Lou Reed: "Perfect Day"
TL;DR if you don't like reading. TW: L, D, V, Rated R
Lou Reed was a junkie in New York City and other places; part of Andy Warhol's "factory"; an original member of the Velvet Underground, and a songster who bled words and music onto vinyl while in pursuit of the one fix that would fix everything.
"You get to Lexington, 125, feelin' dirty, more dead than alive / I'm waiting for my man."*
When Lester Bangs interviewed Lou Reed for "Creem"** magazine, the Q&A devolved into a shouting match over which was the greater self-parody.
At that interview, the sickly, wretched Reed had a monstrous care provider — Iris or something — who hulked over him with trays of tomato juice, sugar, ice cubes, white powder, and Kleenex for Lou's frequent nose bleeds.
Lester Bangs noted blood and sickness everywhere, from clumps of tissue paper stuck to the walls and clotting all over the bathroom, to excrement, skull tissue, urine and clumps of hair — possibly from a recent razor-cut administered without a beauty salon or scissors — but Lou and his "one true love" (Iris? Candy? Louey Lou-eye?) assured him they were fine. In fact they actually were picking things up, and Lou calmly said it was Lester Bangs who had the real problem.
At the interview, Lou had had his hair sliced down to his horrifying bumpy skull, with a Nazi symbol carved into the top, and Lester Bangs screamed at him, "You look dead! You're already dead!" even as he was escorted outside by the seat of his pants. Then they both screamed "F--- you!" to each other, Lester Bangs said Lou was worse than Kraftwerk on its worst day ever, and Lester Bangs stalked home to type it up.***
* Lyrics may not be exact.
** "Creem" was "The ONLY Rock-'n'-Roll Magazine." It was published in Motown (Detroit). It's not published anymore.
*** Lester Bangs died of a bad case of flu that turned into pneumonia.