Nico

And then Venus and Furs, which was very different.

But there were still some very pretty songs, the ones that Nico sang, Femme Fatale and I'll Be Your Mirror and All Tomorrow's Parties, which was really captivating dirge.

And I felt like this is a really wide-ranging record.

This is not what I expected in a very good way.

Let me ask you this.

So two of the big turning points in the career of the Velvet Underground was when John Cale was ejected from the band.

And I guess you'd have to say Nico was ejected from the band.

Also, she showed up in Boston and they wouldn't let her play.

I don't think that will matter.

If I sing it, I'll sound a bit like Nico from the Velvet Underground, like on Mogadon or something.

Do we want to hear it?

Okay.

I prayed that you would love me and that you would not love me.

Nico, he's talking about Nico.

Yeah, I mean, I would say that she is probably suspect A in this one.

You are all the women I have ever wanted.

The cold blue hospital of the sky.

Yes, cold blue hospital of the sky is clearly the standout image there.

Not a Nico poem, but a Marianne poem, I think.

When he says sorry, it's S-A-R-I, by the way.

Yes.

Or Nico? A little bit.

Maybe the same.

Maybe.

And although I don't think those are actually great musically, historically, these are essential because he is working out some classic Velvet Underground songs, Heroin, Pale Blue Eyes, although Rapture, Trouble and Dreams would not be recorded for the group.

It's a highlight of Nico's first album.

And Reed did write it.

But even the less impressive songs that he was working on, sometimes, not frequently, with assistance from John Kill, he's making the transition from a sort of also-ran rock and roll, world-building-type songwriter to something that's a lot more personal and a lot more innovative.

They have full-time and part-time archivists whose job is just to go through stuff.

A lot of the films that he did haven't been totally restored.

But when I went back there, there were some tapes that had emerged A couple of music, one was of Cale and Reed and Nico rehearsing It Was a Pleasure Then, which is a song on Nico's first record.

But the most interesting thing to me, it might not be the most for everybody.

And-

You get Nico's autograph.

[laughs]

In Montreal Disneyland, you get, uh, Leonard Cohen's autograph.

Now we get, this is just a little bit of fun.

This is just like Jokerman universe, you know, Avengers type shit.

The ad in The Village Voice read, "Andy Warhol presents Nico singing to the sounds of The Velvet Underground." It was February 1967, and Leonard, back in New York again, turned up the collar on his raincoat and walked through the East Village to The Dom.

We remember The Dom.

Nice.

Velvet Underground, with Nico.

Lou Reed's band, Velvet Underground, had a 45 called All Tomorrow's Parties.

Now, the picture sleeve, up to, uh, or rather, the record worth up to $750.

So-

Yep

... what's, what does the picture sleeve actually look like? Is, is it, uh, is Nico in the front of the band and Lou Reed's in the back, or what's the picture sleeve look like?

It, I...