Vicious

Album: Transformer (1972)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Andy Warhol is best remembered as the iconic forerunner of pop art. He was also for a time Velvet Underground's manager and it was he who suggested the song's first line. "He said, 'Why don't you write a song called Vicious?'" Reed told Rolling Stone in 1989. "I said, Well, Andy, what kind of vicious? 'Oh, you know, vicious like I hit you with a flower.' And I wrote it down, literally - I kept a notebook in those days."
  • The song, like the rest of Transformer, was produced by David Bowie with his Spiders from Mars guitarist Mick Ronson. Bowie also supplied backing vocals for the track.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Bill Withers

Bill WithersSongwriter Interviews

Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."

Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets

Curt Kirkwood of Meat PuppetsSongwriter Interviews

The (Meat)puppetmaster takes us through songs like "Lake Of Fire" and "Backwater," and talks about performing with Kurt Cobain on MTV Unplugged.

Song Cities

Song CitiesMusic Quiz

Nirvana, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen are among those who wrote songs with cities that show up in this quiz.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.

Tom Waits Lyrics Quiz

Tom Waits Lyrics QuizMusic Quiz

Pool balls, magpies and thorns without roses - how well do you know your Tom Waits lyrics?

Chris Rea

Chris ReaSongwriter Interviews

It took him seven years to recover from his American hit "Fool (If You Think It's Over)," but Chris Rea became one of the top singer-songwriters in his native UK.