Lou Reed: September Song

"And the days grow short / As you reach September." Yes, it's September now and we can really feel the change of season here in New England. And, yes, I'm in the September of my life, about two-thirds done, God willin' and the creek don't rise. The peerless Lou Reed made this Kurt Weill song his own. It was born to be a Lou Reed song. Dig the trademark chugging rhythm that launches us out of the intro at about 0:41 (with the band kicking in a few seconds later). Dig the trademark deadpan vocals. Dig how it's good to be alive at the age you are.

A little history: This record was the brainchild of producer Hal Wilner, who in fact invented the now ubiquitous concept of the tribute album where incredibly diverse musical artistes interpret the work of a single composer. Look at the line up here: from John Zorn and Charlie Haden to Sting and Marianne Faithful. Such beautiful eclecticism, which actually represents the spirit of the times back then, in 1985, when this LP came out. I have the original vinyl somewhere at home.

Fun fact: I did a songwriting workshop with Hal and Marianne at the Naropa Institute in Boulder during the summer of '87 or so. The cool thing was that Marianne Faithful, former lover of Mick Jagger in Swinging 60s London, and creator of emotionally lacerating music, was quite warm and even maternal in "real life." And she praised highly my songwriting effort from our class, something I'll always treasure.