everybody’s A Star’
- James Brown – ‘Think’
- Solomon Burke – ‘Keep A Light In the Window’
- Bobby Bland – ‘Turn On Your Love Light’
- Ann Peebles – ‘Can’t Stand the Rain’
- James Brown – ‘There Was A Time’
- Al Green – ‘Belle’
- Al Green – ‘Georgia Boy’
- Sam & Dave – ‘Soul Man’
- Wilson Pickett – ‘Ninety-Nine And A Half (Won’t Do)’
- Ike and Tina Turner – ‘It’s Gonna Work Out Fine’
- Ike and Tina Turner – ‘River Deep, Mountain High’
- Sam Cooke – ‘Mean Old World’
- Otis Redding – ‘Try A Little Tenderness’
- Otis Redding – ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long’
- Eddie And Ernie – ‘Outcast’
- Ray Charles – ‘Night Time Is The Right Time’
- Lorraine Ellison – ‘Stay With Me’
