The Gift Lyrics
There's a real strong theme of cruel indifference running through this story. Marsha is indifferent to Waldo's feelings, Waldo is indifferent to how his clinginess makes Marsha feel, Bill is indifferent to Marsha, Sheila is indifferent to the parcel, and thus ultimately Waldo's life. Everyone is too self-centered and ignorant to care about the consequences of their actions.
It's funny, just before I heard this song for the first time I'd said to myself (having heard The Velvet Underground & Nico several times) "the Velvets sound like a really New York band, you'd forget that they had a Welshman in their midst" and then The Gift starts up, followed by Lady Godiva's Operation, two songs which showcase the brilliantly Welsh vocals of John Cale. How many times I practised reading these lyrics in a thick Welsh accent! And Cale played piano on the last Super Furry Animals album (if you didn't know, they are, with the Manic Street Preachers, Wales' biggest & best band).
I'm not actually Welsh BTW, but I live not too far away from there.
Close... In the Peel Slowly and See Box Set's booklet, it says that Reed wrote the story but convinced Cale to read it.
"Suddenly rough hands gripped his package..."
I personally believe this to be the funniest line/double entendre the Velvets ever had.
i'm a prospective high school english teacher and i'm thinking about having my students read this story one day, not revealing the author(s)...and have a discussion about it as literature, and talk about the outcome @ the end, the feelings that waldo goes through, if the murder was intentional or not (thanks jhillst!)... and i'll show them the song too
or maybe i'll do it the other way around if the kids don't want to read, introducing the song first to get them into literature through music. lemme know what you think about this
I think that would be a great idea - let's face it, if you read the lyrics first without hearing the music, you might wonder just where this is going, and teenagers have ridiculously short attention spans these days (I'm eighteen, I ought to know!) Though there is mention of sex fairly early on, so they might hang in there a bit longer...
I think that would be a great idea - let's face it, if you read the lyrics first without hearing the music, you might wonder just where this is going, and teenagers have ridiculously short attention spans these days (I'm eighteen, I ought to know!) Though there is mention of sex fairly early on, so they might hang in there a bit longer...
As for whether the girls know he's in there or not: I don't think they do, but it's clear that both of them have no respect for Waldo ("that schmuck"). When they see he's sent a...
As for whether the girls know he's in there or not: I don't think they do, but it's clear that both of them have no respect for Waldo ("that schmuck"). When they see he's sent a package, whatever it is, they treat it with an equal lack of respect ("might as well open it"; there's not any real interest there) and open it roughly. Whether they know or not, they're not concerned about hurting him physically or emotionally - carelessly ruining any gift he'd sent would be hurtful.
The girls in this song/story are portrayed as cold, heartless, hedonistic floozies, whereas Waldo is sensitive, almost childlike, and a victim. Makes me wonder what experience Lou had when he wrote this while still at college, whether it is autobiographical at all...
By the way, the title "The Booker T" refers to not just "some guy in a band back then"; Booker T. Jones was a bandleader at Stax whose band Booker T. & the MGs had a hit in 1962 with "Green Onions" - good stuff, check it out. Their stuff is very similar to the backing track on this song, but obviously not quite as experimental(!)
...thanx for the info rich (i'm just getting started on SFA)...everyone i know who doesn't know of the velvets (what a crime!!!) gets to listen to this first...and the second time just to fully appreciate their instrumental side (just switching it to the right channel makes me feel alive)...wdc
...thanx for the info rich (i'm just getting started on SFA)...everyone i know who doesn't know of the velvets (what a crime!!!) gets to listen to this first...and the second time just to fully appreciate their instrumental side (just switching it to the right channel makes me feel alive)...wdc
This song was actually an essay that Cale had wrote for some sort of course that he was taking. Lou Reed had convinced him to sing (more like read) the essay over the music. If you look in the WhiteLight/WhiteHeat sleeve, Lou Reed is noted for the lyrical credits. Hmm..
I had a dream once that i was in the box and i got hungry. Didnt it occur to Waldo to take some food with him?
In the lyrics : "A few airholes, some water, of course, midnight snacks and it would probably be as good as going tourist."
In the lyrics : "A few airholes, some water, of course, midnight snacks and it would probably be as good as going tourist."