Episode 164: “White Light/White Heat” by the Velvet Underground

Andrew Hickey is the name of a person who should be hailed. He is the creator and the host of the podcast A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs. The fact that most of the podcast is freely available to all is truly fucking wonderful.

He made an episode about The Velvet Underground's song 'White Light/White Heat'. The episode is over three hours and twenty minutes long. It's 'about' a song that's not even three minutes long.

OK, that's an exaggeration in the extreme. Let me explain what makes the episode singular.

First, every episode of the podcast is focused around a specific song, but it's not only about the song; it's about the times in which it was made, the people, the surroundings, politics, philosophies, religion, etc. I made it sound boring, but it's fucking not.

Second, this episode contains so much music from sources other than the Velvet Underground's own shit. It's required listening! La Monte Young? LA MONTE YOUNG! I had no idea who the dude was until i heard this episode and it's fucking WARPED! The music he made and still makes!? Wow. WOW. Drones that intertwine and go on forever, that's him. Shit.

John Cage. JOHN CAGE: the composer, the mystic, the oracle-led genius who was afraid of old ideas. Wow.

I won't go on like I'm more insane than I actually am, so I'll stop soon.

In my head, what makes the song such a fucking riot is that it's kind of slow, kind of sounds like the instruments are played by beginners, and then it deteriorates while it elevates into becoming one of the true rock 'n' roll figureheads. This is garage rock, this is rock 'n' roll, this is three chords and the truth, this is non-CIS sexuality by a band who released their song 'Heroin' when The Beatles released 'Can't Buy Me Love'. Holy shit, The Velvet Underground were truly great.

After two minutes, 'White Light/White Heat' goes somewhere else; the bass. The bass! The guitar mangles?! The background sweat! Shit, this song says so much.

And to think of it, the song opens the album White Light/White Heat. The song is followed up by 'The Gift', a song that's over eight minutes long.

The stereo version of the song starts with the music mainly in the right channel. The left channel starts with a story being told by John Cale:

Waldo Jeffers had reached his limit
It was now mid-August, which meant he had been separated from Marsha for more than two months
Two months, and all he had to show was three dog-eared letters and two very expensive long-distance phone calls
True, when school had ended and she'd returned to Wisconsin, and he to Locust, Pennsylvania She had sworn to maintain a certain fidelity She would date occasionally, but merely as amusement
She would remain faithful

What a jump from 'White Light/White Heat'. Some of the WL/WH lyrics:

Hmm hmm, White light Aww I surely do love to watch that stuff tip itself in Hmm hmm, White light Watch that side, watch that side don't you know it gonna be dead in the drive Hmm hmm, White heat Hey foxy mama watchin' her walk down the street Hmm hmm, White light Come up side your head gonna make a deadend on your street

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