![\"Lou](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Lou-Reed-John-Cale-Songs-for-Drella-1140x855.jpg\")
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Credit: Press<\/p>\n
Thu 25 June 2026 20:30, UK <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a well-known fact that Lou Reed<\/a> could be acerbic, bitter, and biting. But was that really his best look when he was meant to be paying tribute to the dead?<\/p>\n It seemed that bringing up certain demons of his past was a catalyst for bad things to happen. But the year was 1987, and Andy Warhol was dead<\/a>: a dark world without the effervescent, illuminating visionary artist had dawned, and it left the lives of all the legions of people he touched completely rudderless. <\/p>\n You knew things were really stark when Reed started talking to John Cale again. By this point, it had been almost two decades since the latter had left The Velvet Underground, and he and his former right-hand man hadn\u2019t spoken in years. The circumstances of Warhol\u2019s memorial had brought them back together for a rare moment of peaceful harmony, but it wasn\u2019t long until things descended into their old ways of sparks and sparring. <\/p>\n They initially had the idea of a reunion, translating into the tribute album for Warhol<\/a> named Songs for Drella. That all sounds very sweet and honourable, but once Reed got back in the driving seat and remembered why he struggled to work with Cale in the first place, his nasty habits of days gone by started to make an unwelcome appearance again. <\/p>\n To Cale\u2019s mind, the process had gone swimmingly up to that point. \u201cIt was really easy to set it up,\u201d he said during an event in 2018. \u201cWe agreed to do all this work. So we had three weeks. We rented a studio and recorded everything we did, and chose which ones were going to work. At the end, we looked at it, and it was fine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe had really good ideas and some interesting music\u201d.<\/p>\n John Cale<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Then Reed had to hit the nuclear button. <\/p>\n \u201cBut at the end of the process \u2013 it\u2019s always at the end of the process when something goes wrong \u2013 Lou just didn\u2019t want my name on the record,\u201d Cale recalled with a grimace. \u201cSo I had to make choices. I don\u2019t know what you think I did do or didn\u2019t do. But I didn\u2019t do all this work so I could be insulted.\u201d<\/p>\n The vagueness with which he described these \u201cchoices\u201d makes the imagination run riot, conjuring up images of hurling insults and throwing punches. But at the end of the day, Cale could have a smug satisfaction in knowing that any of Reed\u2019s efforts to remove him would be fruitless at this last-minute stage. \u201cBy that time, it was too late, and we put it out and made the film. But it was done with the right spirit and the right heart.\u201d <\/p>\n Further reading: From The Vault<\/strong><\/p>\n The addendum tagged on to the end of that seems to imply that the original message and intention of honouring Warhol had somewhat fallen by the wayside amid all the fighting and snide moves, but then again, you couldn\u2019t argue against the fact that it was created entirely out of Reed\u2019s mean streak. There were times when he was perhaps right to pick up the battle axe, but paying tribute to his dead friend was not one of them. <\/p>\n Even still, Songs for Drella was released in 1990, and seemed to put an end to the whole affair. Reed and Cale took up the same amount of space<\/a> on the cover and received equal amounts of lavish praise for their stirring tribute to a true artistic icon. Between friends and enemies, in this respect, at least they did manage to find some common ground.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n
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