Recordings from May 1965 were sealed for nearly 50 years, and reveal folk-like renditions of songs including I’m Waiting for the Man and Heroin
Lou Reed’s earliest versions of some of the Velvet Underground’s greatest songs, including I’m Waiting for the Man and Heroin, have been unearthed and will be released in August.
Reed performs the songs on acoustic guitar and harmonica, with Cale adding vocal harmonies, making the performances more akin to the folk music of the time than the avant garde rock that the Velvet Underground would soon pioneer. Two months later, in July 1965, guitarist Sterling Morrison had joined the group for another round of demos, by November they were called the Velvet Underground, and by December their lineup was finalised with Maureen Tucker on drums.
Some of the lyrics on the May 1965 demos also deviate from the later versions: the demo of Heroin opens with the line: “I know just where I’m going,” and has some distinctive Reed lines that didn’t make the finished recording: “People selling people pound by pound / And the politicians and the clowns / And the do-gooders with their frowns.”