All Tomorrow's Parties

Infobox Single
Name = All Tomorrow's Parties


Artist = The Velvet Underground
B-side = "I'll Be Your Mirror"
Album = The Velvet Underground and Nico
track_no = 6
Released = July 1966 (single) March 1967 (album)
Recorded = April 1966, Scepter Studios, New York City
Genre = Avant-garde, Rock, Art rock, Psychedelic rock, Experimental rock
Length = 2:49 (single version) 6:00 (album version)
Writer = Lou Reed
Composer = Lou Reed
Label = Verve Records (VK10427)
Producer = Andy Warhol
Tracks =
# "Sunday Morning"
# "I'm Waiting for the Man"
# "Femme Fatale"
# "Venus In Furs"
# "Run Run Run"
# "All Tomorrow's Parties"
# "Heroin"
# "There She Goes Again"
# "I'll Be Your Mirror"
# "The Black Angel's Death Song"
# "European Son"
Misc =Extra chronology
Artist = The Velvet Underground
Type = singles
This single = "All Tomorrow's Parties" / I'll Be Your Mirror (1966)
Next single = "Sunday Morning" / "Femme Fatale" (1966)

"All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by The Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut album, "The Velvet Underground and Nico".

Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of the Warhol clique; according to Reed, the song is "a very apt description of certain people at the Factory at the time. ... I watched Andy. I watched Andy watching everybody. I would hear people say the most astonishing things, the craziest things, the funniest things, the saddest things." [Fricke, David (1995). "Peel Slowly and See" liner notes, p.22] The song was Andy Warhol's favorite by The Velvet Underground.cite book |last=Harvard |first=Joe |title="The Velvet Underground and Nico" |origyear=2004 |series=33⅓ |year=2007 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |location=New York, NY |isbn=0-8264-1550-4 |pages=107 / 109-110]

The song has lent its name to an avant-garde music festival, a William Gibson novel, and an issue of "The Invisibles" by Grant Morrison.

Recording

The song was recorded at Scepter Studios, New York City during April 1966. It features a piano motif played by Cale (initially written as an exercise) based largely on tone clusters. It was one of the first pop songs to make use of prepared piano [Mitchell, Tim "Sedition and Alchemy : A Biography of John Cale", 2003, ISBN 0720611326] (a chain of paper clips were intertwined with the piano strings to change their sounds). The song also features the Ostrich guitar tuning by Reed, by which all of the guitar strings were tuned to D.

Nico provides lead vocals. The song was originally recorded with only one track of her vocals; they were later double-tracked for the final album version. Most versions of the album use this version of the song, though the initial 1987 CD release uses the original mix without the double-tracking.

Alternate versions

Ludlow Street Loft, July 1965

The earliest known recorded version of "All Tomorrow's Parties" was recorded on reel to reel tape by Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison in a New York apartment loft. With Reed on acoustic guitar, the song features a strong country music sound -- particularly in Cale and Morrison's harmony vocals -- which critic David Fricke [David Fricke, liner notes for the "Peel Slowly and See" box set (Polydor, 1995)] suggests demonstrates Reed's fondness for Bob Dylan.

This version is available on the first disc of the "Peel Slowly and See" compilation.

ingle version, July 1966

An edited version of the song was released in July 1966 as a single with "I'll Be Your Mirror" as a b-side. The song cuts out about half of the studio version at just under three minutes long. It did not chart.

This version later became available in 2002 on the "Deluxe Edition" of "The Velvet Underground and Nico".

Cover versions

Both Nico and Lou Reed have recorded solo versions of the song. Other artists who have covered it include
Apoptygma Berzerk,the Ass Ponys,
Buffalo Tom,
Japan,
Jeff Buckley,
Icehouse,
Los Tres,
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds,the Oysterband,
Rasputina,
Tom Robinson,
Simple Minds,
Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Soluzione,
Bryan Ferry,
June Tabor, Johnette Napolitano, Iron and Wine, Slabb on the album Glitter & Bleep (Joystick Pop) and The Music Tapes.

ample

Listen
filename=TheVelvetUndergroundAllTomorrow'sParties.ogg
title="All Tomorrow's Parties"
description=The sixth track from "The Velvet Underground and Nico", featuring Nico's double-tracked lead vocals. This sample contains the beginning of the third verse.
format=Ogg

References