Who is The Velvet Underground’s ‘Sweet Jane’?
After forming in 1964, The Velvet Underground became countercultural heroes, known for their innovative and experimental approach to music, helping to pioneer art rock, proto-punk and noise rock. Although the band were not commercially successful, especially in their early years, they became one of the most influential groups of all time, inspiring nearly every alternative rock outfit that followed.
On their debut album, The Velvet Underground and Nico and their sophomore effort, White Light/White Heat, the band utilised avant-garde techniques, playing around with song structure, abrasive sounds and improvisation. However, by the release of their third record, The Velvet Underground, the band had tamed their experimental sensibilities, focusing on gentle ballads.
Their final album with most of the band’s core members, Loaded, was released in 1970, which was The Velvet Underground’s most accessible collection of songs. According to Doug Yule, “On Loaded there was a big push to produce a hit single, there was that mentality, which one of these is a single, how does it sound when we cut it down to 3.5 minutes, so that was a major topic for the group at that point.”
One of the most accessible cuts from Loaded is ‘Sweet Jane’, which features an iconic opening riff before Reed’s signature deadpan voice tells a story, introducing us to Jack and Jane. After Reed sees them on the street, with Jack “in his corset” and Jane “in her vest,” he imagines them as a young couple in the 1920s. Then he sings about them in the present day, saving money and listening to music by the fire while others, such as him, “like to go out dancin’.”
Between each verse, Reed intensely declares, “Sweet Jane” – but what does this actually mean? There isn’t a solid answer to who Jane is, although it has been speculated that she was a former girlfriend of Reed’s, who was addicted to drugs. However, it can be argued that Jane is more a symbol of love and life rather than one person, with Reed’s powerful delivery rejoicing in the fact that people can choose to live differently, and that there is no right or wrong way to live.
Reed uses the song to argue that our preconceived ideas of others aren’t always accurate, stating this most explicitly in the lines, “You know that women never really faint/ And that villains always blink their eyes.” Through the characters of Jack and Jane, who have seemingly thrown away their life for something more simple, Reed suggests that we cannot judge others because life “is just to die,” thus, we can make our own meaning.
Revisit the classic track below.
