“Tell you a story: all my life, which is to say, from the time I was thirteen forward, I loved Lou Reed, you know. I would tell anyone who cared to listen when I was fourteen that I had forty discrete Lou Reed pieces — albums, bootlegs. I had the 'Liquid Air' bootleg. I had the 'Blondes Have More Fun!' bootleg from Sydney, Australia, which depicted him in caricature on the front with a needle hanging out of his arm and his Sally Can’t Dance blonde hair. I was hardcore.
When you are young and you get into an artist and they don’t play in your town, like, for three months, it feels like you’ve been waiting forever, you know? I think I got into Lou Reed in 1981, and he finally came through Southern California in 1987. An eternity, right? But I saw him and he was sort of in his, uh, he had done a commercial for Honda Scooters, he was having a good time, he was happily married, he was out of the woods, he had a single that had radio success called 'I Love You, Suzanne.’
But if you go to see Lou Reed, there’s one thing you expect to hear, and it’s 'Walk on the Wild Side,' you know? And the show goes on, and you hear all the cool stuff, and then finally you get the bass line, and he said to the audience, in Irvine, California, ‘People ask me, ‘Lou, Lou, do you get sick of playing ‘Walk on the Wild Side?’ And I say to them, ‘No, I can’t wait to play for it- play it for them tomorrow in Irvine.’ And I think, ‘Lou’ — standing there in the audience, nineteen years old — I think, ‘Lou, you’ve never heard of Irvine before tonight.’
But then, many decades passed, and I became a performer. I guess there’s probably some bands who get sick of the numbers that people want to hear. Me? I enjoy playing the one you were waiting until the end to hear. It’s a song about divorce! Thank you for coming! One, two, three, one, two, three.”
[band plays “No Children”]
John Darnielle | The Mountain Goats
White Eagle Hall | October 4, 2025
theartofmadeline
germansingergirl
2087
jbbartram-illu
turnnoffyourmind
ellievsbear
