‘I Found A Reason’: the Lou Reed song that mocked Bob Dylan’s voice
Whether it’s stealing the musical style that someone else is best known for having popularised or performing in the same vocal cadence as another singer, it’s almost inevitable that your favourite artists will be looking over each other’s shoulders at all times to take snippets of inspiration from one another. John Lennon copied Bob Dylan on ‘Norwegian Wood’, and Dylan naturally made the same gesture back on ‘Fourth Time Around’.
Being original in your musical output is something that most musicians strive for throughout their careers, but sometimes, it’s hard to avoid copying someone else. It might be done in a satirical way, or it might be done in a way that’s meant to pay homage to your peers, but because musicians are so often absorbing the work of those around them, there will always be some resemblance to something that came before it, no matter how it was intended.
While Oscar Wilde’s famous quote about imitation being “the sincerest form of flattery” can sometimes ring true, it’s often far from the case. The amount of times I’ve had someone mimic my whiny West Country accent in a condescending tone isn’t something I’ve ever kept count of, but I can tell you now exactly how many times it’s been done in a way meant to be flattering towards me – it’s zero. Most of the time, when people are doing the same thing to Dylan, they’re doing it to mock his bizarre vocal inflexions, but does it inadvertently come across as being flattering?
Many might be debating just how accurate Timotheé Chalamet’s impression of Dylan is in the biopic A Complete Unknown, but one person who seemed to have their impersonation of the folk singer down to a tee was Lou Reed. A noted fan of Dylan’s music, Reed was similar to his contemporary in as much as neither of them had particularly beautiful singing voices, but both were lauded for their unique delivery – despite how they arguably paved the way for non-singers to think they could have a moment in the limelight.
Reed’s fandom of Dylan can be traced back to early pre-Velvet Underground demos that he recorded, where he performed a slightly altered cover of ‘Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright’ with different lyrics. While his impression in the early 1960s isn’t the most faithful, he would clearly attempt to hone his craft and come to perfect his Dylanisms by the end of the decade.
On The Velvets’ 1970 track ‘I Found A Reason’, taken from Loaded, Reed shares vocal duties with the newly recruited Doug Yule on what presents itself as a doo-wop-inspired track. However, the demo version, which is complete with Dylan-esque harmonicas, sees Reed assume sole vocal duties, and his vocal impression is a lot more true to his idol.
While it’s clear that Reed meant for this to be a loving tribute to an icon, it also comes across as a bit of a jibe at the singer’s distinctive voice. Regardless of whether Reed meant for Dylan to be touched by the gesture or offended, his recreation of Dylan’s vocals and harmonica playing is pretty spot on.
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