The Velvet Underground - Heroin (Live 1969)

[SSCFPA]

Best version of their best song?

[r0yalgate]

but i would listen to this song on mushrooms... if you have never done it i highly suggest it...xoxo

[r0yalgate]

it was my 16th birthday so my family and i where at we/be sushi on valencia st in san francisco when all a sudden i had an urge to walk outside... right nextdoor was a "aquarius records" so i stopped in, only to find this velvetunderground record, i think it was like 2 dollars i was like cool and i love it ever since forever after since... xoxo

[ruimsts52]

Lou Reed said in the booklet "I hope in a million years from now kids at school study the lyrics of my songs" Why not Lou ;))))

[steven8807]

8:40...*Breathes in deep...Body tenses up...eyes bulge! AMAAAAAAZING!

[joethelionjoethelion]

trance,stockhausen, kraut-rock,ethnic,electronic, street poetry...The beginning of Rock as far as I am concerned.

[starx911]

YES

[cordfluidnevoie]

i guuess i just don't know.. so comfortable

[PerspexUlysses]

this is heaven distilled. turn the lights off and put this on as loud as you can it overwhelms the soul. It's so empty but so full, so light but so deep. To my mind this is the greatest song ever written.

[wistoncap]

@PerspexUlysses An argument could be made for this being the best rock song of all time, but I would still have to cast my vote for queens "fat bottom girls"

[nakabar]

well i gueeeeeeeesss it's better than today's hipster shit

[gremby]

best song ever

[Howinoshawa]

I was there to hear and see this...in June of 1969 in Toronto.

[binion111]

on lou's box set he says the best version was with don cherry and I agree .

it has a train wreck built in with horns

[frank02111]

I guess it doesn>t matter if you are a fag or transdike anyione will sell there ass for a bag of doipe?

[Bobjb999]

There's a live 1988 Mazzy Star YT video version of this great Lou song with my fave singer Hope Sandoval,but it's under pre-Mazzy band name "Opal"&Hope sounds less like her usual self&more like Bob Dylan! It took a few listenings to appreciate,but it's not bad at all.40+years later & Lou remains Poet Laureate of Dope(among other things)!

I'm today getting wasted on opium(poppy pod)tea I enjoy infrequently now.Addiction sucks&makes life boring.Occasional opiates: much more rewardingl. Cheers!

[WoodRatGirl]

Thank you so much Waldo for uploading these Live songs <3

[mrjmonteiro312]

Purely the greatest Live version of this song out there! Amazing.

[WoodRatGirl]

@mrjmonteiro312

It's beautiful and epic isn't it just? :)

[Denkart]

Just when I thought this song couldn't get anymore depressing, I see at the bottom "Ads by Google, Justin Bieber wins VMA." What the hell happened to music?

Thanks for this upload Waldo. Amazing version of a beautiful song.

[filltheband]

Thanks Waldo. Thanks oh so much

[corn3rston3]

thank god i can listen to this song with out wanting H thanks to 2 suboxons and one xany bar

[corn3rston3]

Thank God I can actually listen to this song and not want H thanks to my higher power and 2 suboxons and 1 xany bar

[scabbarae]

Go Maureen! Tear it up!

[SaneLunacy]

I like that ur username is the character from "The Gift". lol

[frank02111]

Is that a guys ass or just some ugly old womens ass? Oh I get it it doesn"t matter if you are a guy or chick you will take it up the ass for a bag of H.

[rustylegiron]

@frank02111

Ignorant fuck, you were born out an asshole cock licker.

[maximumpain1]

@frank02111 def something about u that makes u sound like a piece of shit

[mymindourdream]

Incredibly wonderful tribute to the most fatal,mocking killer i have ever seen,that's the beauty of the death,***** !!!!

[djgraememaclean]

@mymindourdream I don't think we can call heroin a killer any more than we can call a gun a murderer.

I agree it is an excellent tribute though : )

[phoneix91]

Reed made the song like more slow, laid back, you know. The video is great, I'm not insulting him or the band.

[ohbiggles]

compared the the original, he sounds like a young innocent boy

he sings it a bit differently-it makes him sound helpless

it makes me feel a bit sad

[NicoDraak74]

God, If only I could have been at this concert....

[72jjw]

This is the VU master piece album. If you have this you have the best version of every song.

[janllotube]

Thanks for the tip

[72jjw]

Let me know how you get on . Cheers

[EpicChef]

Check out the Lou Reed 'heroin' 1974 and the other version of him with a klien guitar, "Lou Reed heroin"

The second version, just by himself, later in life, looking back... powerful

[myshkin67]

/sign

[mebtoe1]

. i was only 9 when this album came out.  but listening to it, i know that drugs sometimes makes us all cynics and death seems like the only way out ."" all the pretty girls can take a walk- and i guess that i just dont know. "but i know that those guitar riffs are like a drug shooting in the veins- so pulsing. lou reed is a green shoot among" all the politicians making crazy sounds and all the dead bodies piled up in mounds". so underrated.

[louiseduvee]

San Fransisco.

[louiseduvee]

My favourite version.

[amadablam1]

People always refer to Velevet Underground and Nico album as the biggest influence on bands but i always feel these 2 live albums have more to do with alot of bands sound, especially in the late 80's early 90's. Jesus and mary chain. my bloody valentine,spacemen 3 etc etc etc

[captainblewhard]

@amadablam1 inre your comment on VU Heroin - Live w/LR - I totally agree. I used to get this album on cassette tape and it was always getting eaten around the White Light/White Heat/Lisa Says part of the tape. Like it was just too heavy for most cassette players. I think I went through about three of them before the CD releases with the extra tracks and stuff. But again, I've met alot of people in a lot of different places who had Live w/LR as one of their favoritists! See ya!

[roor06]

`luv the origional ...

some people too far took it ...

[WaldoJeffers25]

I'm not sure whether this version was recorded in San Francisco or Dallas.

This is the version from Volume 2, my favorite.

Feel free to tell me what you know!

[7777srd]

I think it was in Dallas. On one of the 2 vols. Lou tells the crowd, "Your cowboys won today".

[WaldoJeffers25]

Yeah, although I'm not american, i've got some rudimentary NFL knowledge :) He says that at the intro of Waiting for The Man (which I've also uploaded, check it out!) and that one is definetely in Dallas, but there are also some songs recorded in San Francisco. Not sure about this one...

[Taxi502]

@WaldoJeffers25 clearly its in san francisco. cause we know san fran is full of queers. and we all know any cowboys or cowboys fans are fags too. so when he says ur cowboys won. he was saying the nancies of san fran won, just like the homos from dallas are. u follow?

[felixorsati]

@WaldoJeffers25 Yeah, I think the Volume 2 version is one of the best version of Heroin, in fact

[leamanc]

@WaldoJeffers25 This was recorded in San Francisco, at the Matrix, as was most of the 1969 Live album. The songs recorded at The End of Cole Avenue in Dallas are: "Waiting For My Man," "Femme Fatale," "Pale Blue Eyes," the intro to "Some Kinda Love," and "I'll Be Your Mirror." This is verified by listening to the bootleg of the entire End of Cole Avenue show, which is incidentally of higher audio quality than the official 1969 Live album (but generally the performances from SF are stronger).

[whocaresomg2]

@WaldoJeffers25 The original version was recorded at the Factory in New York, if that's any help. (Hence the Andy Warhol cover.)