Lady Godiva's operation
| Lady Godiva's operation | |
|---|---|
| The Velvet Underground | |
| publication | January 30, 1968 |
| length | 4:56 |
| Genre (s) | Art rock , protopunk , noise rock |
| Author (s) | Lou Reed |
| Publisher (s) | Verve Records |
| album | White light / white heat |
Lady Godiva's Operation is a song by the experimental US rock band The Velvet Underground that appeared on their second album, White Light / White Heat , in 1968.
The song is 4:56 minutes long and was released on the MGM sub-label Verve .
Music and conception
The song title is about the legend of Lady Godiva , an 11th century Anglo-Saxon noblewoman from Coventry in the central west of England . According to this, the oppressive tax burden on the people should only be alleviated when the wife of the tax-collecting city councilor Leofric von Mercia would ride naked through the city. Contrary to expectations, Godiva actually found the courage to ride around town without clothing. Leofric took this as an opportunity not only to reduce taxes in the future, but to forego them almost entirely.
Lou Reed is the musical and lyrical author of the piece . In the first part of the song, which is sung by John Cale , Lady Godiva is described. In the course of the piece, now sung by Cale and Reed alternately, teasing allusions are made to a bungled surgical operation, which are presented with dry, black humor. The tragic operation relates to a drag queen who, instead of the desired sex change, is subjected to a lobotomy ( "... Cagily slow from the brain ..." ), the medical consequences of which are a personality change with a disruption of drive and emotionality .
Re-releases
Lady Godiva's Operation is part of the compilation albums What Goes On (1993), Rock and Roll: An Introduction to The Velvet Underground (1994) and Peel Slowly and See (1995).
Cover version
The song was covered and released as a single in 1990 by the Irish alternative rock band The Fatima Mansions .
Staffing
- John Cale - vocals , viola
- Lou Reed - electric guitar , vocals
- Sterling Morrison - electric bass , backing vocals
- Maureen Tucker - drums , percussion
Individual evidence
- ↑ edited by Donald Scragg, Carole Weinberg, Simon Keynes, Andy Orchard: Literary Appropriations of the Anglo-Saxons from the Thirteenth to the Twentieth Century, f 206th
- ↑ published by Clinton Heylin: All Yesterdays' Parties: The Velvet Underground in Print, 1966-1971
- ^ Review by Dave Thompson / Allmusic
- ^ Fifteen Minutes: A Tribute to Velvet Underground
- ^ Review by Richie Unterberger / Allmusic
- ↑ The Fatima Mansions: Lady Godiva's Operation Lyrics