A biography for Lou Reedhasn’t been written yet.
“When I record an album I'm trying to get as close as possible to that perfect moment.”
“When I was in college, I had a jazz radio show. I called it 'Excursion on a Wobbly Rail,' after a Cecil Taylor song. I used to run around the Village following Ornette Coleman wherever he played.”
“I'll tell ya, I'm a genuinely nice guy. I really am. A real nice guy. But I think I'm temperamental.”
“I have no control over the audience. I have no idea what they think. My heart's pure. I can't do anything. I really can't do anything. I don't know what goes on in the crowd.”
“I tried to give up drugs by drinking.”
“There's a bit of magic in everything, and some loss to even things out.”
“There's only X amount of time. You can do whatever you want with that time. It's your time.”
“The most important part of my religion is to play guitar.”
“The myriad choices of his fateSet themselves out upon a plateFor him to chooseWhat had he to lose”
“You can't ask me to explain the lyrics because I won't do it.”
“I don't know anyone actually who does care what a critic says.”
“I've become completely well adjusted to being a cult figure.”
“People think that I work out but it's all t'ai chi.”
“I think life is far too short to concentrate on your past. I rather look into the future.”
“The first generation of CDs sounded terrible. Any chance to remaster would make the music sound better than what was already out there.”
“I don't think anybody is anybody else's moral compass. Maybe listening to my music is not the best idea if you live a very constricted life. Or maybe it is.”
“I was a product of Andy Warhol's Factory. All I did was sit there and observe these incredibly talented and creative people who were continually making art, and it was impossible not to be affected by that.”
“One chord is fine. Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz.”
“That's why I survived because I still believe I've got something to say.”
“I think it's pretentious to create art just for the sake of stroking the artists ego.”