Lou Reed on the “funniest” song he ever heard
It is difficult to imagine Lou Reed ever truly cracking up at something. The Velvet Underground songwriter lived most of his life with a certain steely persona, characterised by moody compositions and melancholic music. After all, nobody could listen to heartbreaking songs like ‘Candy Says’ or ‘Xmas in February’ and mistake Reed as a laugh-a-minute figure. Nevertheless, the songwriter certainly had a sense of humour, and that often manifested itself within his musical material.
Humour is often found within Reed’s discography if you look hard enough; even his seminal record Transformer has elements of comedy on ‘New York Telephone Conversation’. When you have lived a life as full as Reed’s, however, it is understandable for your musical material to largely revolve around vulnerability, hurt, and loss. So, although you might have to look hard for comedy in Reed’s music, Reed never had to look too hard to find comedy in other people’s music.
The ‘Satellite of Love’ singer always tried his best to keep updated with new musical trends and up-and-coming groups, although his verdicts on new bands were often less than complimentary. By the time the 1990s rolled around, Reed was hailed as an elder statesman of alternative music, and many new bands sought his approval. During that time, the all-encompassing influence of a band like Oasis could not be ignored, but Reed wasn’t all that aware of the Manchester indie-rockers.
At the time, Reed was asked in an interview whether he had ever heard Oasis, to which he responded, “Not that I would know.” Oasis never really aligned themselves with the musical values of Reed, so it is not surprising that the songwriter wasn’t a devotee of the group. Their brash, adolescent rock and roll was not targeted at somebody like Reed, but they were adept at capturing the spirit of Britain’s youth during the 1990s.
He might not have rushed out to buy Definitely Maybe upon its release, but Reed was still aware of Noel Gallagher’s songwriting, albeit in a strange form. “Oh, Wonderwall?” Reed recalled, “The one I know is the Mike Flowers one.” Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’ had been a groundbreaking success upon its release, spawning a bizarre cover version by an easy listening group called The Mike Flowers Pops.
Originally formed in 1993, The Mike Flowers Pops found a niche audience for easy listening covers of classic pop and rock songs. When ‘Wonderwall’ came out in 1995, the band quickly set about recording their own version of the song which quickly round favour with radio DJs for its novelty quality. At the time, a BBC Radio One presenter jokingly cited the Mike Flowers version of the song as the original version, though not all listeners caught on to the sarcasm.
As a result of its airplay, the cover of ‘Wonderwall’ became one of the most bizarre hit singles of the 1990s, reaching number two in the UK singles chart – matching the success of Oasis’ original version (as Noel Gallagher once put it, “Fucking thanks for the cheque!”). Clearly, this success soon brought the track onto the radar of Lou Reed, who cited the song, “That is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard in my life.”
So, next time you’re listening to Berlin and find yourself caught up in the intense melancholy of that record, take the edge off by picturing Lou Reed wetting himself to an easy listening cover of ‘Wonderwall’. It does seem an unlikely thing for Reed to have even heard, given that the song was never a hit in the USA, but then again, he was always full of surprises.
