Candy Says
"Candy Says" | |
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Song by The Velvet Underground | |
from the album The Velvet Underground | |
Released | March 1969 |
Recorded | November – December 1968 T.T.G. Studios,[1] Hollywood Sunset and Highland Sound, Hollywood |
Length | 4:05 |
Label | MGM Records |
Songwriter(s) | Lou Reed |
Producer(s) | The Velvet Underground |
"Candy Says" is a song written by Lou Reed. The song is the first track on the Velvet Underground's self-titled third album.[2] It is one of four songs that Reed explicitly wrote in the voice of a female character, in the case of "Candy Says", a transgender woman, telling her experiences. Each would begin with the woman's name and then be followed by the verb "says". "Stephanie Says" was the first (later adapted into "Caroline Says" on his solo album Berlin).
The song addresses Candy Darling's desire to escape her birth gender. Reed insisted that Doug Yule take the lead vocal on the song.
Reed said the song was also "about something more profound and universal, a universal feeling I think all of us have at some point. We look in the mirror and we don't like what we see...I don't know a person alive who doesn't feel that way."[3]
Alternate versions
- 1970: On the live album Live at Max's Kansas City
- 1972: On the live album Le Bataclan '72
- 2003: Anohni on Reed's live album Animal Serenade
- In 2005, Lou Reed joined Antony and the Johnsons for a rendition of "Candy Says" on stage at Anohni's Carnegie Hall show.
- 2006: Anohni and Reed on his live album Berlin: Live At St. Ann's Warehouse
- Reed's last public performance, seven months before his death in October 2013, was also "Candy Says" with Antony and the Johnsons, this time in Paris on March 6 of that year.[4]
In popular culture
Anohni's 2003 live version of the song was featured in the 2022 interactive film video game Immortality.
References
- ^ Discogs - T.T.G. Studios (Hollywood) profile and discography
- ^ The Guardian, December 7 2015
- ^ 'Lou Reed, a Life', Anthony DeCurtis, p.121
- ^ Greene, Andy (27 October 2015). "Flashback: Lou Reed Plays 'Candy Says' At his Final Performance". Rolling Stone.
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- The Velvet Underground & Nico
- White Light/White Heat
- The Velvet Underground
- Loaded
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- Live at Max's Kansas City
- 1969: The Velvet Underground Live
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- Final V.U. 1971–1973
- Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes
- The Complete Matrix Tapes
- VU
- Another View
- Andy Warhol's Velvet Underground Featuring Nico
- The Best of The Velvet Underground: Words and Music of Lou Reed
- The Best of Lou Reed & The Velvet Underground
- 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of The Velvet Underground
- The Very Best of the Velvet Underground
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- "All Tomorrow's Parties" / "I'll Be Your Mirror"
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- "Venus in Furs"
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- "Candy Says"
- "European Son"
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- "Sister Ray"
- "Stephanie Says"
- "The Black Angel's Death Song"
- "The Gift"
- Heaven & Hell
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- The Velvet Underground and Nico: A Symphony of Sound
- The Velvet Underground (2021 film)
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