Venus in Furs (song)

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"Venus in Furs"
Song by The Velvet Underground from the album The Velvet Underground & Nico
Released March 1967
Recorded May 1966 at T.T.G. Studios in Hollywood, California
Genre Experimental rock, art rock
Length 5:12
Label Verve Records
Writer Lou Reed
Composer Lou Reed
Producer Andy Warhol
The Velvet Underground & Nico track listing
  1. "Sunday Morning"
  2. "I'm Waiting for the Man"
  3. "Femme Fatale"
  4. "Venus in Furs"
  5. "Run Run Run"
  6. "All Tomorrow's Parties"
  7. "Heroin"
  8. "There She Goes Again"
  9. "I'll Be Your Mirror"
  10. "The Black Angel's Death Song"
  11. "European Son"

"Venus in Furs" is a song by The Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed and originally released on the 1967 album The Velvet Underground & Nico. Inspired by the book of the same name by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the song includes sexual themes of sadomasochism, bondage and submission.

Contents

Recording [edit]

"Venus in Furs" was one of three songs to be re-recorded at T.T.G. Studios, Hollywood, before appearing on the final mix of The Velvet Underground & Nico (the other two being "Heroin" and "I'm Waiting for the Man"). The music features John Cale's cacophonous viola as well as Lou Reed's ostrich guitar, which is a guitar with all of its strings tuned to the same note (albeit in different octaves); in the case of the ostrich guitar, it appears at the end of the song, alongside Reed's normally strung guitar at standard tuning 1 semitone down, which is much more prominent in the song.

Alternate versions [edit]

Ludlow Street Loft, July 1965 [edit]

The song was one of several early songs to be recorded by Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison in their Ludlow Street loft during July 1965. This version of the song features a drastically different arrangement than would appear on The Velvet Underground & Nico, and ends with what David Fricke calls a "stark, Olde English-style folk lament" in the liner notes for Peel Slowly and See (the 1995 compilation album upon which the Ludlow demos appear). John Cale provides lead vocals for this demo recording of the song.

Scepter Studios, April 1966 [edit]

An alternate take of the song was first recorded at Scepter Studios, New York City before being re-recorded in Hollywood. This take of the song is performed at a quicker pace and the lyrics vary slightly from the T.T.G. recording.

Live recordings [edit]

Live recordings of "Venus in Furs" appear on Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes (recorded in San Francisco, December 1969) and on Live MCMXCIII (recorded in Paris, June 1993).

In film [edit]

The song is featured in Rob Zombie's 2012 film The Lords of Salem.

The song appears as part of the soundtrack for Gus Van Sant's 2005 film Last Days.

The song appears as the soundtrack for the Andy Warhol party scene in Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991).

RZA used samples of the song, for his song called "Fatal" played in the final credits of Blade: Trinity, also appears in its soundtrack.

In advertising [edit]

In 1993, the song was used as the soundtrack for a British advertisement for Dunlop Tyres, by the advertising agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and directed by British director Tony Kaye. The advertisement was notable for featuring both fetish and surrealist imagery.[1]

Cover versions [edit]

Lou Reed has recorded several solo versions of the song and John Cale also performs it with his band. In addition, the following artists have recorded it:

Artist Year Appears on album
Paul Gardiner 1981 (released only as single)
Niagara ? Beyond the Pale compilation
The Melvins 1991 Here She Comes Now/Venus in Furs (split single with Nirvana)
Paul Roland 1992 Strychnine
The Ukrainians 1993 Vorony
Christian Death 1993 Path of Sorrows
The Smashing Pumpkins 1994 Mashed Potatoes[2]
Rosetta Stone 1996 Hiding in Waiting EP
Miłość 1997 Talkin' About Life and Death
Psychopomps 1997 Fiction Non-Fiction
Bettie Serveert 1998 Plays "Venus in Furs" and other Velvet Underground songs
The Creatures 1999 Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Now Buy Zulu (also referred to as simply "Now Buy Zulu")
Dave Navarro 2001 Trust No One
Hugh Cornwell 2002 Footprints in the Desert
Berry Sakharof 2003 Berry Sakharof Live (CD 2)
Krieg 2004 The Black House
Monster Magnet 2004 Monolithic Baby! (US version bonus track)
DeVotchKa 2006 Curse Your Little Heart EP
Chuck Dukowski Sextet 2006 Eat My Life
Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio 2006 Apocalips
Beck 2009 Beck's Website[3]
Broken Records 2009 Radio Scotland - Vic Galloway Live Session

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Dunlop 'magician' by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO". campaignlive. Retrieved 20 May 2012. 
  2. ^ "Full Albums: The Velvet Underground & Nico | Cover Me". Covermesongs.com. Retrieved 2010-08-05. 
  3. ^ [1]
Songs
Side 1:
Side 2:
The Velvet Underground
Studio albums
Live albums
Box sets and out-takes
Compilations
Songs
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