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Satellite Of Love Lyrics

Satellite's gone up to the skies
Thing like that drive me out of my mind

I watched it for a little while
I like to watch things on TV

Satellite of love
Satellite of love
Satellite of love
Satellite of ...

Satellite's gone way up to Mars
Soon it will be filled with parking cars

I watch it for a little while
I love to watch things on TV

Satellite of love ...

I've been told that you've been bold
With Harry, Mark and John
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, to Thursday
With Harry, Mark and John

Satellite's gone up to the skies
Thing like that drive me out of my mind

I watched it for a little while
I love to watch things on TV

Satellite of love ...
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Cover art for Satellite Of Love lyrics by Lou Reed

Good looking woman are always surrounded by guys, these guys are sometimes referred to as Satellites.

I think he probably was jealous of either them (Harry, Mark and John) or the attention she got.

As for the whole TV aspect, I think that was a metaphor. I think like most artists, he's an observer rather than someone who takes part. He could just mean that he was observing life and for him it's like watching TV.

I don't think writing an obscure song about jealousy is the most effective way of getting the attention of a girl. But at least is a good song.

Not Valid

I like the Jealousy angle for this song. The whole Lyric gives me the feeling of a man who is dealing with the letting go/holding on phase of a breakup. "I watched it for a little while, I like to watch things on TV" is my favorite line because of it's simplicity. It's like sure, nobody wants to see their girl with another dude, but we still go on facebook to see what she's up to and who she's hanging out with. We indulge and even feed our jealousy in a masochistic rage. I'm surprised...

Not Valid

@d9930380 I like your interpretation. Also, who parks cars in outer space? Being filled with parking cars is a reference to dicks perhaps? Great song. Cheers!

I lost my virginity to this song... well half of it.

That must've been lovely

@whateveryouwantittobe You lost half of your virginity? How’s ‘at work?!?

I’ll bet that even though it was your “first time”, you still got a little bit pregnant, right?

@whateveryouwantittobe You lost half of your virginity? (Damn, if that is possible, I kinda wish I'd saved half of mine for later, too) Or, you lost all of your virginity halfway through the song? (if that is true, btw, you have a great memory...do you know the exact timestamp where you lost it?) I am just so confused, and it really shouldn't bug me, as it has nothing (at least I don't think so, anyway lol) to do with me, but it will forever be a question in the back of my mind now. Thanks. LOL

Cover art for Satellite Of Love lyrics by Lou Reed

Because this was being performed live as early as 1969, it was written when Russia was sending satellites to Mars. Therefore, the allusion to watching satellites lift off on television was reasonable. However, the two Mars satellites sent at that specific time both failed on lift-off.

Lou Reed stated this is a song of jealousy. It is about a guy watching a satellite leave Earth and suddenly realizing that his lover has left him. Lou had at least one, but likely two lovers at the time. Nico is well-known as a short fling. There are rumors of a more serious relationship that ended while he was seeing Nico. Further, John Cale, his partner, left him.

Lou Reed stated that Harry, Mark, and John are real names. He originally used fake names when performing this song, but switched to real names under the influence of David Bowie.

For many years, this was considered a solo work written while working with David Bowie. Then, recording of the some performed live while Reed was still with the Velvet Underground emerged. I found it interesting that the band members who performed the song generally had no memory of doing so. The end result is there was one history in which this was a solo song heavily influence by David Bowie, so it likely had no real meaning. Then, later, it was recognized as work written by Lou Reed at a time when the two events (satellites and a lover leaving him) both took place.

Song Meaning

@kainaw Sometimes I wonder how many of these stories from the sixties are real history and how many are apocryphal, but, have you ever read or heard about the words Nico said to Lou when she kicked him to the curb?!?

(TEUTONIC ACCENTED ENGKISH): “I can no longuh sleep mit Jews”

????‍♂️ idk if it’s true or if it was just tacked onto VU “History” after Nico recorded Deutschland Uber Alles in the 70s lol

Cover art for Satellite Of Love lyrics by Lou Reed

A satellite is defined by the object it orbits. It is forever falling toward its attractor, yet paradoxically never gets any nearer. To get closer, it would need to lose its own forward motion, and would soon be burned.

Going "way up to mars" is adventurous. Filling it with "parking cars" transorms the exotic to the mundane, worthy not of getting off the sofa. tv is voyeuristic--a decidedly one-way communication.

When one is driven out of one's mind, it can be by a thing one loves, despises or both. To drive you really out of your mind, probably both. After such a drive, one parks it on Mars.

--adrian

Song Meaning

A satellite is defined by the object it orbits. A physicist will tell you that the satellite is forever falling toward its attractor, yet paradoxically we can all see that it never gets any nearer. To get closer, it would need to lose its own forward motion, and would soon be burned.

SOL, SOL, SOL, out of luck

Going "way up to mars" is adventurous. Filling it with "parking cars" transforms the exotic to the mundane, worthy not of getting off the sofa. tv is voyeuristic--a decidedly one-way communication. One can drop dead watching life on tv....

Not Valid
Cover art for Satellite Of Love lyrics by Lou Reed

knives to this song....makes me so damn happy

Cover art for Satellite Of Love lyrics by Lou Reed

I once saw a documentary that dealt with the whole album in general and each song in particular. According to Lou himself he often write songs and don't realize what they're about untill years later. He said in the interview that he'd just recently understood what this song was about - jealousy

Cover art for Satellite Of Love lyrics by Lou Reed

This song has a great video. Or possibly it was a micckeh take, but either way it was great. if Lou says its about Jealousy, I believe him.

Cover art for Satellite Of Love lyrics by Lou Reed

This was in Velvet Goldmine, wasn't it..?

Cover art for Satellite Of Love lyrics by Lou Reed

yeah

Cover art for Satellite Of Love lyrics by Lou Reed

who are Harry, Mark and John?

@paranoidandroid83 it’s pretty obvious to me that Harry = heroin and Mark and John = MJ = marijuana

These are pretty standard drug references just like Mary Jane = marijuana (see Rick James “Mary Jane”)