I just found a great song interpretation by Mark Toscano and David Steinberg (https://phish.net/song/oh-sweet-nuthin/history): "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" is the final song off of Loaded, the last real Velvet Underground album. It tells the stories of the disaffected, the poor Jimmy Brown, the homeless and depressed Ginger Brown, his fellow street person Polly May, and poor Joanna Love who finds herself in an endless stream of failed relationships. Between that and the chorus of, "Oh, sweet nuthin'/She ain't got nothing' at all," you'd think this was a miserable song, one to listen to when you're looking for that last bit of motivation to slash your wrists. That would be the easy approach. Rather, "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" is incredibly life affirming, especially in the end section where drummer Doug Yule – filling in for Moe Tucker who was on maternity leave – suddenly kicks the whole jam into overdrive. The guitars soar and the drumming continues to pound and it builds until it finally resolves to a reprise of, "She ain't got nothing at all," which suddenly feels like a reward instead of a lament. Who says that you can't make something out of nothing? [...]"
I just found a great song interpretation by Mark Toscano and David Steinberg (https://phish.net/song/oh-sweet-nuthin/history): "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" is the final song off of Loaded, the last real Velvet Underground album. It tells the stories of the disaffected, the poor Jimmy Brown, the homeless and depressed Ginger Brown, his fellow street person Polly May, and poor Joanna Love who finds herself in an endless stream of failed relationships. Between that and the chorus of, "Oh, sweet nuthin'/She ain't got nothing' at all," you'd think this was a miserable song, one to listen to when you're looking for that last bit of motivation to slash your wrists. That would be the easy approach. Rather, "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" is incredibly life affirming, especially in the end section where drummer Doug Yule – filling in for Moe Tucker who was on maternity leave – suddenly kicks the whole jam into overdrive. The guitars soar and the drumming continues to pound and it builds until it finally resolves to a reprise of, "She ain't got nothing at all," which suddenly feels like a reward instead of a lament. Who says that you can't make something out of nothing? [...]"