The Velvet Forum

As a follow-up to the "vu bass" thread, I've decided to start "who plays what" threads with my informed guesses on who plays what on The Velvet Underground albums. "Informed" as in "I've read somewhere/I can deduct/I think I recognise...". Everyone's welcome and expressly invited to exchange views and opinions, the end goal being to put together a web page with the consensus on who plays what, as suggested by Kill Mick.

Part Two, White Light/White Heat:

WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT
Reed - vocal, rhythm guitar, piano
Morrison - lead guitar (almost inaudible, to the right), backing vocals
Cale - bass guitar, backing vocals
Tucker - percussion


THE GIFT
Cale - lead vocal, bass guitar
Reed - lead guitar, backing vocal ("awww")
Morrison - rhythm guitar, backing vocal ("awww")
Tucker - percussion


LADY GODIVA'S OPERATION
Cale - lead vocal, viola
Reed - guitar, co-lead vocal
Morrison - bass guitar, (co-lead vocal in the verse where two people sing simultaneously? and the whispers towards the end?)
Tucker - percussion
Vocal sound effects: the whoozing oxygen pump is Cale, but who's the "drill"?


HERE SHE COMES NOW
Reed - vocal, rhythm guitar
Morrison - lead guitar
Cale - viola, bass guitar
Tucker - percussion


I HEARD HER CALL MY NAME
Reed - vocal, lead guitar
Morrison - rhythm guitar, backing vocal
Cale - bass guitar, backing vocal
Tucker - percussion


SISTER RAY
Reed - vocal, guitar (lead except first solo)
Morrison - guitar (first solo, otherwise rhythm)
Cale - organ
Tucker - percussion

Morrison does do co vocals on Lady Godiva's - he begins at about 2:48 with "the doctor is coming..." and for the remander of song sings whatever Lou is not. Cale makes the breathy noises and whispers at the end.

sars wrote:Morrison does do co vocals on Lady Godiva's - he begins at about 2:48 with "the doctor is coming..." and for the remander of song sings whatever Lou is not.

Are you sure? The "doctor is coming" verse sounds distinctly British to me, Welsh even with its rolled R in doctor. But the "strapped securely to the white table" verse definitely *is* Morrison to these ears.

arjan wrote: The "doctor is coming" verse sounds distinctly British to me, Welsh even with its rolled R in doctor. But the "strapped securely to the white table" verse definitely *is* Morrison to these ears.

I agree completely. The "Doctor is coming" verse is distinctly Cale. Morrison's only lead vocal is "strapped securely...wither and writhe", and then its back to Cale for "Underneath the White Light", and thereafter its Reed and Cale. It sounds like that may be Morrison mumbling around 3:47 over the main vocal but its hard to tell

This is intriguing! I always believed (and I have to say that I still do) that the "strapped securely..." verse actually is Reed singing in a much whispier voice than in his other verses. The word "writhe" sounds especially Reed-ish to me. Now English is not my native language so I may not be the right person to tell, but I just can't recognize Morrison's voice anywhere in this song except maybe the mumbling at the end.

I agree with CL. It sounds like Lou to me.

I agree with you too. this is my opinion of who sings what:

Lady Godiva, dressed so demurely... And hasn't a care. (Cale)

"Doctor is coming," the nurse thinks (Morrison)
SWEETLY, (Reed)
Turning on the machines that (Morrison)
NEATLY PUMP AIR. (Reed)
The body lies bare. (Cale?)
Shaved and hairless, what once was (Morrison)
SCREAMING, (Reed)
Now lies silent and (Morrison?)
ALMOST SLEEPING.
The rain must have gone away. (Morrison)
STRAPPED SECURELY TO THE WHITE TABLE,
ETHER CAUSES THE BODY TO WITHER AND WRITHE, (Reed - I'm sure it's him)
Underneath the white light. (Cale)
THE DOCTOR ARRIVES WITH A KNIFE AND BAGGAGE
SEES THE GROWTH, JUST SO MUCH CABBAGE (Reed)
That must now be cut away. (Cale says this, Morrison is singing over it)
NOW COMES THE MOMENT OF GREAT, GREAT DECISION.
THE DOCTOR IS MAKING HIS FIRST INCISION. (reed)
One goes here, (Cale)
AND ONE GOES THERE. (Reed)
"The ether tube's leaking," says someone who's sloppy. (Morrison)
THE PATIENT, IT SEEMS, IS NOT SO WELL SLEEPING. (Reed)
The screams echo off the walls.
Don't panic -- someone give him pentathol instantly.
The doctor removes his blade cagily slow from the brain. (Morrison)
BY MY COUNT OF TEN.
THE HEAD WON'T MOVE! (Reed, Morrison singing over him, Cale making the breathy noise)

I think Morrison's voice is a little higher than Cale's and he's a little quieter. Sterling rounds his vowels less, you can hear it on "e" sounds more than any others. I don't know how right I am, I dunno.

Also, it sounds to me like there are two guitars on Lady Godiva, both in the left channel. There's the familiar riff, but underneath it there's a kind of dong-dong-dong-dong one-note part. It's this second guitar that also appears to play the arpeggio part near the end of each verse.

For what it's worth, the non-Reed LGO vocals all sound like Cale to me, throughout.

Mark wrote:For what it's worth, the non-Reed LGO vocals all sound like Cale to me, throughout.

Indeed, here's a quote from Sterl in the Peel Slowly And See book:

"The idea was for Lou and John to sing the lines broken up. One would start up and the second one would complete it. But it did not come off very smoothly."

I always thought the 'Lady Godiva' was one of the coolest bass lines, I thought it was Cale. At the end are they whispering, "You're not a girl"?