I was 47 years old with the emotional stability of a 16 year old. That's one thing of many that 37 years of using heroin as a way of life did for me. I loved it the first time I tried it at 15 years old.....I remember that moment as vividly as anything in my life. Now, I'm 61. Been clean over a decade. Stopping was the hardest thing I ever did in my life. Nothing is even close. And to this day......I still love it. But I climbed every mountain there was in that regard. Nothing left to find there. Except perhaps more misery. But not from the heroin. More from the lack of it. If you're anything like me, don't even try it once. It will bring you to the darkest places that you can imagine. I can't believe where I've been and the things I've done. For Heroin.
Thanks for sharing that. I had many friends who were addicts, some gone and a few still around. I liked drugs yet somehow knew as you said that I should not try it. All the best to you
I used for over 30 years. You can't count 24 years in prison. What I found out was my bottom was never ending. I live in Philadelphia and there's no heroin anywhere around here. Not in NY, nowhere. The closest place would be Texas. I don't want it that bad.
Instant love for me too. First time trying, well, opioids, I knew right then and there, it was only a matter of time before I got addicted. I was right. The some what, "lighter" opioids led to stronger ones, and eventually Heroin. I used for about 10-12 years, I'm 37 now. Been clean about 5-6 months. And yes, it's the hardest thing I've done in my life so far. You can stop, the hardest part is to not pick it up again.
I want every single person who thinks the arts aren't important to sit quietly and listen to this song and tell me they don't have a physical reaction to it.
I love Lou but he should've wrote a song as eloquent about kicking heroin- its not what you would call rock and roll and it's not what you'd call romantic.
I was 17 and i was hooked..on heroine...never had that feeling before and now I am 61 and I can tell you it was the greatest feeling I ever had in my life! Kicked off when I was 20! But my life is good :) I had a very heavy life.Always looked for challenges ... I was hooked on everything you can be hooked on, and I survived everything. I'm clean now, but what an awesome life this was !!! And still is ... What a great experience, never wanted to miss it .......Now my life is quiet and good... I'm calm now...🙂
Reed was actually a very innovative guitarist and perhaps nothing fancy he got sounds that had a huge influence on music. Rock and Roll Animal is probably the greatest guitar album ever mainly because of Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner a team who went on to create and work with some of the best artists in music. I think Lou is an underrated vocalist as well and songs like Perfect Day are an excellent example of nuance and emotion. Seriously Lou was one of the greatest
@@jonesy2111 Without John Cale Lou Reed would have ended up as a Bob Dylan copycat (at least in musical terms). It was mainly Cale's arrangements that would transform the original songs into new sonical dimensions, that became groundbreaking. Should have been at least co-credited for the music on TVU&N and WL/WH but Reed's ego stood in the way.
I think a person they interviewed for the Lou Reed Masters documentary summed this song up perfectly. It's like being on a run away train, and whether or not you have ever experienced heroin everybody knows that feeling as everyone has had their life feel like that at one point or another. I've never used heroin, don't intend to, but this song still gives me goose bumps.
The thing with it is the physiological and mental torture and pain. It’s a straight medical condition. But idiot ignorant people and doctors don’t help
addicted for 3 years. No one even knew. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do to quit. I thought I would die. God I hated being downsick. I still dream of the feeling and it still takes willpower to not give in. But if I ever give in, it's all over and that's why I never will. I have things to live for.
I can’t quit. Opiates literally are my only solution to be alive at 25. I had an injury that caused horrible chronic pain. I want everyone to stay sober but I can’t. It’s my wife... It’s my life...
Not very many people actually walk out the other side, stay free, life is the better choice, or that’s what they say, personally I have been stuck on a methadone program for twenty odd years now but it’s better than the alternative, that’s what they say. Look after yourself my friend and keep looking forward, never back, that’s what they say
Wow. Such an important, unique and insightful comment. I have to screenshot this because there's no way I'll ever see a comment saying the Velvet Underground/this song/etc are "timeless, classic, truly great" ever again.
I love how this song goes from mellow to intense to mellow to intense and on and on. This, to me, is an accurate representation of being on narcotics feels like.
the song actually portrays the vvay Heroine hits you, in vvaves that subside & roll across you again & again taking avvay all your cares so that even death isnt frightening anymore & eventually becomes your pursuit .
I have done heroin for 20.years and have had a great time. Ok I'll a few times. But man what a buzz. Oh dear some die . So do drivers . More of em. Keep on keeping on.
I've been clean for 29 years and was and was on needle for almost 10 years, times were different back then and there was no methadone back then. ...at some point it was too long ago........
The thing i love about this song is the way that the lyrics are so applicable to modern society, "and all the politicians making busy sounds and everybody putting everybody else down"
Without a doubt, the most intense band of all time...and in 1967! They encompassed all the depravity, sexuality and bizarre alternatives of that age. And, also this age and...the next...and...
I have it hard understanding heroin. Drugs for me is a way to live life. Makes me more aware, judgemental and experiencing. With drugs I can stay up, read books, and listen to music. The high is attached to doing stuff. Alcohol sucks, and sure milder opiates can make you more focusing, but heroin is an escape from all that is fun too.
@@psisis7423 it's the only think that works for my depression and that makes me able to feel anywhere close to a normal human being. Well, not heroin particularly, but opioids in general. I'd be a miserable suicidal wreck without my injectable morphine. Thank God for injectable maintenance - morphine, hydromorphone and diamorphine (pharmaceutical heroin) maintenance. Heroin-assisted treatment (prescription heroin) and other forms of injectable maintenance for opioid addicts is a reality in many countries (like Switzerland and the UK) and it's getting expanded more and more. It's truly the only way for opioid addicts who just won't quit no matter what, like me. I'm on 270-300mg of injectable morphine a day and live a fairly normal life with a family that I love. The majority of problems associated with opioid addiction truly are caused by the illegality of opioids. I know addicts in the UK who are on 500mg, 700mg of legal take-home pharmaceutical heroin a day, and it saved their lives really. They can work and be functional as normal. The only difference is that we come home from work and take a measured dose of our legal junk and nod off watching Netflix or whatever.
@@dboy2462 Okay. May I ask what made you start in the first place? It’s just that, I see how it has its effect, I’ve used a little kratom (legal opioid agonist) myself past year or so and inhibiting anxiety technically does help you focus. But I don’t understand how you mean it’s normal to feel like that. My own depression is rooted in the inability to experience and be productive. I don’t need opiates, but I need dopamine (like ritalin). Dopamine makes me feel alive and happy, not by killing anxiety, but by living life and being rewarded for the stuff I do. Makes me realize my personality. Do you do things when you take morphine? Does it make you feel good reading books or watching movies? Proud of who you are? Or if it just makes you nodding off, and forget about yourself and earthly matters, instead of absorbing and enjoy them, then I don’t see the function of it. And another thing: injecting? Isn’t that like hitting the borders of your high? I guess that’s how you get tolerance, that’s why most move on to harder drugs. If it’s moderate and just below perfect, you can find use in the same drug for ever. And how is it “feeling like a normal human being” with a needle to your arm? Most humans are scared af of needles. And humans supposedly eat and have sex, that’s all they do, and that’s what dopamine lets me get closer to. So in my opinion, opiates don’t seem that philanthropic, not to mention how it kills you in your sleep.
[Verse 1] I don't know just where I'm going But I'm gonna try for the kingdom, if I can Cause it makes me feel like I'm a man When I put a spike into my vein And I tell you things aren't quite the same When I'm rushing on my run And I feel just like Jesus' son [Chorus] And I guess that I just don't know And I guess that I just don't know [Verse 2] I have made big decision I'm gonna try to nullify my life Cause when the blood begins to flow When it shoots up the dropper's neck When I'm closing in on death You can't help me, not you guys Or all you sweet girls with all your sweet talk You can all go take a walk [Chorus] And I guess I just don't know And I guess that I just don't know [Verse 3] I wish that I was born a thousand years ago I wish that I'd sailed the darkened seas On a great big clipper ship Going from this land here to that On a sailor's suit and cap Away from the big city Where a man cannot be free Of all the evils of this town And of himself and those around [Chorus] Oh, and I guess that I just don't know Oh, and I guess that I just don't know [Verse 4] Heroin, be the death of me Heroin, it's my wife and it's my life, haha Because a mainline into my vein Leads to a center in my head And then I'm better off than dead Because when the smack begins to flow I really don't care anymore About all the Jim-Jims in this town And all the politicians making crazy sounds And everybody putting everybody else down And all the dead bodies piled up in mounds Cause when the smack begins to flow And I really don't care anymore Ah, when that heroin is in my blood Heh, and that blood is in my head Then thank God that I'm as good as dead And thank your God that I'm not aware And thank God that I just don't care [Chorus] And I guess I just don't know Oh, and I guess that I just don't know
Thank you for doing this ! This was amazing to see. Very well done 👍🏻. Only the people who sadly have went through this can understand the pain and suffering of this drug. Feels good yet bad
This is the most perfect song ever written bar none . First heard it on a cassette my dad used to play in the car when I was like 10 years old and it blew my mind. 30 years later and still just as incredible. RIP
I've have not done heroin to date, however my parents were both heroin addicts. So my heart goes out to anyone struggling with this addiction. My doctor did have me on heavy narcotics for 7 years that in my opinion when I chose to come off of, so i could have my first daughter. The withdrawals of coming off of as a high of a dose as I was on looks very similar to what I witnessed at times growing up. It's pure human suffering. * Sending love, light, enlightenment, positive affirmations/ prayers and hugs that heal to everyone that reads this and include everyone that doesn't get the chance too. 🦋🐝🐬🦇🐅🦄🧚🙏💁❣️💝❣️😘💁🙏🦄🧚🐅🦇🦋🐬🐝
Thank you. I am 26 I have been on opiates since I was 18 and just started doing brown heroin not even 2 months ago for the first time... I snort it no injection (yet..) It is very scary to live this way. But I chose it because it kills the EXCRUCIATING physical pain and the mental trauma... It really numbs and somewhat helps but TEMPORARILY... It always goes away and I need more... It is a vicious cycle I am not ready to break I feel... But I need to break it before it breaks me!... Thanks for your heartfelt comment. God bless you and your parents who broke the cycle from what you have stated. Please pray to God for me if you do and there is no question I will pray for you. God bless you... ❤️👍🏽🙌🏽
They should have tapered you off. There is literally no reason to make a Patient go through withdrawal. As long as the patient is able to follow the instructions, you taper them down from their full dose to 0. How long depends on the dosage, the patients health, the duration they were on the meds etc. It is far less safe for a pregnant woman to go through withdrawals than to taper down.
Excellent that you never went into H addiction, it is crap of a life, I was IVing for 2 years and consequences are unresolved even today for me, I am still on replacement therapy and my family suffered because of my addiction.
These guys were the greatest American rock and roll band of all time.... Absolutely nobody could reach the grounds the Velvet Underground went to... Thank you, Lou, for such a work of art as this song and group.... Cheers
My Dad was an attorney at law who would help his assisted ones, in case they wanted to quit. One of them,Mauro, went once so mad in a heroin crave that he wrecked Dad's office off- and then afterwards he wouldn't remember a thing. When the guy died to heroin, Dad brought us teens to his funeral- it was Rome's bright spring afternoon at the end of the Seventies- there were few people there- his devastated family, their stony faces, as if they had cried far too much before that day- indeed they had. At the end of the service, Dad goes "Running to pick the car before they tow it away, wait for me guys" and I could see that his eyes were wet. Ciao Dad. Ciao Mauro the addict guy- you two probably are keeping on fighting.
+Kat Hamilton (Zepluv) I had NO CLUE Who This band was I can't believe what I have been deprived of all these years! SO Greatful to my amazing lovely friend Katy Rose, who has been an inspiration in my life for 13 years now! wow we're getting old man!
Nathan Brauer Sounds like you have a great friend. This is my father's generation in music. He listened to all of this. He also fought in Vietnam. My generation is the greats from the 80's-90s. Especially who came out of Seattle...
+Kat Hamilton (Zepluv) Nice song about an EVIL FUCKING DRUG. I wonder if Lou would have made this song knowing how many millions of lives have been ruined by this drug?! I would like to think that he would have used the music and done another subject but what do I know.
But the feeling of the kick is the most lovable feeling I ever had! And that's the reason of the addiction, you want to have the kick back and back and more and more and there is no stop anymore you're in love with the kick and Lou said it :"She's my life, and she's my wife". And that's the perfect sentence to show what heroin does to you and what it means. 🤍🤍🤍
If You were hooked on that shit you would cry when you heard it it. Horse is the most destructive drug in the world, I'v seen great people turn into the worst people you could imagine. Avoid this shit like it's the plague. If you are dying of cancer or if you are going to have a painful death and you only have a few months to live, then yeah take it, and only under those conditions. Some people are given it after a bad plane crash and never get off it just look at Howard Hughes or Hermann W Göring they both received terrible injury's as young men and they where given morphine and strong codeine as young men and they ended up taking it all their lives. H Hughes had 7 hypodermic needles broken off in his arm and it was only after he died and they x rayed him that the rumors were confirmed. So if you like the thought of hypodermics snapped off in your arm go right ahead, but bare in mind if they snap off in a vein they can travel to your heart and kill you, under the right conditions.
@@stefanyalazzanya the misery that acompanies anything one might consider good far outweighs it. It'll bring you to the depths of hell over and over and over again. Don't wonder about it, trust me.
a work of tremendous force, and...about a lot more than heroin. ever felt estranged; like u didnt belong? like u wanna be numb and or drop out, because the world doesnt make sense? i was a sober kid and still have never done opiate drugs 44yrs on planet, and this song 100% still makes sense to me. and it always will. forever wanting to be stoned and dumbed out of the existence of this era.
Dear Mistress Heroin, I haven't known you in three years. But when it's quiet and I am alone, I let myself miss you, and that old familiar desire radiates from the marrow in my bones. No matter how vile you made things for me, you always had a knack for making even the most squalid conditions a warm and loving cocoon. Then, as fast as you came, your warmth starts to leave me, and I can no longer pretend that none of this is real. The whispers of my misdeeds turn to laughing, mocking shouts. And I wake up alone, only to start the day's struggle again. All in search for you. Kind regards and burn in hell, Your ex lover
The way that this is written, the way it's been played, Up and down, up and down, it's exactly like that..., Heroin. Only try once, than leave life for what it is, with your new life experience.
My father was an addict for 20 years, and my twin brother for 13. Dad has early onset dementia, and my brother has been in prison for a long time. I heard it is like "touching the face of God". This song helps me understand.
I want to wish your Dad nothing but the best. If you are helping take care of him, be patient. I know it is hard. My Dad had dementia as well. Take care Rocky
It's not! No one do heroin to get high ! The firsts time are miserable. Why you do heroin (or identically drug?) . First you are consumer of other drugs Second you want experiment And 3⁰ your stupid! Now if you are addicted. Good luck only you can get out . No one can decide for you !
It's not that great. Best thing about it is that it takes all pain away including mental and emotional. So you can be numb and forget about everything else.
Everyone- “I’ve been clean”... to those who aren’t, maybe will never be, come and go, maybe you will, maybe you will live to be old, maybe you won’t. You matter just the same. I love you. And guess we just don’t know and I guess we just won’t know 🖤
Brilliant song! The way it plays out, becoming manic and comes to rest. I struggled with alcohol AND HAD SOME OF THE BEST TIMES OF MY LIFE...Until the excess ruined many aspects of my life and I nearly died.
Great song about a heinous subject, I never got into it but my doctors in their infinite wisdom put me on fentanyl for 6 years and I know how goddamn awful it was getting off that stuff...
Fent sucks. No high but terrible tolerance almost immediately. That shit is garbage and should only be used my medical pros trying to knock out someone about to go under the knife.
I hope you got off and stayed off it. Unfortunately people who have never been an “addict” claim that this narrative isn’t true and that you “chose” to keep doing it despite it being a doctors prescriptions. Please keep sharing your story to continue fighting the stigma that all addicts are bad people who made a choice. Nobody chooses to slowly kill themselves. Addiction is a disease. It changes your brain chemistry therefore it is considered more than a choice or a bad decision. Addiction does not discriminate. Anyone can become an addict. Choose to educate yourselves and open yourself up to new experiences you may not understand without judgment. Sending all my light and well wishes your way friend. Stay strong!
This song makes me want to cry. It epitomizes the suffering of the world. Of human beings. "And I guess, I just don't know." None of us really know. We are all here with no certainty. This is ultimately a song of nihilism. The singer has no choice but to give in to his base desires. He desires the high of heroin because he wants to be free of the pain of consciousness. Especially in "the big city". He has concluded that nothing can help him. Only his substance and his addiction can provide him with relief from the pain. It is so human. So sad. So real.
+Joe Bianco Darned right, the city is as far away from the human being's natural evolution as its possible to get. Artificial environments require artificial substances just to get by - or else get TF out of hell's kitchen to the sweet countryside forever.
+FirstUsedBooks dont think( jesus) whas to take at 1rst degre or god in this song! just to say is fucking hight and borred with people in the big city repeating the same old shit for so long!
It stole my youth; I got my life back in my early 40s, a good life now, a blessed life. Yet, I still romanticise the lifestyle and of course the drug itself, esp when I hear this song. One forgets the misery of a blood filled spoon that you try to re-inject but it's coagulated and it's 3am and snowing. So thankyou Lou and Keith and Willy Deville and the list goes one for showing us there is life after junk!
Rey Trasgo let me tell u the DAMNEST thing! the other day i went to the dentist and had 2 teeth removed. the dentist gave me a script for 20 10mg hydrocodones! well i had them filled and was telling myself that it was allright for me to take them AND I WOULD BE ALLRIGHT TAKING THEM! so i got home with them like a kid with a prize! i looked at them for awhile and decided i would wait till the weekend and take maybe 10 saturday and the same sunday. so i had them in my dresser waiting to take them. thursday before the weekend i look at my GMAIL and a guy had read my post about being 3 years clean. i dont know if he was or is and addict. but he sent me a simple messege; "Good for you man, keep it up"! now that was the damnest thing to get that AT THAT TIME. long story short i flushed the pills. so lets both hang in there man and live 0NE MORE DAY CLEAN!
That's good to hear. Thankfully where I live it's really hard to to get anything other than smoke or xannies. Not big on either of those, or drinking. Glad to know you're still clean. Anything up a vein will ruin your life. All it took was one time for me, an oxy ... I look at the scars up and down my arm everyday ... I miss that feeling, that rush. But I missed having a real life more, my kids, my family.
This song is simplistic but actually very deep and it sounds like real soul went into it, the instrumentation, music illustrates the feelings perfectly
I partially agree with you only because I seriously don’t find this song simplistic but find it very complex unique and extremely unpredictable which is why it’s so amazing. But everyone has their own view of how they hear and see things.
and thus did it's own service to what came after... Morphine, and its derivatives, are (and always have been) put to use for medicinal services. The synthetic application to pain.
It’s sad that those things happen, mate. The war on drugs is total bullshit. It’s my choice to smoke weed and try special K one day and if it fucks me up in the long run it’s all my fault.
HEROIN IS ONE HELL OF A DRUG.15 years a slave to the needle.today I'm 12 years clean.Smack was my best friend and worst enemy at the same time.by the Grace of god today I am what I am.
One of my favorite songs, so deep and mournful. As far as I know Lou Reed was never a junkie but he really captures the soul of the addict. Been there, done that.
I think what I like about this song is that it sounds like Lou Reed isn’t promoting the use of heroin but he’s also not condemning the drug either. He’s just giving a matter of fact experience of using it
"I'm gonna try/to nullify my life..." This was my theme song for so many years. 18 years past the heroin life... all y'all still in it, I pray that you find your way home soon.
Have never taken heroin, never injected any drug, never been a fan of anyone glorifying certain habits into songs, have never been an avid fan of the velvet underground either......however, have to give massive kudos to the band..... the song changes tempo so quickly, with the listener getting drawn into the intravenous experience of feeling the heroin hit the bloodstream, as the tempo increases, and then quickly decreases, as the user comes off the initial high and morphs into the haze..... Very cleverly done, and appreciated by myself, even though the thought of taking the drug sickens me.....
I had just started on that road when this album was released so I was at it for a very long time. I think it is the rush that the music creates that gets listeners. Chasing that rush in the beginning becomes a full time job just to be well. After 35 years I managed to put it down.
The blond playing the drum is Nico. The kid running around is her son. This boy, when he got older, did, in fact, die of a heroin overdose. It was first introduced to him by his mother, Nico, who was by then also a heroin addict. This song is part of what lead me to trying the drug at 17, which I did many times. I was lucky. I never got more than a mild habit and was able to quit fairly easily once I decided to.I got hep C, which caused me a hell of a lot of trouble decades later and almost killed me. I got it from a needle, naturally. I was lucky to avoid HIV. Not to blame Lou Reed for my actions. We all make our own choices. And my tendency to try every experience I possibly could would probably have led me in that direction sooner or later anyhow.
I had also 23 years Hep C from a needle. But I'm clean now. I had a very heavy course where I had to give myself an injection every week. How sarcastic for someone who had injected heroin for three years and got rid of it. But the Hep. C went away and I was declared clean. Nico WAS the band that times. The Velvet Underground! The best of all times!
There is a documentary about Nico which I've seen it maybe 10 years ago or even more. But it never mentioned that she played the drums at this particular song.
Such a honest raw piece of music, rest in peace to the master himself Mr Lou Reed. This song definitely wouldn’t chart amongst the over-saturated, auto-tuned, commercial, soulless crap that charts today. I hate to be that guy, but they just don’t make em’ like this no more.
i've been clean for 10 years and i feel that i walk with this addiction in my shadow, it's always there, one step behind me, if i get bored or am alone or depressed she whispers in my ear. i have to stay busy, all the time, stay one step ahead of her, i take all the overtime i can, if i'm not at work i go to the gym or i play video games, ride my bike etc. anything to keep her out of my head.
I’m in awe of the way this song rides the waves. Mirroring the kind of high and low state of being I imagine being an addiction would entail. Having never done heroin, I can’t really talk, but the songs music speaks to me of chaos, of highs and lows and intermittent madness. I’m loving it.
I was heavily addicted to heroin, or any opiates for over 20 years, I've been clean for over 10 years, I'm very lucky, I got away with my life, most of my childhood friends weren't as lucky as me though, only a few of us left now 🙏🏻✌🏻💙🏴 #THEDEVILSDUST
Pretty much the same story everywhere.. I don't even remember that how many friends I have lost to drugs (mainly because of heroin, benzos & alcohol, plus some to amfetamines). I am clean now (well, I mean that I don't take anything that isn't legal). The most important thing that I have learned from using heroin etc. that war against drugs doesn't work (at any level)... It only increases the problems with drugs and it costs billion of euros/dollars every year. Only countries that have solved the "drug problem" are those (Portugal, Netherlands etc.) that have made drugs legal - that's just the fact of it... Less users, no penalties, more direct help to addicts etc.
Annoyingly it is a very benign substance if prescribed. Much less damaging to the body than nicotine or alcohol. It is the illegality that is harmful....... BUT, it isn't good in that it stops one laughing and really feeling emotions. That is the worst part...especially in relationships .
I have severe chronic pain that will never go away apparently. Honestly, i do not want to give up opiates because of this reason. It’s my wife. It’s my life
This is the first song I learned to play (and sing at the same time)... along with “waiting for the man” in the same day... Lou Reed changed my music forever...
My older sister was an iv heroin addict in the early 1970's. When I was only 13, someone offered to inject me ( Right around the time Elvis died, I am now 58). The only reason why I said no was that my sister was in prison and I knew exactly how heroin addiction had taken over her life. I am so sorry she had to go thru that, and so grateful that knowing what I knew at that age helped save me from my own personal hell I would surely would have went to. All these years later, I still cannot believe how close I got to ruining my own life. If not for my sister, I surely would have.
I am 71 so was around when this was first released. Like many I smoked dope and took LSD. I never took heroin but this is a brilliant description of doing so. It stands the test of time.
I lost 25yrs to Heroin! But I'm just glad I got my family back these last 21yrs! I heard this song in 1967! I was 17 N never thought I'd be writing this as a 71yr old! But man I still ride my Harley N sometimes listen to the song teary eyed N tripping back on that dog life I went through! But I thank God- Angels- Higher power? I'm one lucky bastard after all! N still the song is there to remind me who I was!
cant believe this beautiful soul is gone from the world. this song is about survival. he was 22 when he wrote this song, the same age as me. i need to do something
@WatermelonThief The song sounds like it is about giving the listener an idea what it feels like when you inject heroin and get a "rush." Why do you think it is about survival?
All I know is I couldn't play all the way through a song like this before needing to take another hit. Props to this band for even being able to finish it
Was on Heroin for 3-4years and in that short time it ruined my life for years with Methadone the next crutch. But thank God 17yrs later I'm here to tell the tale. Very powerful song that will only hit the hearts of those who did it. Nico just there as a hanger on banging a tambourine. #TheChoiceForMeIsDrugsFree
I was 47 years old with the emotional stability of a 16 year old. That's one thing of many that 37 years of using heroin as a way of life did for me. I loved it the first time I tried it at 15 years old.....I remember that moment as vividly as anything in my life. Now, I'm 61. Been clean over a decade. Stopping was the hardest thing I ever did in my life. Nothing is even close. And to this day......I still love it. But I climbed every mountain there was in that regard. Nothing left to find there. Except perhaps more misery. But not from the heroin. More from the lack of it. If you're anything like me, don't even try it once. It will bring you to the darkest places that you can imagine. I can't believe where I've been and the things I've done. For Heroin.
Thanks for sharing that. I had many friends who were addicts, some gone and a few still around. I liked drugs yet somehow knew as you said that I should not try it. All the best to you
@@markstyles9238 Thanks Mark. I appreciate that. Sincerely.
I used for over 30 years. You can't count 24 years in prison. What I found out was my bottom was never ending. I live in Philadelphia and there's no heroin anywhere around here. Not in NY, nowhere. The closest place would be Texas. I don't want it that bad.
Instant love for me too. First time trying, well, opioids, I knew right then and there, it was only a matter of time before I got addicted. I was right. The some what, "lighter" opioids led to stronger ones, and eventually Heroin. I used for about 10-12 years, I'm 37 now. Been clean about 5-6 months.
And yes, it's the hardest thing I've done in my life so far. You can stop, the hardest part is to not pick it up again.
Im 62 and an opiate addict since high school. 27 years clean. I love that stuff, butt not for me, as "I LOVE LIFE MORE!".
If this song was released tomorrow, you would still be astonished by how original and beautiful it sounded.
As for me, no i would not😂
Many people prefer censorship. And i guess that i just don't know either
I just introduced my grandson to this guy and he was astonished Great music always appeals
Yessss
@@garytamme Oh wow so cool.
I am 20 years sober and I still cannot listen to this song all the way through without crying. Joyful tears, there is life after addiction. ❤️
Proud of you❤️
🤘🏾🤘🏾
Per me, dopo dieci anni, è la stessa cosa
Takes me back to the years I wish to forget.
It was the death of me 4 times and other 10 of my friends at least .
@@saraterracciano7961 Torna a casa
One of the most raw and brutally honest songs ever. In my opinion, a strong contender for the greatest song of all time.
I want every single person who thinks the arts aren't important to sit quietly and listen to this song and tell me they don't have a physical reaction to it.
Ain't nobody who has described the heroin rush in such an honest way. Thank you Lou Reed, and thank you Andy Warhol for making it possible.
James brown heroin
Better than any meat injection.
John Cale, Sterling Morrison & Mo Tucker do a great job!
Sumo - Heroin is badass
I love Lou but he should've wrote a song as eloquent about kicking heroin- its not what you would call rock and roll and it's not what you'd call romantic.
I was 17 and i was hooked..on heroine...never had that feeling before and now I am 61 and I can tell you it was the greatest feeling I ever had in my life! Kicked off when I was 20! But my life is good :) I had a very heavy life.Always looked for challenges ... I was hooked on everything you can be hooked on, and I survived everything. I'm clean now, but what an awesome life this was !!! And still is ... What a great experience, never wanted to miss it .......Now my life is quiet and good... I'm calm now...🙂
Pretty lucky, I'd say. Goodd4you though
Thank you granny for inspiring me to try heroin💗
@@thegreatgiginthesky8822 It's everybody's own choice! You don't have to do it! You better climb the Mount Everest! ⛰
@@stefke48 of course, I was just joking, you’re great 💕
@@thegreatgiginthesky8822 💕
its beautiful how the drum is playing the heartbeat
Just a footnote, but the drummer was a lady who had never played drums before.
@@richmerowitz5610 And yet it's one of the best beats ever
One of the best songs ever written by one of the greatest musicians of all time. RIP Lou
Reed was actually a very innovative guitarist and perhaps nothing fancy he got sounds that had a huge influence on music. Rock and Roll Animal is probably the greatest guitar album ever mainly because of Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner a team who went on to create and work with some of the best artists in music. I think Lou is an underrated vocalist as well and songs like Perfect Day are an excellent example of nuance and emotion. Seriously Lou was one of the greatest
@@jonesy2111 Without John Cale Lou Reed would have ended up as a Bob Dylan copycat (at least in musical terms). It was mainly Cale's arrangements that would transform the original songs into new sonical dimensions, that became groundbreaking. Should have been at least co-credited for the music on TVU&N and WL/WH but Reed's ego stood in the way.
@@ForARide Absolutely agree I have a very high opinion of Cale's music and artistry for sure
Such an important comment, wow.
And one of the sad songs….
This song saved my life. Now I'm at my 15 year mark. Whoever you are, you can do this and I love you.
love you too brother
I love you
none of you love each other. dont talk crap.
@@peterRobinson10101 Love you to sour puss.
@@peterRobinson10101 love you most
I think a person they interviewed for the Lou Reed Masters documentary summed this song up perfectly. It's like being on a run away train, and whether or not you have ever experienced heroin everybody knows that feeling as everyone has had their life feel like that at one point or another. I've never used heroin, don't intend to, but this song still gives me goose bumps.
That's what good music is supposed to do. Pure self expression that ability to transfer ur feelings onto the listener make them feel something
The thing with it is the physiological and mental torture and pain. It’s a straight medical condition. But idiot ignorant people and doctors don’t help
addicted for 3 years. No one even knew. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do to quit. I thought I would die. God I hated being downsick. I still dream of the feeling and it still takes willpower to not give in. But if I ever give in, it's all over and that's why I never will. I have things to live for.
I can’t quit. Opiates literally are my only solution to be alive at 25. I had an injury that caused horrible chronic pain. I want everyone to stay sober but I can’t. It’s my wife... It’s my life...
@@clc-gl4jn you'll find the strength, man!
Not very many people actually walk out the other side, stay free, life is the better choice, or that’s what they say, personally I have been stuck on a methadone program for twenty odd years now but it’s better than the alternative, that’s what they say. Look after yourself my friend and keep looking forward, never back, that’s what they say
@@benasanceris4299 God bless you thanks
Well done Albert. Must have been tough man.
remembering the friends I've lost to this and the rush I used to feel before I got sober. this song brings me to tears, without fail, every time
LOTS of associates
too many....
To all of you have stayed clean, ...if only just for today, I am proud of you. You CAN do this.
❤️❤️
Does that include Doctors chemical drugs and inoculations??
"It's my wife and it's my life" Thank God for suboxone, I was able to file for divorce.
I am sure that we can speak here without any reservations - this is one of the greatest records in history, an absolutely monumental work
TO ONE N ALL...LISTEN TO JAMES BROWN SONG/POEM
KING HEROIN...IT'S MY GO TO HELPING ME STAY CLEAN 8YRS. 7MOS. 26DAYS N COUNTING...(HIGHER POWER FIRST)
Absolutely !
Wow. Such an important, unique and insightful comment. I have to screenshot this because there's no way I'll ever see a comment saying the Velvet Underground/this song/etc are "timeless, classic, truly great" ever again.
@@ogamibirdflu5152 lame
This song tells truth therefore suppressed imo. I love ❤ this Lou Reed Velvet underground song. evocative or too honest?
“We sit here stranded though we all do our best to deny it”. Bob Dylan
I love that line ! Well played mate!
I love how this song goes from mellow to intense to mellow to intense and on and on. This, to me, is an accurate representation of being on narcotics feels like.
the song actually portrays the vvay Heroine hits you, in vvaves that subside & roll across you again & again taking avvay all your cares so that even death isnt frightening anymore & eventually becomes your pursuit .
I have done heroin for 20.years and have had a great time. Ok I'll a few times. But man what a buzz. Oh dear some die . So do drivers . More of em. Keep on keeping on.
Do goodets fuck off and enjoy life. Sex once a month .drunk at Xmas and talk about it all hear. Yeah go on fuck off out of it. Cunts
Same two chords
Damn
'And I guess I just don't know'. Truer words have never been spoken
Cheers to that...
Heroin gave me wings but it took away the sky.
Shout out to Maureen Tucker keeping it all together on the drums, never enough credit!!
She has been definitely a genius in drums, one of the best in music history
A legend indeed
Google the story of her giving up drumming near the end of the track because she couldn't hear what was going on fascinating. I'll try and find it
Thats 'cause she kept it simple but what a sexy voice she had
@@micheleschicchi5397 are you for real
I’m clean for 5 years from heroine, but is a fight every days. I’m afraid
don't give up,bro...😎
One day at a time. Add ‘em up
I've been clean for 29 years and was and was on needle for almost 10 years, times were different back then and there was no methadone back then. ...at some point it was too long ago........
Stay strong, at some point it will just be a faint memory
The thing i love about this song is the way that the lyrics are so applicable to modern society, "and all the politicians making busy sounds and everybody putting everybody else down"
Absolutely right. Especially now
Some things never change sadly
Came from the big city, where a man can not be free...
Dont worry, Joe Biden cares about the little man, he'll save us all.
Without a doubt, the most intense band of all time...and in 1967! They encompassed all the depravity, sexuality and bizarre alternatives of that age. And, also this age and...the next...and...
they definitely created alternative music
Seek help
There are two types of junkies.
Ones that want to quit.
Ones that don’t know they want to quit.
Or those who want to quit but hate themselves too much to actually do it.
I have it hard understanding heroin. Drugs for me is a way to live life. Makes me more aware, judgemental and experiencing. With drugs I can stay up, read books, and listen to music. The high is attached to doing stuff. Alcohol sucks, and sure milder opiates can make you more focusing, but heroin is an escape from all that is fun too.
Highly disagree.
@@psisis7423 it's the only think that works for my depression and that makes me able to feel anywhere close to a normal human being. Well, not heroin particularly, but opioids in general. I'd be a miserable suicidal wreck without my injectable morphine. Thank God for injectable maintenance - morphine, hydromorphone and diamorphine (pharmaceutical heroin) maintenance. Heroin-assisted treatment (prescription heroin) and other forms of injectable maintenance for opioid addicts is a reality in many countries (like Switzerland and the UK) and it's getting expanded more and more. It's truly the only way for opioid addicts who just won't quit no matter what, like me. I'm on 270-300mg of injectable morphine a day and live a fairly normal life with a family that I love. The majority of problems associated with opioid addiction truly are caused by the illegality of opioids. I know addicts in the UK who are on 500mg, 700mg of legal take-home pharmaceutical heroin a day, and it saved their lives really. They can work and be functional as normal. The only difference is that we come home from work and take a measured dose of our legal junk and nod off watching Netflix or whatever.
@@dboy2462 Okay. May I ask what made you start in the first place? It’s just that, I see how it has its effect, I’ve used a little kratom (legal opioid agonist) myself past year or so and inhibiting anxiety technically does help you focus. But I don’t understand how you mean it’s normal to feel like that. My own depression is rooted in the inability to experience and be productive. I don’t need opiates, but I need dopamine (like ritalin). Dopamine makes me feel alive and happy, not by killing anxiety, but by living life and being rewarded for the stuff I do. Makes me realize my personality. Do you do things when you take morphine? Does it make you feel good reading books or watching movies? Proud of who you are? Or if it just makes you nodding off, and forget about yourself and earthly matters, instead of absorbing and enjoy them, then I don’t see the function of it.
And another thing: injecting? Isn’t that like hitting the borders of your high? I guess that’s how you get tolerance, that’s why most move on to harder drugs. If it’s moderate and just below perfect, you can find use in the same drug for ever. And how is it “feeling like a normal human being” with a needle to your arm? Most humans are scared af of needles. And humans supposedly eat and have sex, that’s all they do, and that’s what dopamine lets me get closer to.
So in my opinion, opiates don’t seem that philanthropic, not to mention how it kills you in your sleep.
[Verse 1]
I don't know just where I'm going
But I'm gonna try for the kingdom, if I can
Cause it makes me feel like I'm a man
When I put a spike into my vein
And I tell you things aren't quite the same
When I'm rushing on my run
And I feel just like Jesus' son
[Chorus]
And I guess that I just don't know
And I guess that I just don't know
[Verse 2]
I have made big decision
I'm gonna try to nullify my life
Cause when the blood begins to flow
When it shoots up the dropper's neck
When I'm closing in on death
You can't help me, not you guys
Or all you sweet girls with all your sweet talk
You can all go take a walk
[Chorus]
And I guess I just don't know
And I guess that I just don't know
[Verse 3]
I wish that I was born a thousand years ago
I wish that I'd sailed the darkened seas
On a great big clipper ship
Going from this land here to that
On a sailor's suit and cap
Away from the big city
Where a man cannot be free
Of all the evils of this town
And of himself and those around
[Chorus]
Oh, and I guess that I just don't know
Oh, and I guess that I just don't know
[Verse 4]
Heroin, be the death of me
Heroin, it's my wife and it's my life, haha
Because a mainline into my vein
Leads to a center in my head
And then I'm better off than dead
Because when the smack begins to flow
I really don't care anymore
About all the Jim-Jims in this town
And all the politicians making crazy sounds
And everybody putting everybody else down
And all the dead bodies piled up in mounds
Cause when the smack begins to flow
And I really don't care anymore
Ah, when that heroin is in my blood
Heh, and that blood is in my head
Then thank God that I'm as good as dead
And thank your God that I'm not aware
And thank God that I just don't care
[Chorus]
And I guess I just don't know
Oh, and I guess that I just don't know
Thank you for doing this ! This was amazing to see. Very well done 👍🏻. Only the people who sadly have went through this can understand the pain and suffering of this drug. Feels good yet bad
This is the most perfect song ever written bar none . First heard it on a cassette my dad used to play in the car when I was like 10 years old and it blew my mind. 30 years later and still just as incredible. RIP
❤
rip to who ?
@@quangphan8996 my dad, and Lou.
I've have not done heroin to date, however my parents were both heroin addicts. So my heart goes out to anyone struggling with this addiction. My doctor did have me on heavy narcotics for 7 years that in my opinion when I chose to come off of, so i could have my first daughter. The withdrawals of coming off of as a high of a dose as I was on looks very similar to what I witnessed at times growing up. It's pure human suffering.
* Sending love, light, enlightenment, positive affirmations/ prayers and hugs that heal to everyone that reads this and include everyone that doesn't get the chance too. 🦋🐝🐬🦇🐅🦄🧚🙏💁❣️💝❣️😘💁🙏🦄🧚🐅🦇🦋🐬🐝
Thank you. I am 26
I have been on opiates since I was 18 and just started doing brown heroin not even 2 months ago for the first time...
I snort it no injection (yet..)
It is very scary to live this way.
But I chose it because it kills the EXCRUCIATING physical pain and the mental trauma... It really numbs and somewhat helps but TEMPORARILY... It always goes away and I need more... It is a vicious cycle I am not ready to break I feel... But I need to break it before it breaks me!...
Thanks for your heartfelt comment. God bless you and your parents who broke the cycle from what you have stated.
Please pray to God for me if you do and there is no question I will pray for you.
God bless you... ❤️👍🏽🙌🏽
Thank You. Be blessed too. God / Goddess help us! ❤♾🔜🆓️🌈🌟🪄🌈❤
They should have tapered you off. There is literally no reason to make a Patient go through withdrawal. As long as the patient is able to follow the instructions, you taper them down from their full dose to 0. How long depends on the dosage, the patients health, the duration they were on the meds etc. It is far less safe for a pregnant woman to go through withdrawals than to taper down.
Thank you. Your heart overflows with humanity and an understanding that are not common; all to the contrary.
Excellent that you never went into H addiction, it is crap of a life, I was IVing for 2 years and consequences are unresolved even today for me, I am still on replacement therapy and my family suffered because of my addiction.
These guys were the greatest American rock and roll band of all time.... Absolutely nobody could reach the grounds the Velvet Underground went to... Thank you, Lou, for such a work of art as this song and group.... Cheers
Got to be Floyd I’m sorry bro
@@TaintTantilizer Floyd was American ?
@@TaintTantilizerthey were British right
@@benpietrzykowski9216 oh then prolly joe Walsh much better guitar not so repetitive w shitty little minuscule songs
@@t.h.5643 yea missed the American part
My Dad was an attorney at law who would help his assisted ones, in case they wanted to quit. One of them,Mauro, went once so mad in a heroin crave that he wrecked Dad's office off- and then afterwards he wouldn't remember a thing. When the guy died to heroin, Dad brought us teens to his funeral- it was Rome's bright spring afternoon at the end of the Seventies- there were few people there- his devastated family, their stony faces, as if they had cried far too much before that day- indeed they had. At the end of the service, Dad goes "Running to pick the car before they tow it away, wait for me guys" and I could see that his eyes were wet. Ciao Dad. Ciao Mauro the addict guy- you two probably are keeping on fighting.
Your Dad was a _fine_ Human 🙏
🥀
Addicts are tough to manage -- they have chaos at their center and it radiates outward. Sounds like your dad did better than most.
Questo fa,anche,purtroppo ..
Possibly the most honest song ever recorder. Thankyou Lou for standing up to the man...
Raw, isn't it?
AtlasGaveUp Absolutely..
+Kat Hamilton (Zepluv) I had NO CLUE Who This band was I can't believe what I have been deprived of all these years! SO Greatful to my amazing lovely friend Katy Rose, who has been an inspiration in my life for 13 years now! wow we're getting old man!
Nathan Brauer Sounds like you have a great friend. This is my father's generation in music.
He listened to all of this. He also fought in Vietnam.
My generation is the greats from the 80's-90s. Especially who came out of Seattle...
+Kat Hamilton (Zepluv) Nice song about an EVIL FUCKING DRUG. I wonder if Lou would have made this song knowing how many millions of lives have been ruined by this drug?! I would like to think that he would have used the music and done another subject but what do I know.
This song wouldn’t exist without the pain of addiction. Can’t have one without the other
But the feeling of the kick is the most lovable feeling I ever had! And that's the reason of the addiction, you want to have the kick back and back and more and more and there is no stop anymore you're in love with the kick and Lou said it :"She's my life, and she's my wife". And that's the perfect sentence to show what heroin does to you and what it means. 🤍🤍🤍
Brings me back to the days of hustling just to get right, I miss you sometimes but I'm glad its been almost 3 years without you.
They're ain't no words to describe the brilliance of this performance.
Animal much better for me
Whole album is great, on repeat 😊
This song makes me cry, and I've never done heroin, ever.
you lie.
Don't ever try it; it is so addictive it would surprise and amaze you. don't do it!!!
Good 4 u man and never try this shit
If You were hooked on that shit you would cry when you heard it it. Horse is the most destructive drug in the world, I'v seen great people turn into the worst people you could imagine. Avoid this shit like it's the plague.
If you are dying of cancer or if you are going to have a painful death and you only have a few months to live, then yeah take it, and only under those conditions.
Some people are given it after a bad plane crash and never get off it just look at Howard Hughes or Hermann W Göring they both received terrible injury's as young men and they where given morphine and strong codeine as young men and they ended up taking it all their lives. H Hughes had 7 hypodermic needles broken off in his arm and it was only after he died and they x rayed him that the rumors were confirmed.
So if you like the thought of hypodermics snapped off in your arm go right ahead, but bare in mind if they snap off in a vein they can travel to your heart and kill you, under the right conditions.
@@stefanyalazzanya the misery that acompanies anything one might consider good far outweighs it. It'll bring you to the depths of hell over and over and over again. Don't wonder about it, trust me.
a work of tremendous force, and...about a lot more than heroin. ever felt estranged; like u didnt belong? like u wanna be numb and or drop out, because the world doesnt make sense? i was a sober kid and still have never done opiate drugs 44yrs on planet, and this song 100% still makes sense to me. and it always will. forever wanting to be stoned and dumbed out of the existence of this era.
One of the most powerful pieces of music ever written... Staggering 🔥👌🏼🔥
I can't avoid but to think that Warhol playing with the camera speaks of a more troubled man than Lou Reed.
Dear Mistress Heroin,
I haven't known you in three years. But when it's quiet and I am alone, I let myself miss you, and that old familiar desire radiates from the marrow in my bones.
No matter how vile you made things for me, you always had a knack for making even the most squalid conditions a warm and loving cocoon. Then, as fast as you came, your warmth starts to leave me, and I can no longer pretend that none of this is real. The whispers of my misdeeds turn to laughing, mocking shouts. And I wake up alone, only to start the day's struggle again. All in search for you.
Kind regards and burn in hell,
Your ex lover
Quiter
pussy
beautiful and painful words...
🖤🖤🖤
well done keep going
What an emotional and powerful piece of music
I don’t know if a cooler band has ever existed!!!!! They were so ahead of their time they could of been from the future!!!
The way that this is written,
the way it's been played,
Up and down, up and down,
it's exactly like that...,
Heroin.
Only try once, than leave life for what it is, with your new life experience.
Bowie, Stooges, Doors, Kraftwerk... thank you guys for influencing so many great bands from the 80's. Forever Joy Division!!!
My father was an addict for 20 years, and my twin brother for 13. Dad has early onset dementia, and my brother has been in prison for a long time. I heard it is like "touching the face of God". This song helps me understand.
I want to wish your Dad nothing but the best. If you are helping take care of him, be patient. I know it is hard. My Dad had dementia as well. Take care Rocky
A friend of mine described it as swimming in chocolate...
It's not! No one do heroin to get high ! The firsts time are miserable.
Why you do heroin (or identically drug?) . First you are consumer of other drugs
Second you want experiment
And 3⁰ your stupid!
Now if you are addicted. Good luck only you can get out . No one can decide for you !
A junkie told you that
It's not that great. Best thing about it is that it takes all pain away including mental and emotional. So you can be numb and forget about everything else.
Everyone- “I’ve been clean”... to those who aren’t, maybe will never be, come and go, maybe you will, maybe you will live to be old, maybe you won’t. You matter just the same. I love you. And guess we just don’t know and I guess we just won’t know 🖤
Don't want to be clean in this fuckin' world-I'm feelin fuckin fine ✌☻☮on gallows pole and a glass of wine ✌☮
This song is basically post-rock 20 years before it was even a thing
Bands like tvu were the prediseser to punk
ASMR Central listen to John Cale on shredding
I would say they were the first Alternative Rock band.
Ahahaha true
the velvet underground were proto everything tbh
happy birthday dad. I miss you dearly
me too...
Man you must of had a cool dad my heart goes out to you man
i miss my dad too i wish he was here.
My dad just passed
16.5 months clean off heroin/fent today, this song gives me goosebumps...
THE stand out, break-through piece by The Velvet Underground. An immortal piece!
He does so much with so little in this song. You can't just slip in a cute line with so little support. It has to be raw and exact. A masterwork.
still one of the greatest songs ever :)
I grew up in a small town in Arkansas, was introduced to Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Jim Carrol around 13. Best music ever!!!
Brilliant song! The way it plays out, becoming manic and comes to rest. I struggled with alcohol AND HAD SOME OF THE BEST TIMES OF MY LIFE...Until the excess ruined many aspects of my life and I nearly died.
Great song about a heinous subject, I never got into it but my doctors in their infinite wisdom put me on fentanyl for 6 years and I know how goddamn awful it was getting off that stuff...
Dam dude fetanyl for 6 years? Not gonna lie a junk head like me prob would’ve never been able to stop that. Stay well
Fent sucks. No high but terrible tolerance almost immediately. That shit is garbage and should only be used my medical pros trying to knock out someone about to go under the knife.
I hope you got off and stayed off it. Unfortunately people who have never been an “addict” claim that this narrative isn’t true and that you “chose” to keep doing it despite it being a doctors prescriptions. Please keep sharing your story to continue fighting the stigma that all addicts are bad people who made a choice. Nobody chooses to slowly kill themselves. Addiction is a disease. It changes your brain chemistry therefore it is considered more than a choice or a bad decision. Addiction does not discriminate. Anyone can become an addict. Choose to educate yourselves and open yourself up to new experiences you may not understand without judgment. Sending all my light and well wishes your way friend. Stay strong!
Were y on the fent patch? If so which doses.
I had it once and just got a headache.from it
I've been clean 20 years and this song still gives me cravings but I am so glad those days are gone -still love the song.
Good for you, stay clean.
Pussy
Nice one mate good for you I know that feeling it is hard to ignore
I'm not clean yet,but I'll get there.25 the habit.
Love 🎵❤️clean health
This song makes me want to cry. It epitomizes the suffering of the world. Of human beings. "And I guess, I just don't know." None of us really know. We are all here with no certainty. This is ultimately a song of nihilism. The singer has no choice but to give in to his base desires. He desires the high of heroin because he wants to be free of the pain of consciousness. Especially in "the big city". He has concluded that nothing can help him. Only his substance and his addiction can provide him with relief from the pain. It is so human. So sad. So real.
+Joe Bianco Yes it is, but don't forget the religious part "and I feel just like Jesus' son..."
Similar to Eve of Destruction
+Joe Bianco this has to be one of the best comment i've come through, thanks
+Joe Bianco Darned right, the city is as far away from the human being's natural evolution as its possible to get. Artificial environments require artificial substances just to get by - or else get TF out of hell's kitchen to the sweet countryside forever.
+FirstUsedBooks dont think( jesus) whas to take at 1rst degre or god in this song! just to say is fucking hight and borred with people in the big city repeating the same old shit for so long!
I no longer miss the deep sleep 1 year clean thank goddess
It stole my youth; I got my life back in my early 40s, a good life now, a blessed life. Yet, I still romanticise the lifestyle and of course the drug itself, esp when I hear this song. One forgets the misery of a blood filled spoon that you try to re-inject but it's coagulated and it's 3am and snowing. So thankyou Lou and Keith and Willy Deville and the list goes one for showing us there is life after junk!
Very emotional for me to listen too. 20 yrs on the smack and it took me places I never should have went yet I still miss it even after 3 yrs.
thanks
jeremy dryden I feel you man ... 2 years for me, miss it every freakin day
Rey Trasgo let me tell u the DAMNEST thing! the other day i went to the dentist and had 2 teeth removed. the dentist gave me a script for 20 10mg hydrocodones! well i had them filled and was telling myself that it was allright for me to take them AND I WOULD BE ALLRIGHT TAKING THEM! so i got home with them like a kid with a prize! i looked at them for awhile and decided i would wait till the weekend and take maybe 10 saturday and the same sunday. so i had them in my dresser waiting to take them. thursday before the weekend i look at my GMAIL and a guy had read my post about being 3 years clean. i dont know if he was or is and addict. but he sent me a simple messege; "Good for you man, keep it up"! now that was the damnest thing to get that AT THAT TIME. long story short i flushed the pills. so lets both hang in there man and live 0NE MORE DAY CLEAN!
That's good to hear. Thankfully where I live it's really hard to to get anything other than smoke or xannies. Not big on either of those, or drinking. Glad to know you're still clean. Anything up a vein will ruin your life. All it took was one time for me, an oxy ... I look at the scars up and down my arm everyday ... I miss that feeling, that rush. But I missed having a real life more, my kids, my family.
jeremy dryden Thank you man for sharing this. You may not realize it but you helped me stay clean another day. Hang in there and "keep it up"
The more I listen to the velvet underground the more I like them and I’ve spent an absurd amount of time listening to them.
This song is simplistic but actually very deep and it sounds like real soul went into it, the instrumentation, music illustrates the feelings perfectly
I partially agree with you only because I seriously don’t find this song simplistic but find it very complex unique and extremely unpredictable which is why it’s so amazing. But everyone has their own view of how they hear and see things.
What an amazing album of amazing songs. It’s in a different league than all my other favorite debuts.
Floods of memories and tears, listening to this song...
Aw
Heron definitely killed all the momentum of the 60's counterculture/love generation
Shoulda just stuck to lsd and pot.
and thus did it's own service to what came after... Morphine, and its derivatives, are (and always have been) put to use for medicinal services. The synthetic application to pain.
actually the CIA destroyed the 60's and the hippie movement
wycotic games not capitalism or Vietnam
It’s sad that those things happen, mate. The war on drugs is total bullshit. It’s my choice to smoke weed and try special K one day and if it fucks me up in the long run it’s all my fault.
Lost a really good friend to heroin and I think of him living in between the notes of the viola. Somewhere in bliss, no distortion.
HEROIN IS ONE HELL OF A DRUG.15 years a slave to the needle.today I'm 12 years clean.Smack was my best friend and worst enemy at the same time.by the Grace of god today I am what I am.
“I have made a decision , Im gonna try to nullify my life” yep, that summarizes my pill addiction...15 years null and void
This song is so painful for me to listen to all these years later.
One of my favorite songs, so deep and mournful. As far as I know Lou Reed was never a junkie but he really captures the soul of the addict. Been there, done that.
He probably was lol but would never admit it as far as I've read
You dont write lyrics like this without having shot more dope than 0
He def was and he got hepatitis from shooting up which killed him in the end lol. Also you wouldn't write this magic without that feeling.
He shot up at onstage at a show in 1973 or 4 I think!
I think what I like about this song is that it sounds like Lou Reed isn’t promoting the use of heroin but he’s also not condemning the drug either. He’s just giving a matter of fact experience of using it
"I'm gonna try/to nullify my life..." This was my theme song for so many years. 18 years past the heroin life... all y'all still in it, I pray that you find your way home soon.
Good news. One soul saved covers a multitude of sons.
RIP, love your music, wherever you may be. It will live in all of our hearts forever. Thank you. Lou!
Have never taken heroin, never injected any drug, never been a fan of anyone glorifying certain habits into songs, have never been an avid fan of the velvet underground either......however, have to give massive kudos to the band..... the song changes tempo so quickly, with the listener getting drawn into the intravenous experience of feeling the heroin hit the bloodstream, as the tempo increases, and then quickly decreases, as the user comes off the initial high and morphs into the haze.....
Very cleverly done, and appreciated by myself, even though the thought of taking the drug sickens me.....
Really
Studio : How long do you
want the build up to go?
Velvet Underground : Yes
Part of the genre i guess
I had just started on that road when this album was released so I was at it for a very long time. I think it is the rush that the music creates that gets listeners. Chasing that rush in the beginning becomes a full time job just to be well. After 35 years I managed to put it down.
A great song by a great band for great people to listen to carefully and ponder.
This song gives me chills. It should I reckon
this song is poetry
RIP all the friends I've lost to the spike. It coulda just as easily took me, but it didn't.
sie haben etwas gesucht und nie gefunden r.i.p all
It will get you. It gets us all. In time. For real.
my favourite velvet underground song
Not only yours. HONESTLY not only yours. 😛😋❤️
The blond playing the drum is Nico. The kid running around is her son. This boy, when he got older, did, in fact, die of a heroin overdose. It was first introduced to him by his mother, Nico, who was by then also a heroin addict.
This song is part of what lead me to trying the drug at 17, which I did many times. I was lucky. I never got more than a mild habit and was able to quit fairly easily once I decided to.I got hep C, which caused me a hell of a lot of trouble decades later and almost killed me. I got it from a needle, naturally. I was lucky to avoid HIV.
Not to blame Lou Reed for my actions. We all make our own choices. And my tendency to try every experience I possibly could would probably have led me in that direction sooner or later anyhow.
So sad about that little boy. I did wonder why a child was being immersed in those lyrics. We are the guardians of what tamariki see and hear.
I had also 23 years Hep C from a needle. But I'm clean now. I had a very heavy course where I had to give myself an injection every week. How sarcastic for someone who had injected heroin for three years and got rid of it. But the Hep. C went away and I was declared clean.
Nico WAS the band that times. The Velvet Underground! The best of all times!
There is a documentary about Nico which I've seen it maybe 10 years ago or even more. But it never mentioned that she played the drums at this particular song.
I bow to you, Sir!
The fact about her son dying of OD is false, he is still alive.
Such a honest raw piece of music, rest in peace to the master himself Mr Lou Reed. This song definitely wouldn’t chart amongst the over-saturated, auto-tuned, commercial, soulless crap that charts today. I hate to be that guy, but they just don’t make em’ like this no more.
Listen to more music outside of the charts maybe? There’s a lot more good shit nowadays you just have to look.
It didn't come close to charting in 1967 either.
i've been clean for 10 years and i feel that i walk with this addiction in my shadow,
it's always there, one step behind me, if i get bored or am alone or depressed she whispers in my
ear.
i have to stay busy, all the time, stay one step ahead of her, i take all the overtime i can, if i'm not at work i go to the gym
or i play video games, ride my bike etc. anything to keep her out of my head.
I’m in awe of the way this song rides the waves. Mirroring the kind of high and low state of being I imagine being an addiction would entail. Having never done heroin, I can’t really talk, but the songs music speaks to me of chaos, of highs and lows and intermittent madness. I’m loving it.
this whole album is a masterpiece. check it out if you havent
I was heavily addicted to heroin, or any opiates for over 20 years, I've been clean for over 10 years, I'm very lucky, I got away with my life, most of my childhood friends weren't as lucky as me though, only a few of us left now 🙏🏻✌🏻💙🏴
#THEDEVILSDUST
Pretty much the same story everywhere.. I don't even remember that how many friends I have lost to drugs (mainly because of heroin, benzos & alcohol, plus some to amfetamines). I am clean now (well, I mean that I don't take anything that isn't legal). The most important thing that I have learned from using heroin etc. that war against drugs doesn't work (at any level)... It only increases the problems with drugs and it costs billion of euros/dollars every year. Only countries that have solved the "drug problem" are those (Portugal, Netherlands etc.) that have made drugs legal - that's just the fact of it... Less users, no penalties, more direct help to addicts etc.
Annoyingly it is a very benign substance if prescribed. Much less damaging to the body than nicotine or alcohol.
It is the illegality that is harmful.......
BUT, it isn't good in that it stops one laughing and really feeling emotions.
That is the worst part...especially in relationships .
You must be way over it, if you can safely listen to this. How did you manage, when so many failed?
@@JoriMikke78 scandalous that it is not available for everyone that needs it
I have severe chronic pain that will never go away apparently. Honestly, i do not want to give up opiates because of this reason. It’s my wife. It’s my life
This is the first song I learned to play (and sing at the same time)... along with “waiting for the man” in the same day... Lou Reed changed my music forever...
His music was ahead of his time.
Who the hell puts a down thumb on one of the greatest songs in history. Ridiculous.. this is an amazing piece of music, art, Americana
this song and “perfect day” perfectly describe life as an addict. the good, the bad, and the gnarly.
Another great example is Sunday Morning, which is about a hangover.
My older sister was an iv heroin addict in the early 1970's. When I was only 13, someone offered to inject me ( Right around the time Elvis died, I am now 58). The only reason why I said no was that my sister was in prison and I knew exactly how heroin addiction had taken over her life. I am so sorry she had to go thru that, and so grateful that knowing what I knew at that age helped save me from my own personal hell I would surely would have went to. All these years later, I still cannot believe how close I got to ruining my own life. If not for my sister, I surely would have.
A beautiful moment in time captured when Lou looked really cool and when Nico was beautiful.
Moments in love no judgements.
Thank you Lou. You'll be dearly missed.
I am 71 so was around when this was first released. Like many I smoked dope and took LSD.
I never took heroin but this is a brilliant description of doing so.
It stands the test of time.
I lost 25yrs to Heroin! But I'm just glad I got my family back these last 21yrs! I heard this song in 1967! I was 17 N never thought I'd be writing this as a 71yr old! But man I still ride my Harley N sometimes listen to the song teary eyed N tripping back on that dog life I went through! But I thank God- Angels- Higher power? I'm one lucky bastard after all! N still the song is there to remind me who I was!
cant believe this beautiful soul is gone from the world. this song is about survival. he was 22 when he wrote this song, the same age as me. i need to do something
@WatermelonThief The song sounds like it is about giving the listener an idea what it feels like when you inject heroin and get a "rush." Why do you think it is about survival?
Youre cool. Just be yourself and no one else!
All I know is I couldn't play all the way through a song like this before needing to take another hit. Props to this band for even being able to finish it
Masterpiece
they sure are a masterpiece
Was on Heroin for 3-4years and in that short time it ruined my life for years with Methadone the next crutch. But thank God 17yrs later I'm here to tell the tale. Very powerful song that will only hit the hearts of those who did it. Nico just there as a hanger on banging a tambourine. #TheChoiceForMeIsDrugsFree
@Thereisbut1bunghole The hardest decision you'll have to make is getting off it as it will eat into your bones and destroy your social life.
The thing about music is there's always more.
Tell me Reed wasn't brilliant. I'm still crying.
Reed wasn't brilliant... And I'm crazy.
MrDrawingattention just daft
Reed was brilliant for the songs, but not for the sound. That was John, who brought those Avantgarde and Minimalistic elements into the Velvets.
ofc he was nobody can deny that, TVU music is revolutionary on all fronts
@@Rippd_Bagel hi there, hey there.
i am so obsessed with this song, ive been listening to it the whole day ♡ addicted!!!
Thanks for sharing this gem.