Having played guitar and sung in doo-wop groups in high school, Reed studied poetry at Syracuse University under Delmore Schwartz, and had served as a radio DJ, hosting a late-night avant garde music program while at college. After graduating from Syracuse, he went to work for Pickwick Records in New York City, a low-budget record company that specialized in sound-alike recordings, as a songwriter and session musician. A fellow session player at Pickwick was John Cale; together with Sterling Morrison and Angus MacLise, they would form the Velvet Underground in 1965. After building a reputation on the avant garde music scene, they gained the attention of Andy Warhol, who became the band's manager; they in turn became something of a fixture at The Factory, Warhol's art studio, and served as his "house band" for various projects. The band released their first album, now with drummer Moe Tucker and featuring German singer Nico, in 1967, and parted ways with Warhol shortly thereafter. Following several lineup changes and three more little-heard albums, Reed quit the band in 1970.
After leaving the band, Reed would go on to a much more commercially successful solo career, releasing twenty solo studio albums. His second, Transformer (1972), was produced by David Bowie and arranged by Mick Ronson, and brought him mainstream recognition. The album is considered an influential landmark of the glam rock genre, anchored by Reed's most successful single, "Walk on the Wild Side". After Transformer, the less commercial but critically acclaimed Berlin peaked at No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart. Rock 'n' Roll Animal (a live album released in 1974) sold strongly, and Sally Can't Dance (1974) peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200; but for a long period after, Reed's work did not translate into sales, leading him deeper into drug addiction and alcoholism. Reed cleaned up in the early 1980s, and gradually returned to prominence with The Blue Mask (1982) and New Sensations (1984), reaching a critical and commercial career peak with his 1989 album New York.
Reed participated in the re-formation of the Velvet Underground in the 1990s, and made several more albums, including a collaboration album with John Cale titled Songs for Drella which was a tribute to their former mentor Andy Warhol. Magic and Loss (1992) would become Reed's highest-charting album on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at No. 6.
He contributed music to two theatrical interpretations of 19th century writers, one of which he developed into an album titled The Raven. He married his third wife Laurie Anderson in 2008, and recorded the collaboration album Lulu with Metallica. He died in 2013 of liver disease. Reed has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice; as a member of the Velvet Underground in 1996 and as a solo act in 2015.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Reed
Studio albums
Lou Reed (1972)
Transformer (1972)
Berlin (1973)
Rock 'n' Roll Animal (1974)
Sally Can't Dance (1974)
Metal Machine Music (1975)
Coney Island Baby (1975)
Rock and Roll Heart (1976)
Street Hassle (1978)
The Bells (1979)
Growing Up in Public (1980)
The Blue Mask (1982)
Legendary Hearts (1983)
New Sensations (1984)
Mistrial (1986)
New York (1989)
Magic and Loss (1992)
Set the Twilight Reeling (1996)
Ecstasy (2000)
The Raven (2003)
Hudson River Wind Meditations (2007)
Riptide
Lou Reed Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
like the wind in the storm
Oh, like the ocean in the dawn
as it disappears, with the riptide
She's out of her mind
she's pulled away by the moon
She's ripped from her sleep
Ooohhh, what you gonna do with your emotions
Ah, ones you barely recognize
In your sleep I heard your screaming, ooohhh
"This is not voluntary! This is not voluntary!
If this is life I'd rather die!"
In the riptide, in the riptide
She's out of her mind, riptide
like a muscle that swells
You know when you trip
whether you're well or sick, your body aches
She's out with the tide
gone to a prisoner's dance
Where a monkey's her date
eating limbs off a plate with a spoon
Ooohhh, what you gonna do with your emotions
said the seagull to the loon
What you gonna do with your emotions
She said "Please wake me up"
She said "Don't touch me now"
She said "I wish I was dead"
With the riptide
She's out of her mind
riptide, you always win
It happens over and over again
riptide
She's out of her mind
like a hurricane's rain
She does not stand a chance
at this luna dance, riptide
I was thinking of Van Gogh's last painting
the wheatfields and the crows
Is that perhaps what you've been feeling
When you see the ground
as you fall from the shy
As the floors disappears from beneath your feet riptide
She's going out of her mind
out with the tide
out of her mind
riptide
She's going out of her mind
with the riptide
She's going out of her mind
ah, riptide
The song Riptide is a haunting and powerful ballad that explores the themes of loss, fear, and surrender. The lyrics depict the state of mind of a person who is overwhelmed by their emotions and pulled under by the metaphorical riptide of life. The first two verses describe the person's state of mind through vivid and poetic language. The intense and erratic movements of the wind, storm, and ocean symbolize the turbulence of the person's emotions, which are beyond their control. The third verse speaks about the person's fear and desperation as they struggle to cope with their emotions. The lines "This is not voluntary! This is not voluntary!/ If this is life I'd rather die!" capture the sense of powerlessness and hopelessness that the person feels.
The fourth verse provides a shift in perspective, with Lou Reed invoking the imagery of Van Gogh's painting "Wheatfield with Crows." This painting is widely regarded as a representation of the artist's mental anguish in his final days. Lou Reed's reference to this painting suggests that the person in the song might be experiencing a similar sense of despair and isolation. The chorus of the song repeats the phrase "She's out of her mind, riptide," which serves as a powerful refrain that reinforces the central metaphor of the song.
Line by Line Meaning
She's out of her mind
like the wind in the storm
Oh, like the ocean in the dawn
as it disappears, with the riptide
She's disconnected from reality, just like the wind that blows uncontrollably in a storm. The way she's lost herself is similar to how the ocean gradually vanishes with the riptide.
She's out of her mind
she's pulled away by the moon
She's ripped from her sleep
as the cold luna sweep gains control
Her disconnection grows with the moon's gravitational force. The lunar pull is responsible for dragging her out of sleep - a cold sweep that reinforces her feeling of lack of control.
Ooohhh, what you gonna do with your emotions
Ah, ones you barely recognize
In your sleep I heard your screaming, ooohhh
"This is not voluntary! This is not voluntary!
If this is life I'd rather die!"
In the riptide, in the riptide
The singer questions the next steps to take given the turbulent and obscure emotions she's facing. She screams while asleep, unable to fully comprehend the involuntary experiences happening to her because of the riptide.
She's out of her mind, riptide
like a muscle that swells
You know when you trip
whether you're well or sick, your body aches
Her disconnection from herself and reality is like a muscle that is swollen and aching, similar to how one's body feels when they are not doing well.
She's out with the tide
gone to a prisoner's dance
Where a monkey's her date
eating limbs off a plate with a spoon
Her mind and emotions have gone away with the tide to a strange, unideal place where her date is a monkey who eats human limbs with a spoon - this represents how far removed she is from reality and how she sees the world.
Ooohhh, what you gonna do with your emotions
said the seagull to the loon
What you gonna do with your emotions
The seagull is asking the loon how they will process and deal with their emotions that they can hardly recognize or understand.
She said "Please wake me up"
She said "Don't touch me now"
She said "I wish I was dead"
With the riptide
The singer begs to either be woken up or left alone to deal with her struggles. She wishes for death instead of continuing with the turbulence of the riptide.
She's out of her mind
riptide, you always win
It happens over and over again
riptide
She is completely disconnected and the riptide consistently overpowers her. This happens repeatedly, echoing the same recurring struggles where she loses to her emotions.
She's out of her mind
like a hurricane's rain
She does not stand a chance
at this luna dance, riptide
Similar to how raindrops in a hurricane never stand a chance, she feels powerless against the riptide's pull that controls every aspect of her being. The 'luna dance' is a metaphor for how the moon affects people's emotions.
I was thinking of Van Gogh's last painting
the wheatfields and the crows
Is that perhaps what you've been feeling
When you see the ground
as you fall from the shy
As the floors disappears from beneath your feet riptide
The character compares the female protagonist's feelings with one of the artist Van Gogh's very last paintings - one which depicts crows and wheat fields. This showcases how she feels like her thoughts are in a place of abandonment - vivid, but without any support underneath her.
She's going out of her mind
out with the tide
out of her mind
riptide
She's going out of her mind
with the riptide
She's going out of her mind
ah, riptide
The female protagonist is completely losing her mind to the riptide's overbearing pull. She also feels that she is going 'out with the tide,' meaning that she is going along with this overpowering force.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: LOU REED
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind