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From: 25thNovember1970
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  • Interesting. 1960s Icons such as Nico, Maryanne Faithfull, Grace Slick totally influenced riot grrl modern rockers: Kim Gordon/Sonic Youth, Johnette Napolitano/ Concrete Blonde, Exene Cervenka/ X and of course the great Siouxsie Sioux!

  • I miss you Nico

  • She's fabulous

  • Thanks for sharing, I've had a lot of criticism since 1968 for liking Nico, didn't bother me then, doesn't bother me now. She is a unique talent.

  • I really appreciate the crumby, grungy, almost amateurish guitar. It makes what was a very soft song much more powerful. It strips away the over ambundance of polish and glamour and merely focuses the audience on the basic melody and the prowess of Nico's voice and message.

  • @selimaazouri aren't we all?

  • Thank you so much for uploading this video. Its so reminescent of a time I never knew but her voice and the images gives this forced nostalgia. Shes got a magnificent voice. I kinda dig the gnarly guitar, paints a very different sound than the original song.

  • je pense le son de guitare est rad

  • Poor Nico, the drugs really took their toll on her beauty :(

  • @TheNEWfilmfanatic99 Heroin didn't funny enough, it had rather frozen her beauty, when I knew her in 1987 she was a beautiful woman. Not looking for points here, just what to set the crooked camera straight. xx

  • it must be 60 year olds and up (who lived through the 60's) watching this mostly because watched by a younger audience I think the comments would be mostly negative (especially pertaining to drugs and her looks...or lack thereof).

  • @karma212 Don't you think young people pay any regard to singing/songwiritng/lyrical talent?

  • Fantastic. See my channel for Nico's discography review.

  • I think Nico is a good enough singer. Very unique. I can hear her influence in some other highly-lauded vocalists since then.

  • nico is so cool

  • Where is this video from?

    *Guitar sounds terrible, but Nico is amazing*

  • i think she's in her 40's,and she still looks beautiful.she looked amazingly beautiful in the 60's in the Warhol factory and when she joined The Velvet Underground and also amazingly gorgeous on her 1st debut album Chelsea Girls.and now she still has those wonderful cheekbones and piercing,striking eyes.she has pure beauty.even now.she is a definite icon for me.i love her,her voice,her accent,her albums,and her one of a kind beauty.RIP my Chelsea Girl...you will never be forgotten...

  • thats brigid berlin(Polk) shooting herself up with methadrine or dexadrine and vitamin a & b12 in her ass.its like amphetimines times 10,000,00.thats the reason they don't mainline it cause they'll die.they have to shoot it in a fatty part .whats fatter than your ass?

  • thats my one of my favorite songs by NICO....i own and listen to that album...RIP CHELSEA GIRL....

  • All you people talking about musicality and ability are up your own asses, some of the most unskilled musicians have made the most skillful music. To me music should only affect you on one level, that is if you like and feel something from a said piece or song then great, if not, move on to something that does....

  • Remember seeing her on the Stratford Road in Brum "supporting" The Fall. Couldn't be arsed turning up on time so she appeared after they'd finished. Just her & the Harmonium. Half the audience just left, open-mouthed, the rest of us knew we were seeing a goddess! She was beyond wonderful! Saw her a few times after that (With the Blue Orchids & Invisible Girls I think) but nothing came close to this!

  • Happy Birthday Nico!

  • @Faxendicke279 how does it feel to be a douche? I'd just like to know hahaha

  • @Faxendicke279 Right, because if you don't like her music, she's just a drug addict then. I guess someone who doesn't appreciate the Rolling Stones is also entitled to say they're just a bunch of pathetic elderly junkies? Believe it or not, some of us judge musicians by the music. Novel idea, I know!

  • @Faxendicke279  since you just dont get it, maybe you should keep your lousy opinion to yourself

  • die alte hat n rad ab, weil sie zuviele drogen nimmt. wenn man die auf der straße sehen würde, würde man sie nur bedauern. hat nix von tiefe und sinn. nur ne zugedröhnt alde schachtel

  • {reposting from a fellow youtuber)

    It does look like Sterling Morrison playing guitar on this one, but it's not him. It's a guy named Joe Bidewell who actually lived in the Chelsea Hotel at the time the documentary was being made (in 1981). Google "Joe Bidewell" + "Nico" for more information.

  • nico is not bad, that guitarist is.

  • Nice post ... scorp!!

  • I love music and as I watch this I can't help but think to myself...What am I missing?? I've never understood the fascination with VU and especially Nico. It's like someone told Nico that her voice is amazing and then watch as they laugh at her.  It's so sad.

  • @melrodas Nico's voice is great

  • I love music and as I watch this I can't help but think to myself...What am I missing?? I've never understood the fascination with VU and especially Nico.

  • who is the guitar player?

    guitar part is simply horrible

    oh my god

  • Brilliant and totally in the spirit of the VU / factory times.

  • realley deep

  • It's so funny when she says "...in heaven...(giggles) or hell..." She had such a wonderful sense of humour. I like this version of the song too.

  • Lol, that guy is as bad as me on guitar. If I was on film playing over Nico like that I'd probably kill myself. Chunky barre chords.....no, no, no. 

  • Does anyone else see any physical similarities betweeen Nico, during this interview (not the movie), and Pete Burns (NOW, and NOT back when he was fronting Dead or Alive). I happen to like them both (Pete and Nico, that is), so maybe it's just a perception based on this one vid. Anyone else see it?

  • Mary Woronov was so natural in this. Very cool...

  • Nico is my absolute favorite. See the film documentary "Nico Icon". She was featured in Fellini's La Dolce Vita as simply "Nico.", Warhol's "replacement" of Edie Sedgwick, worked in conjunction with Warhol for and against Lou Reed in the Velvet Underground, the Queen of Ice, the addict of heroine, she was the big mystery for me and no one ever as beautiful. "Chelsea Girls" the movie stunned audiences in the sixties, banned in Boston LOL and was even in NYC had people leaving theaters in shock.

  • this guitar played is HIGH

    dammit

    he kills the song

  • Nico's is so cool; the coolest female singer/songwriter ever!

  • love mary waranov

  • @cbrahm Woronov :)

  • @cbrahm  me too. She was so mean then.

  • It 's not about waching; it's not about judging; it's not about drugs; it's about your decision to take another path!

  • @xXPinkGoddessXx

    thanks! i was curious bout those 'rocky' parts

  • I remember her well in that Chelsea hotel MANNN talkin' so brave and so swet

    givin' me head on the unmade bed whilest the limo wait in the street!

    who's this on FUZZ BOX??

  • nico did age really badly, just saying. she used to be unbelieveably beautiful and she should have kept the blonde hair.

    PS is that fucking 'rocky horror show' at 1:58 and then at 2:14 - 2:25?

  • @arizonablues I think she ditched the blonde hair because she grew quite bitter over being regarded solely for her looks. A bandmate said she was proud of her rotting teeth, bad hair and skin, and needle marks.

    That's not the Rocky Horror Picture Show, but a film of Warhol's (probably shot in the Chelsea Hotel).

  • they dont make girls like these anymore these days

  • Hate that horrible guitar.

  • That can't be Thurston Moore on guitar..... can it??

  • excellent.

  • I love you nico I love you so much, youre the best!!!!!!!!!

  • Is that Thurston Moore on guitar?

  • face is distorting, poor thing her makeup is running

  • Pity about the heavy-handed rock guitarist.

  • 1985

  • she looks fucked up

  • filthy rock n roll....gorgeous pornographic priestess .... it's so terribly appealing, I find...

  • She has enough weight in her voice to drag it to the center of the earth.

  • Nico looks better as a blonde

  • The guitar makes it really interesting! I love nico and the way makes the song so haunting even WITH the guitar... She's just awesome...

  • who's the guy playing guitar?

  • @chicblossom probably jackson browne.

  • Wow. Damn.

  • I love this song, Nico's voice is beautiful and very enchanting.

  • drugs and puke. puke and can-openers.

  • damn, drugs are bad....sometimes

  • Her eyes are so piercing... haunted and beautiful.

  • Nico is wonderful. I miss here.

  • Прикольное исполнение

  • Really need the tab / chords for this. Tried some but it doesn't sound right. Any help appreciated.

  • poor lamb, she looks wrecked, she has not aged well, and she looks so sad, but always respect to her, i enjoy her music

  • That guy ruins this by getting one very important chord wrong! Nico's voice sounds great though.

  • Oh, that is genius!

  • Not disrespecting at all but I believe Nico would've aged way better and would've kept her beauty much better if she hadn't done heroin.

  • Comment removed

  • you dont say

  • this was a really neat little performance, and i for one think that she's a great singer. to all the naysayers, her accent makes her voice very distinctive, but she's never off key.

  • I liked when she sang this song on her solo release 'Chelsea Girls'..

  • I don't like Nico's voice as much as I love Maureen's.

  • Nico was unique. She was a godess!.

  • Rest in peace Nico. Is that Thurston Moore on guitar? It sure as hell looks like it, if so that would be even way cooler

  • che figata

  • Great Woman..a Great Soul

  • "in heaven. Or in hell. Or not staying here." Nico was amazing.

  • This makes me wonder what it would have sounded like with a whole rock band. Nico hated the "Chelsea Girl" arrangement, she said "There should be a 'no flute' button on record players."

  • Agreed!!

  • so sad

  • the guy playing electric is a spotting image of beck.

  • Ci sono tutti...all'inizio si vede "Candy darling"....o è Holly"

  • I am so entranced by this woman.

  • Comment removed

  • I love that deep, piercing stare Nico had, like someone possessed. What a shame we don't have a few more of these unique artists around these days rather than being subjected to the latest talentless and soulless cretin from X Factor and any other of these 'talent' shows.

  • @maldarorisdead she actually just looked good. lol she didnt write her songs

  • @alotofcheese76 yes she looked great but she also wrote her stuff. Ok, not her first album, but she wrote or co-wrote the majorityty of her post "Chelsea" stuff. Even the stuff she didn't write, she gave her own unique stamp to.

  • @maldarorisdead Well said.

  • @maldarorisdead Soap&Skin and Fever Ray are pretty unique + awesome.

  • @maldarorisdead you have to look to find the beauty life still offers.... they might not be top artists, but they are still around.

  • in some way i think the aging on her face is beautiful. it shows where she's been in life. here she is telling a part of her story. nico wisdom. it's great.

  • Very much like Janis...

  • Dude, you're entitled to an opinion. I don't see how you got so many thumbs down. Some people don't like some music.

    Personally, I like Nico, but that's me.

  • So sad. What a traumatized look. What heavy sadness.

  • traumatized? Maybe but I think she just took a little too much chemicals in her body and also one should not forget we all do not look prettier with age. She was hot in her teens and 20-ties but smoking, drinking and cocaine, heroine use just doesn't keep you fit very long. She just looks tired.

  • wow! love her!

  • Hola estaba navegando por internet cuando me encontre con este video que me recomendo mi love .y quede impresionado realmente el que subio este video es un capo nico es espectacular pero lo unico me dio miedo el travesti nada xD pero salu2 a todos y que siga creciendo la comunidad youtube te amo mardy :)

  • I think she was a good performer. She really gave her heart out in this performance.

  • Yeah, even though that song wan't her favourite at all. Not her style, you wouldn't guess it!lol

  • i love the original, but i have to admit the guitar on this is awesome.

    does anyone know where i can find the lyrics for this song? i've tried almost every lyrics website, they dont have them.

  • Try Lyricsfreak*DOT*com. Do a search for Chelsea Girls, Choose the Velvet Underground one (should be first one that comes up)

  • My Dark Beauty

  • No she's mine ;)

  • Ruddy marvelous!

  • Not wanting to start a fight, but the attitude of fans and critics who separate 60's NY from the rest of the world show a bit of snobbery.

    Sure the NY sound was different, but the idea that it was a total rejection of Hippydom is a bit self serving.

    Jackson Brown was Nico's lover when the original was recorded, and I'm pretty sure he played on the LP. Tell me Andy didn't look like Thom York auditioning for a spot in the Beach Boys circa '65 with his blond hair, windbreakers and striped shirts!

  • ...and it was a hard day's night that got them started in the first place. They were fellowtravelers at least. But that doesn't mean they weren't great. It's just wonderfully naive intelligent popmusic. What goes on and pale blue eyes are my favourites.

  • I agree, and I'm lucky I didn't get into it with some of the above! It just pisses me off that most critics, and certain self-promoting artists separate and levitate the NY scene above all others, usually at the expense of the "lovey dovey" west coast hippies. As if the NY folk scene wasn't joined at the hip with the west.

    Sure, out west you got Altamont, but frankly, I prefer it to Studio 54. I hated the smack, coke and speed scene where ever it takes hold.

  • And ofcourse California had the beloved Manson Family..Some people hate commercial pop, but they just love Karen Carpenter and if they like somehing they can't be seen with they call it `camp'.

  • Who started because of "A Hard Day`s Night"? I hope you don`t meant the VU!The songs you state aren`t the original VU sound, they`re celebrated for the rougher, droning sound from the first LP`s with Cale, which infuelced the whole alternative scene. Reed`s VU is also great but not the real VU. After Cale left, it was simply Lou`s backing band- he wanted to become more famous, so it`s got more poppish. But they never had anything to do with the Beatles, not even close.

  • John Cale said in a recent interview for a Belgian newspaper that he just wanted to do avant-garde, mostly violin stuff until `The Beatles exploded in 1964' .That's when he wanted to join a rockband instead, he'd known and liked rock 'n roll but he didn't take it seriously until then. As for Lou Reed, I don't really know. But he did do a tribute to Lennon. Yule was supposedly hired for his vocal kinship with McCartney when they needed the money. But that was indeed much later .

  • I didn`t knew about that interview, but it`s quite interesting. For me it always seemed, that Cale used VU as a vehicle to make his antimusic more popular to bigger audiences. At the time of VU and later he did simulanely this Dream Syndicate stuff, that`s why I thought he never had anything to do with Beatles music. Also Reed, I`ve read his biographie, and he never mentions the Beatles. But nonetheless, VU music has an other approach then Beatles music, so they`re for me not quite fellows.

  • Your dreaming! Your trying to make connection where it's very thin. "A Hard Day's Night" you must be joking.

  • I read it in a John Cale interview in a Belgian newspaper. Despite some notable differences I think the similarities are more dominant. Including Lou Reed's Gretsch Country Gentleman that he bought in 1964 and Epiphone guitars and Vox amps. They could have picked any haircuts but they adopted the new look introduced in the US in 1964 by...well you know. That doesn't make them Beatles-clones like The Monkees.  I think they lasted because they chose to be a little different.

  • You probably were tired from all your googling, to remember that CHET ATKINS made the Chet Atkins famous. Essentially the beatles were a pop boy band, until the Byrds & Dylan school'd them. Trust me VU never aimed to be the happy go lucky boy band in HELP!. The Chet Atkins was a popular guitar, and tons of musicians played it, by the time VU did, same with long hair. It's like saying if you wear flannel, your trying to be Kurt Cobain. It's simplification in it's most extreme.

  • the byrds.....fuck off pal!

  • haha, ok you caught me, I was just joking with that one ;D It's just that sometimes Beatles fans act like they invented the wheel.

  • P.S. Please paste the link to your secret Belgian Information. Anyhow the beatles were the BEST at making happy pop music, and then they met Dylan and jumped on the band wagon and tried making deep meaningful songs, and it worked, because it was deep meaningful pop. And this is why they never could get the true edge and innovation that the VU brought, and the VU did it all without the studio tricks that the beatles so desperately needed. In the end your claims are elementary.

  • Nico will be forever the greatest chelsea gilr, ingrid superstar is more sexy tho.

  • people are beautiful.

  • Obviously you don't know what the 60's/70's was about. You are probably this shitty twilight obsessed generation.

  • You are probably an alcoholic, around seven feet tall, fond of vegetables, wear leather shoes and a straw hat, and you probably voted for Kerry. That probably has something to do with something.

  • lol hahaha

    fond of vegtables haha nice

  • the guitar is siiiiick! in my opinion its what makes this version so good

  • hate the guitar :-/

  • Nico was an Artist in her own right.  Lot's of visuals in her music.

  • Freakin incredible!!! Whoever put this together is fantastically cool!!! And no, that is NOT Lou Reed playing on the bed. Probably Nico's guitarist at the time for her live shows. RIP Nico.

  • I love this song, I dont know why but I do...I love Nico!!!

  • Isn't it funny that the people who hate someone so much take time to post on the internet some random insult? To wit: Drunk Skunk, you'll probably die while farting into a sofa cushion in a trailer park somewhere while slamming Schlitz after Schlitz!

  • This doesn't make any sense.

  • makes perfect sense

  • That was an absolutely disgusting comment. I can't believe someone would say something like that about a woman who touched so many people, and whose influence is more than you can compare with. You should be ashamed of yourself.

  • I love Nico so much, and so proud to be named after her. it is more than a simple coincidence that she inspires me so much.xxxo

    (o^,^o)v

  • I meant on the BBC video. The guy that looks like Beck , sittin on the bed playin guitar.

  • what is this from?

  • God, that guitar sounds fuckin great. Whos playin?

  • guitar played by mr. lou reed

  • *goosebumbs* I love Nico, Velvets or solo. I'm struck by her eyes, still beautiful, yet haunted. The closing shot of her brow furrowing--Whoa! If a picture is worth 1000 words, then this video is a novel. Thank you! Btw, who's the guitarist?

  • Is it me, or is her rhythm, accent, and hoarse voice reminiscent of late career Bette Davis? (And I agree, that guitarist is fuckin awful).

  • great song! but how come she looks so old here. it was only 1967 right?

  • Heroin my friend. I met her in that period and I must say, a great artist but as a person a pain in the ass. And as she made her son a drugaddict too, well, I can't respect her very much anymore.

  • No, it's from 1981 (BBC 4 broadcast).

  • i never realized how similar the singer of stereolab sounds to nico

  • Oh... you can really see the drug use in her... :(

  • She is the femme fatale...

  • She got a lot of great albums like, desertshore, the marble index, or the end, not only chelsea girls.

  • It's really difficult for me to watch this video--she had such power, but at this point she really looked different, and you can see the sadness in her eyes, and hear it in her voice, and it is different than it was before. I can feel her sadness radiating through, and that makes me sad--and I'm so sad we lost her--it happened too soon. She will be missed and loved forever.

  • Poor girl. The powers in the first songs in '70 had to do with the scéne and drugs.

    She is one of the people that was not strong anough to escape from it.

  • I am sad she is dead. She died around the time I started liking the Velvet Underground. That was the year I graduated from high school. I didn't even know. I just thought I was cool though, because I liked the Velvet Underground, when most people I knew liked Metallica, and such nonsense (admittedly I did too for a short time till I realized it sucked ). I have never seen a video of her, I am so glad to see this.

  • Her smile, in the dying moments of this clip is both wry, and sad.......of course, she might just be thinking, 'who got this clunker of a guitar player to destroy my beautiful song.'

  • it's sad to see nico getting so old before she died so young.

    i wonder how her voice was still so pleasant with all the drugs she did.

  • grrrrrrrreat guitar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • What's striking about her appearance in this video is her scarf...

    is that similar to those scarves everyone's been sporting recently?

    Heroine had really changed her face.

  • probably some version of the palestinian keffiyeh

  • hey, isn't that Sterling Morrison playing?

  • frozen warnings close to mine

    close to the frozen borderline

  • the guitar player is the guy who wrote the song...thats Sterling Morrison