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I'm Waiting for the Man

"I'm Waiting for the Man" is a song written by Lou Reed and recorded by the American rock band the Velvet Underground as the second track on their debut studio album, The Velvet Underground & Nico, released in March 1967 by Verve Records.^[1]^[2] The lyrics provide a first-person account of a heroin addict's anxious wait and journey uptown to Harlem—specifically to the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street—to purchase $26 worth of the drug from a dealer known as "the man," capturing the physical discomfort and anticipation of withdrawal.^[3]^[4] Musically, the track features a driving boogie-woogie piano riff played by John Cale, sparse guitar work by Reed, and a raw, unpolished production that underscores its themes of urban decay and addiction, recorded during sessions produced by Andy Warhol at New York's Record Plant in 1966.^[1]^[5] Its explicit portrayal of heroin use marked one of rock music's earliest unflinching engagements with hard drug culture, eschewing romanticism for stark realism and contributing to the album's initial commercial struggles amid radio bans and limited distribution due to controversial content across tracks.^[5]^[4] Despite poor sales at the time—fewer than 30,000 copies in its first two years—the song has since been recognized as a foundational influence on punk, alternative, and indie rock, with its proto-punk energy and lyrical candor inspiring generations of musicians.^[1] The track's enduring legacy includes numerous covers by artists such as David Bowie, who performed it live with Reed, and its role in elevating the Velvet Underground's reputation from cult obscurity to critical canon, as The Velvet Underground & Nico later topped retrospective polls for its innovative fusion of avant-garde experimentation and street-level narrative.^[1] No major legal controversies directly attached to the song itself, though its unvarnished depiction of addiction reflected Reed's personal experiences with substance abuse, which he drew upon to challenge rock's prevailing sanitized tropes.^[5]

Origins

Songwriting and inspiration

"I'm Waiting for the Man" was written by Lou Reed in 1965, prior to the full formation of the Velvet Underground, with a demo version recorded that May featuring acoustic guitar and harmonica accompaniment.^[6] The song's composition reflects Reed's early songwriting style, which drew from personal observations of urban life rather than fictional invention, establishing a template for his later work with the band. An early rendition was performed for John Cale, whom Reed met in New York City that year, marking one of the initial pieces in the nascent repertoire that would define the group's sound.^[5] The lyrics originated from Reed's firsthand experiences navigating New York City's underworld, specifically detailing a journey uptown to Harlem—near the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street—to purchase heroin from a dealer.^[4] Reed later affirmed the autobiographical accuracy of the narrative, stating, "Everything about that song holds true, except the price," referring to the depicted $26 transaction, which he adjusted for dramatic or temporal effect but grounded in authentic encounters with addiction and procurement rituals.^[7] ^[1] This unvarnished portrayal avoided moralizing or romanticization, instead presenting the mundane anxiety and logistics of scoring drugs as a stark slice of 1960s street reality, contrasting sharply with contemporaneous countercultural ideals of peace and transcendence.^[8] Reed's inspiration stemmed from his own brushes with substance use during and after his college years at Syracuse University, where he explored themes of dependency that would recur in tracks like "Heroin."^[1] The song's raw, reportorial approach—eschewing judgment to capture causal sequences of desperation and routine—anticipated the Velvet Underground's commitment to documenting taboo subcultures without endorsement, influencing subsequent depictions of urban decay in rock music.^[5] No external literary or musical sources are documented as direct catalysts; the piece emerged from Reed's immersion in the city's underbelly, prioritizing experiential fidelity over abstraction.^[9]

Role in The Velvet Underground's early repertoire

"I'm Waiting for the Man" originated from Lou Reed's songwriting efforts in the mid-1960s and was among the earliest compositions integrated into The Velvet Underground's live sets following the band's formation in late 1964. Acoustic demos featuring Reed on vocals and guitar, accompanied by John Cale on viola, were recorded as early as May 1965 at a Greenwich Village loft, capturing a folk-influenced rendition that highlighted the song's narrative of urban drug dependency before the group's rock arrangement solidified.^[10]^[11] Further rehearsals and informal recordings, including a July 1965 session at the Ludlow Street loft with Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Angus MacLise, refined its boogie-woogie piano-driven structure, establishing it as a foundational piece in their developing repertoire.^[12] The track debuted in live performances during the band's initial New York gigs in 1965, including residencies at the Cafe Bizarre, where its stark lyrics about scoring heroin on Harlem streets contrasted sharply with prevailing folk and pop norms, signaling the group's avant-garde edge. By 1966, as documented in recordings from the Valleydale Ballroom in Columbus, Ohio, the song featured the full band's instrumentation—Morrison's guitar riff, Cale's aggressive viola, and MacLise's tribal percussion—serving as an energetic opener that energized audiences and exemplified their raw, unfiltered approach to rock.^[13] This performance style carried into the Exploding Plastic Inevitable multimedia shows produced by Andy Warhol starting in April 1966, where "I'm Waiting for the Man" helped anchor setlists alongside "Heroin" and "Venus in Furs," reinforcing themes of addiction and street life that defined the band's pre-album identity.^[10] In The Velvet Underground's nascent phase, the song's repetitive, riff-based simplicity provided a counterpoint to Cale's experimental tendencies, bridging Reed's pop songcraft with the band's proto-punk ethos and aiding their transition from underground loft experiments to notoriety via Warhol's patronage. Its inclusion in early bootlegs and rehearsals underscores its durability, as it remained a consistent live fixture through 1966 studio sessions for the debut album, embodying the gritty realism that set the group apart from contemporaries.^[12]^[13]

Composition

Musical elements

"I'm Waiting for the Man" is written in the key of D Mixolydian, a mode common in classic rock for its bluesy, flattened seventh scale degree that lends a sense of resolution with tension.^[14] The song maintains a tempo of approximately 126 beats per minute, contributing to its urgent, propulsive feel.^[15] Its chord progression follows a straightforward rock pattern emphasizing major chords, including on the seventh degree, which aligns with Mixolydian harmony and drives the repetitive, riff-based structure.^[14] The instrumentation centers on electric guitars from Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison providing chugging riffs and rhythm, John Cale's aggressive piano pounding that underscores the bluesy twang, Maureen Tucker's minimalistic drum kit delivering a steady, heartbeat-like pulse without cymbals, and bass lines integrated into the guitar and piano parts.^[16] ^[17] Cale incorporates unexpected chromatic bass movements in select sections, adding subtle dissonance amid the otherwise raw, R&B-influenced rhythm-guitar workout.^[16] ^[18] Musically, the track employs a verse-only form with repetitive phrasing, eschewing traditional bridges or choruses to heighten the theme of impatient waiting through insistent repetition and building intensity via layered dynamics rather than melodic variation.^[14] The higher-than-average melodic complexity in relation to its chords creates tension, while the overall arrangement prioritizes raw energy over polish, reflecting the band's proto-punk ethos.^[14]

Lyrical content and structure

The lyrics of "I'm Waiting for the Man" narrate the experiences of a heroin addict traveling from midtown Manhattan to Harlem to purchase a $26 bag of the drug from a dealer at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street.^[3]^[1] The first-person protagonist describes acute withdrawal symptoms, stating, "Feel sick and dirty, more dead than alive," while heading uptown via subway.^[3] Subsequent verses detail wary encounters with Black locals suspicious of a white man "chasing our women around," the dealer's tardy arrival in "beat up shoes and a big straw hat," and the rushed transaction in a third-floor brownstone walk-up, where the buyer receives the "works" for immediate injection before fleeing to avoid detection.^[3] The final verse conveys fleeting post-use satisfaction, with the narrator dismissing a partner's distress—"Baby, don't you holler, darling don't you bawl and shout"—and affirming, "I'm feeling good, you know I'm gonna work it all out," while implying the cycle's repetition "until tomorrow."^[3] Lou Reed, who composed the song during his time at Syracuse University in the early 1960s, drew from personal accounts of scoring heroin in New York City, though he later remarked that "everything about that song holds true, except the price," as $26 exceeded typical street costs even then.^[1] The content eschews explicit endorsement or condemnation of drug use, instead presenting an unvarnished depiction of the logistical and sensory aspects of procurement and consumption, akin to contemporaneous works like "Heroin" from the same album.^[1] Structurally, the song comprises five successive verses without a traditional chorus or bridge, each building the narrative chronologically while ending with the refrain "I'm waiting for my man" to evoke persistent impatience and ritualistic delay.^[3] This linear, accumulative form—relying on repetition rather than harmonic variation—mirrors the lyrics' focus on monotonous anticipation, contrasting with pop conventions of the era by prioritizing raw storytelling over melodic hooks.^[3] The refrain's recurrence underscores the addict's fixation, amplifying the theme of compulsion through lyrical stasis.^[3]

Production

Recording sessions

The initial recording of "I'm Waiting for the Man" took place during a four-day session in mid-April 1966 at Scepter Studios in New York City, where the bulk of the material for The Velvet Underground & Nico was captured under Andy Warhol's production oversight.^[19] Engineers Norman Dolph and John Licata handled the technical aspects at this decrepit facility, producing raw takes of the song alongside others like "Heroin" and "Venus in Furs."^[20] These Scepter versions featured the band's core lineup—Lou Reed on vocals and guitar, John Cale on viola and bass, Sterling Morrison on guitar, and Maureen Tucker on drums—but MGM Records executives found the sound quality inadequate for release, prompting re-recordings.^[21] The final version appeared on the album stemmed from sessions in May 1966 at TTG Studios in Hollywood, California, where the band was staying during a West Coast trip.^[22] Producer Tom Wilson oversaw these re-dos specifically for "I'm Waiting for the Man," "Heroin," and "Venus in Furs," aiming to refine the tracks with improved fidelity while preserving the group's experimental edge; the results incorporated viola drones and a stomping rhythm that defined the song's raw energy.^[23] No additional personnel changes occurred, though the Hollywood environment allowed for tighter performances amid the band's touring schedule. These TTG tapes, lasting about two days, were integrated into the album's master, completed by late 1966.^[21]

Personnel and contributions

The version of "I'm Waiting for the Man" featured on The Velvet Underground & Nico was recorded by the band's core lineup: Lou Reed on lead vocals and lead guitar, Sterling Morrison on rhythm guitar and occasional bass, John Cale on electric viola, piano, and bass guitar, and Maureen Tucker on percussion.^[24] Reed composed the song, drawing from his experiences in New York City's underground scene, and handled the primary rhythmic guitar riff that drives the track's boogie-woogie structure.^[24] Cale's contributions included the barrelhouse-style piano introduction and a sustained electric viola drone, adding tension and dissonance to the arrangement without traditional bass prominence.^[25] Morrison provided supportive guitar layers, while Tucker's sparse, tom-heavy drumming emphasized the song's raw, propulsive energy, using mallets and avoiding cymbals for a primitive feel.^[24] These TTG Studios sessions in Hollywood, California, occurred over two days in May 1966 as re-recordings of earlier demos, supervised by Andy Warhol as producer, though his involvement was largely nominal, focusing on creative oversight rather than technical input.^[26] The arrangements were credited collectively to the band, reflecting their collaborative approach to blending rock elements with avant-garde influences.^[24] Nico, though part of the album's lineup, did not contribute to this track, as Reed insisted on performing the vocals himself to match the song's narrative perspective.^[27] Later remixing by Tom Wilson added polish to some album elements, but the core performance of "I'm Waiting for the Man" retained its live-wire intensity from the original tapes.

Release

Album integration and initial distribution

"I'm Waiting for the Man" was included as the second track on Side A of The Velvet Underground's debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico, following the gentler "Sunday Morning" and setting a raw, urgent tone early in the record.^[28] The song's placement highlighted its role in contrasting the album's varied sonic palette, blending gritty street narratives with the ensemble's experimental edge under Andy Warhol's supervisory production.^[29] Released by Verve Records on March 12, 1967, the album entered distribution through the label's standard retail and promotional networks, primarily in the United States.^[29] However, its candid depictions of drug use and urban underbelly themes restricted radio play and broader marketing efforts, contributing to initial commercial underperformance with roughly 30,000 copies sold over the first five years.^[17] Distribution faced further complications in late 1967 when model Eric Emerson filed a lawsuit over unauthorized use of his image on the rear cover, prompting Verve to temporarily withdraw copies from sale and affix black lawsuit warning stickers to remaining stock.^[30] This legal issue delayed reissues and limited availability, though international variants, such as Canadian pressings on Quality Records, continued limited circulation without gatefold sleeves.^[31] The song itself was not issued as a standalone single at launch, relying on album sales for initial exposure.^[28]

Commercial outcomes

The Velvet Underground & Nico, on which "I'm Waiting for the Man" appeared as the second track, achieved limited initial commercial success following its March 1967 release by Verve Records. The album peaked at number 171 on the Billboard 200 chart that year, reflecting subdued radio airplay and retail distribution amid controversy over its themes. "I'm Waiting for the Man" was not issued as a standalone single, precluding separate chart tracking or promotional sales data for the track itself. Early sales figures, drawn from MGM/Verve royalty statements, indicate approximately 58,476 units shipped through February 1969, with mono pressings accounting for 13,336 copies and stereo for 45,140. This underwhelming performance contributed to the band's departure from Verve after one album, underscoring broader challenges in penetrating mainstream markets during the era. In the decades since, cumulative U.S. sales have exceeded 558,000 copies as tracked by Nielsen SoundScan from 1991 onward, bolstered by reissues and enduring catalog demand, though the album has not attained RIAA gold certification despite surpassing the 500,000-unit threshold. International certifications remain sparse, with Italy awarding platinum status for 50,000 units in later years, but no equivalent honors in major markets like the UK or Canada tied directly to the original release.

Reception

Contemporary critical views

Richard Goldstein's review in The Village Voice on April 13, 1967, one of the few contemporary assessments of The Velvet Underground & Nico, singled out "I'm Waiting for the Man" for praise amid qualified endorsement of the album. He characterized the track as "an impressively understated vignette about scoring in Harlem," highlighting its narrative restraint in depicting urban drug procurement.^[32] Goldstein contrasted this with criticisms of the album's derivative riffs—such as echoes of the Rolling Stones in other songs—and pretentious experimentation, yet affirmed the Velvet Underground's importance, with the song exemplifying effective mood through minimalism.^[32] Broader critical coverage remained sparse, reflecting the era's discomfort with the song's explicit heroin-themed lyrics, which detailed a journey to 125th Street for a $26 score in unromanticized terms like "the man's gonna come by and pick up my clothes."^[33] This candor alienated mainstream outlets, contributing to radio bans and retailer reluctance; stations avoided airplay due to fears of endorsing addiction narratives, while the album's banana-peel cover and Warhol association amplified perceptions of deviance over artistry.^[32] Such reactions underscored a cultural lag, where the track's proto-punk drive and barrelhouse piano—evoking raw blues urgency—clashed with 1967's psychedelic optimism.

Long-term evaluations

In retrospective analyses, "I'm Waiting for the Man" has been lauded for its unvarnished portrayal of heroin addiction and urban desperation, establishing it as a proto-punk archetype that prioritized gritty realism over commercial polish. Music critics in the 2000s and beyond have highlighted its driving rhythm and Reed's deadpan delivery as prescient of punk's raw energy, with the mono mix of the original recording noted for its thunderous intensity and added vocal reverb that amplifies the song's restless tension.^[34]^[35] By the 2010s, the track's influence on alternative and indie rock was widely acknowledged, with evaluators crediting its terse, journalistic lyrics—drawing from William S. Burroughs' cut-up techniques—for influencing generations of songwriters in depicting street-level vice without romanticization. Rolling Stone ranked it among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2021, praising its evocation of New York street life as ahead of its era, a view echoed in documentaries and tributes that position it as a foundational text for countercultural authenticity.^[36]^[7] Long-term assessments often contrast its initial obscurity with its canonical status, attributing enduring acclaim to the song's causal depiction of addiction's mechanics—anticipation, transaction, and comedown—rooted in Reed's observational precision rather than moralizing. While some critiques note its potential to normalize dependency through repetition in covers and samples, predominant evaluations affirm its value as a stark empirical snapshot of 1960s underbelly existence, influencing artists from David Bowie to punk progenitors without diluting its stark causality.^[37]^[38]

Controversies

Interpretations of drug depiction

The lyrics of "I'm Waiting for the Man" depict a first-person narrative of heroin procurement, with the protagonist traveling to Harlem—specifically the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street—with $26 to meet a dealer amid acute withdrawal symptoms, feeling "sick and dirty, more dead than alive."^[1]^[4] The song emphasizes the tedium and vulnerability of the wait, culminating in the dealer's arrival and the user's hurried return home to consume the drug, underscoring the compulsive cycle of addiction without narrative resolution.^[5] Lou Reed, who wrote the song based on his own early experiences in New York, affirmed its factual grounding, stating in a Rolling Stone interview that "everything about that song holds true, except the price," which he noted had risen by the time of the remark.^[5]^[1] This autobiographical element positions the track as a documentary-style account of urban drug culture in the mid-1960s, capturing the era's underground scene where heroin use intersected with bohemian and countercultural milieus.^[4] Interpretations generally view the depiction as deliberately unglamorous and non-judgmental, contrasting with contemporaneous romanticized portrayals of drug use in some rock music by focusing on logistical desperation rather than euphoria or rebellion.^[1] Music analysts have highlighted how the sparse arrangement and Moe Tucker's primitive drum pattern evoke the physical jitteriness of withdrawal, mimicking the addict's anxious pacing without sensationalism.^[1] Reed's approach, as reflected in the lyrics' plainspoken detail, aims to present addiction's reality as a gritty, everyday transaction, avoiding moralizing to let the scenario's inherent bleakness convey its costs.^[4] This restraint has led some observers to argue it demystifies heroin's allure by humanizing the user's vulnerability in a hostile environment, though others note its potential to normalize the act through vivid specificity.^[1]

Responses to themes of addiction

The song's candid depiction of heroin procurement provoked immediate backlash in 1967, with record labels such as Atlantic Records rejecting the Velvet Underground partly due to its controversial drug references, viewing them as too explicit for mainstream consumption.^[1] Critics and audiences at the time associated the track with promoting or normalizing urban addiction, tying the band to perceptions of moral decay amid the era's escalating war on drugs, though initial sales of fewer than 30,000 copies for the album reflected broader discomfort rather than outright bans.^[33]^[5] Lou Reed, drawing from personal experiences in early 1960s New York, crafted the lyrics as a neutral, observational account of addiction's mundane desperation—evident in lines like "Feeling sick and dirty, more dead than alive"—without intent to glorify or moralize the act.^[5] In a Rolling Stone interview, Reed affirmed the song's veracity, stating, "Everything about that song holds true, except the price," emphasizing factual reportage over endorsement, as the $26 referenced had risen by recording time.^[1] This approach contrasted with contemporaneous rock narratives that romanticized highs, instead underscoring the tedium, physical toll, and peril of sourcing in Harlem's Lexington Avenue and 125th Street vicinity.^[5] Subsequent analyses have lauded the track's cinéma vérité realism, portraying addiction not as euphoric escape but as a gritty, impatient ritual that exposed rock's prior evasions of urban underbelly realities.^[33] David Bowie, in a 2003 Performing Songwriter interview, described it as "serious and dangerous," highlighting its unflinching authenticity that influenced later artists to confront substance dependency head-on.^[1] While some interpreters, including bandmate John Cale, later critiqued Reed's oeuvre for inadvertently romanticizing junkie existence through rhythmic vigor, the song's emphasis on withdrawal's degradation—rather than the fix's relief—aligns with Reed's stated aim of demythologizing addiction's allure.^[39]

Legacy

Musical influence

"I'm Waiting for the Man" exerted influence through its raw, minimalist arrangement featuring a repetitive boogie-woogie guitar riff in E major, deadpan vocals, and stark production that prioritized live-band immediacy over studio gloss, prefiguring punk rock's emphasis on primal energy and DIY ethos.^[4]^[40] David Bowie incorporated the song into his live repertoire during the Ziggy Stardust era, performing it regularly from 1971 onward, including BBC radio sessions in 1972, which exposed its gritty, urban rhythm to glam rock audiences and amplified its reach before the Velvet Underground's debut album gained wider traction.^[41] The track's chugging rhythm and dissonant edge resonated in post-punk, as seen in Joy Division's adoption of similar driving pulses in songs like "Love Will Tear Us Apart," while New York Dolls drew from its noisy, street-level rock template in their proto-punk sound tied to the Max's Kansas City scene.^[41]^[42] Subsequent covers underscore its stylistic legacy, including Matt Berninger's 2021 rendition on the tribute album I'll Be Your Mirror, which preserved the original's terse structure amid indie rock's revival of Velvet Underground minimalism.^[43]

Cultural and societal reflections

The song "I'm Waiting for the Man" encapsulates the gritty undercurrents of mid-1960s New York City street life, depicting a protagonist's anxious wait at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street in Harlem for a heroin dealer amid pervasive urban decay and economic disparity.^[7] ^[44] This portrayal draws from the era's heroin epidemic, which ravaged low-income neighborhoods and highlighted racial and class divides, as white downtown bohemians like Lou Reed ventured uptown for illicit supplies in a city grappling with rising crime and abandonment.^[40] ^[45] Lou Reed's lyrics adopt a detached, observational tone—eschewing moral condemnation or glorification—to convey the mundane mechanics of addiction, reflecting a societal underclass trapped in cycles of dependency and anticipation that mainstream culture often ignored or sanitized.^[46] ^[47] This approach contrasted sharply with the contemporaneous hippie movement's romanticized drug narratives focused on psychedelics and liberation, instead underscoring heroin's destructive grip on urban reality and the alienation of those navigating it.^[48] ^[49] By integrating such unvarnished depictions into rock music, the track challenged taboos around public discourse on hard drug transactions, fostering a cultural acknowledgment of vice as an intrinsic, if grim, facet of American cityscapes rather than mere aberration.^[50] This realism anticipated broader societal reckonings with addiction's toll, evident in later policy shifts like the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, though the song itself prioritizes experiential documentation over advocacy.^[51]

References

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“I'm Waiting For The Man” by The Velvet Underground, Album: The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967), License This Song.
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The Velvet Underground & Nico ; 1, Sunday Morning ; 2, I'm Waiting For The Man ; 3, Femme Fatale ; 4, Venus in Furs ; 5, Run Run Run.
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I'm Waiting For The Man by The Velvet Underground Chords and ...
I'm Waiting For The Man is written in the key of D Mixolydian. According to the Theorytab database, it is the 4th most popular key among Mixolydian keys and the ...
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BPM and key for I'm Waiting For The Man by The Velvet Underground
I'm Waiting For The Man is a exuberant song by The Velvet Underground with a tempo of 126 BPM. It can also be used half-time at 63 BPM or double-time at 252 BPM ...
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... guitar parts that are unusual. For example, in “I'm Waiting for the Man,” Cale inserts two unexpected sections of chromatic movement to bass notes that end ...
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JOHN CALE WAXES ARTICULATE ON: LOU REED, THE VELVET ...
Dec 26, 2023 · Two of John Cale's bandmates from the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison, are dead. A third, Maureen “Moe” Tucker, ...
[40]
New York Series: "I'm Waiting For The Man" The Velvet Underground
Jul 19, 2025 · Reed wrote “I'm Waiting For The Man” by drawing on his own life and unique experiences living in New York City. But the track bears more ...Missing: origins | Show results with:origins
[41]
15 artists who show that the Velvet Underground's influence is eternal
Jul 2, 2021 · “I'm Waiting For The Man” followed him into his live sets through the Spiders From Mars and beyond, alongside “White Light/White Heat,” and his ...
[42]
The Velvet Underground - The History Of Punk
The Velvet Underground were a significant influence on punk in style, sound ... I'm Waiting For The Man - Live In New York City / 1967. The Velvet ...
[43]
Matt Berninger Covers the Velvet Underground's “I'm Waiting for the ...
Jul 30, 2021 · Matt Berninger has shared a cover of the Velvet Underground's “I'm Waiting for the Man.” The track is part of the forthcoming compilation I'll Be Your Mirror.
[44]
https://vice.com/en/article/lou-reed-bio-excerpt/
[45]
Asteria Friday Classic Albums, Episode 5 : The Velvet Underground ...
“I'm Waiting for the Man” is a gritty portrayal ... “Run Run Run” returns to the theme of urban decay ... In the context of New York City's alternative ...
[46]
The Stubborn Mysteries of Lou Reed | The New Yorker
Oct 16, 2023 · Songs like “Heroin,” “I'm Waiting for the Man,” and “Venus in Furs” were celebrated for being more “real” than rock had ever dared to be.
[47]
The Velvet Underground & Nico: The Ultimate Statement of Popular ...
Jul 4, 2020 · The album, released in 1967, is The Ultimate Statement of Popular Art, and an incredibly accurate portrait of the Western (American) culture of the late 1960s.
[48]
https://chaoticrhythm.com/features/the-velvet-underground%253A-underground-icons-and-avant-garde-pioneers
[49]
The Velvet Underground's Impact on the Rock Scene: From Then to ...
Nov 17, 2021 · ... rock type scene and the experimental punk rock that the Velvet Underground offers. “I'm Waiting For The Man” is a song about being drug ...
[50]
Authenticity and Artifice in Rock and Roll: “And I Guess That I Just ...
Mar 21, 2016 · Another song whose primary lyrical focus is a heroin addict is “I'm Waiting for the Man.” Lyrically, the song is the first-person narrative ...
[51]
The Top 40 Drug Songs - Ultimate Classic Rock
Sep 19, 2025 · "I'm Waiting for the Man" details the long wait for a dealer to hook up an addicted client. 15. Billy Joel, "Captain Jack" (From Piano Man, 1973).Missing: societal | Show results with:societal