Sarah,
Oh Andre, I love the Gift Velvet underground song too! I think its one of the greatest things they've done, especially his completely matter of fact tone the whole way through it!
I love his formal/sometimes indifferent tone too! But I must admit that I prefer the live version featured on the "Live MCMXCIII" album (it's funny, but it seems to me that the only good songs in that album - and I've got the double disc version - are the ones in which Lou Reed does not sing. I've heard someone say that no one is capable of spoiling his own songs like Lou Reed is and I agree). John Cale sings the song as if he was an actor in a play. I think it's much more vivid and sarcastic too.
Then again, it may just be my nasty sense of yumor that finds the killing of Waldo slightly funny in a very black humour way....heeehee.
And IT IS funny! The contrast between Waldo's and Sheila's expectations is fabulous: "Oh, what Bill could teach Waldo - but that seemed like years ago" / "Inside the package, Waldo was so transfixed with excitement that he could hardly breathe". You know, when I first started listening to that song I used to imagine myself inside the box! It's because I've had a few girlfriends who lived in different cities than me. And sometimes we wouldn't see each other for several months. Meanwhile, I'd dream about every little detail of the time when we'd meet again. The problem is that it has been my fate/doom/karma to love girls way more than they usually love me, so I ended up with this fear of being forgotten while we're apart. As you can imagine, the song "The Gift" hit me right on the spot!
And I must tell YOU ALL to buy the Spiritualized single 'Think I'm in Love' on Feb 2nd onwards cos its so great! Especially when he starts listing all these things... like 'think i'm in love, probably just hungry' 'think i'm on fire, probably just smoking 'think i'm the life and soul, probably just snorting', and the music just peaks out and stays on this amazing beautiful strand the whole way through, and its devotional!
And I must tell YOU ALL to buy the Spiritualized album "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space" immediately! It's certainly one of the best albums of 1997. My favorite song is 'Cool Waves'. The verses "Baby if you lose your love / Don't take me by surprise" give me the same melancholic feeling I get when I listen to most B&S songs. And it reminds me of a night me and my girlfriend took ecstasy and walked around on the streets of Sao Paulo, hugging and holding hands. When I felt the cool breeze agains our bodies all I could think of was: "Cool waves run over me Cool water running free Lay your sweet hand on me 'Cause I love you Love you Love you ." Andre. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see . http://www.majordomo.net/sinister . For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister@majordomo.net . We're all happy bunnies humming happy bunny tunes. Aren't we? -----------------------------------------------------------------------