Susan Boyle: the musician Lou Reed banned from singing ‘Perfect Day’
The late Lou Reed is remembered for many things. After all, he pioneered fusing the avant-garde with popular music, was one of the first transgressives in songwriting, and was a key figure in the glam rock genre. While the New Yorker is synonymous with a certain degree of discomfort musically and theme-wise, this mirrored his nature as a human being and that he was, by most accounts, a real misanthrope.
Outside of his music, Reed did his bit to prop up this character. This included making it clear that he hated other prominent artists with all his being, such as The Doors and Frank Zappa, and his constant mistreatment of journalists. Such instances are just the tip of the iceberg, too, with there many stories about The Velvet Underground legend being a complete crank.
One of the most astounding occurred in 2010 when he was in the latter stages of his life, and his mean-spirited demeanour had matured to new levels of acidity. It also involved somebody you’d naturally think was so far out of his orbit that they’d never cross paths: Britain’s Got Talent series three runner-up, Susan Boyle.
However, as this was the age of contestants on Simon Cowell’s shows covering rock songs, the stage for the convergence between Reed and Boyle was set by the forces of commercialism. In September 2010, Boyle was to perform Reed’s Transformer classic ‘Perfect Day’ on America’s Got Talent, backed by a 100-piece children’s choir. However, it never happened, and neither did Boyle’s appearance, which she’d been rehearsing hard for.
On the way to the Los Angeles studio, Boyle heard the news that Reed had refused to give her permission to sing ‘Perfect Day’, as he wasn’t a fan of hers. This 11th-hour news forced her to pull out of the complete performance, as she didn’t have time to learn another song just two hours before filming was to take place.
“Lou didn’t want Susan to perform his song, and he’s not a Susan fan,” a source told Page Six at the time. “It’s a big deal to change a song at the last minute. Susan was really upset. She was in tears and was forced to pull out of the show, and decided to come back to the UK.”
Reed being Reed, he claimed that it was a rights issue that led to his decision. Yet, the following weekend, when speaking to Piers Morgan, Boyle had her say, and it was unusually scathing for her. “It was a bit childish on his part,” she said. “A man of his calibre and his talent, a bit childish… Mr Reed, I have respect for you as an artist but you ought to be more considerate.”
In a truly bizarre twist, that was not the end of Reed and Boyle’s interactions. A few weeks later, Reed permitted Boyle to cover ‘Perfect Day’ and even assisted her with making the video. “I wanted to create a beautiful and intimate piece shot in Susan’s native Scotland, and she quickly agreed,” Reed told Scotland’s Sunday Mail.
While Reed never confirmed how exactly he helped Boyle bring the striking video to life, Boyle’s PR revealed that he assisted her in devising the original concept of shooting it in Scotland. He must have felt terrible about ruining her America’s Got Talent appearance.
