Album: Loaded (1970)

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• Standing on the corner
  Suitcase in my hand
  Jack is in his corset, and Jane is her vest
  And me, I'm in a rock 'n roll band, ha
  Ridin' in a Stutz Bearcat, Jim
  You know, those were different times
  Oh, all the poets, they studied rules of verse
  And those ladies, they rolled their eyes
  
  Sweet Jane, whoa
  Sweet Jane, oh-oh
  Sweet Jane
  
  I'll tell you something, Jack, he is a banker
  And Jane, she is a clerk
  And both of them save their monies, ha
  And when, when they come home from work
  Ooh, sittin' down by the fire, oh
  The radio does play
  The classical music there, Jim
  "The March of the Wooden Soldiers"
  All you protest kids
  You can hear Jack say, get ready, ah
  
  Sweet Jane, ah, come on, baby
  Sweet Jane, oh-oh
  Sweet Jane
  
  Some people, they like to go out dancing
  And other peoples, they have to work, just watch me now
  And there's even some evil mothers
  Well, they're gonna tell you that everything is just dirt
  You know that women never really faint
  And that villains always blink their eyes, ooh
  And that, you know, children are the only ones who blush
  And that life is just to die
  But everyone who ever had a heart
  Oh, they wouldn't turn around and break it
  And anyone who ever played a part
  Oh, they wouldn't turn around and hate it
  
  Sweet Jane, oh-oh
  Sweet Jane
  Sweet Jane
  
  Heavenly wine and roses
  Seem to whisper to her when he smiles, ah
  Heavenly wine and roses
  Seem to whisper to her, hey, when she smiles
  
  La-la-la-la, la-la-la
  La-la-la-la, la-la-la
  La-la-la-la, la-la-la
  La-la-la-la, la-la-la
  
  Sweet Jane
  Sweet Jane
  Sweet Jane
  Sweet Jane
  Sweet Jane
  Sweet Jane Writer/s: Lou Reed
  Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 23

• Nappingcat from Buffalo NyIf you listen to "Lolly Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here" I've always felt like the chorus resembled the vocal break in "Sweet Jane." Which makes "Schoolhouse Rock" so much cooler.
• Jack from SpanI'm a fan of Lou Reed but I've read a lot about him, enough to both admire his talent and avoid any excessive mistification. Lou was a nice songwriter and overall a superior personality but he also relied a lot on the musicians around him, who usually were far more proficient than himself. Lou usually referred to himself as "a writer", and although he had his moments on guitar, he was not exactly what we mean by "a great musician". John Cale was one, and (really!) Doug Yule was another. One of the sides of his poliedric personality was that of the entrepreneur, he had the talent to attract around him the best performers (and to suck every drop of their blood if they let him). There is a very interesting interview with Doug Yule on the internet where he concludes "Lou was not strong at music". Doug tells how much Lou relied on the musicians around to write his music "he made a living out of this". Now, coming back to Sweet Jane, a lot of people quote the R'n'R Animal version as one of the most prominent, probably it is the best known. I love it too. But don't credit that "R'n'r animal sound" to Lou. It was his guitarists at the time, Steve Hunter and particularly Dick Wagner, the responsible for those arrangements. As you can see in the surviving videos of that tour, the musicians play while Lou just performs his particular "speed dance" and tries to sing. But yeah he is great anyway, I see him as one of the talents of that age, not really a natural born musician but rather a genius in a much broader and mysterious sense, like Lennon.
• David from Atlanta, GaSimply one of the best riffs of all times.
• Joe from Boston, MaA cover of this song was featured in the Oliver Stone movie "Natural Born Killers". I think that Reed was to punk what Dylan was to folk music.
• Derek from Pittsburgh, PaGreat live versions of the song are on Live at Max's... and on 1969: Live...
• Ross from Brooklyn, NyI was in a band that did the song complete with the "Intro" from "Rock and Roll Animal" along with the excised bridge! The "bridge" version can be found on "Fully Loaded"as well as "Live at Max's Kansas City" and is the version the Cowboy Junkies do. There is another version on the "Live '69" set that starts with the "Anyone who ever had a heart" coda.
• Barbara from Virginia Beach, VaI couldn't agree more with Molly in Oregon. The 2 Nice Girls cover of this song is an absolute classic.
• Peter from Boulder, CoThe Michael Stanley band recorded a weird medley of Sweet Jane and Witchee-tai-tai-to (sp?).
• N from Staten Island, NyThis CD contains the long version of 'Sweet Jane':
  RHINO catalog# R272563, VELVET UNDERGROUND, "LOADED - FULLY LOADED EDITION"
• Constantijn from Amsterdam, NetherlandsSaw Lou Reed live yesterday in Amsterdam. Him starting off Sweet Jane is like Jesse James shooting you in the head personally.
• Molly from Roseburg, OrAn obscure women's folk act called 2 Nice Girls did a very cool arrangement of "Sweet Jane," combining it with Joan Armatrading's "Love and Affection" to make a medley. Worth digging into 99-cent record bins to find.
• Charles Young from Charleston, WvThe Best Version of this is the long version from the reissure of loaded its the full version that lou original wrote with the underground. there is also a cool cover by Gang of Four off the reissue of Entertainment check it out folks!
• Funkylenny from Ft. Wayne, InActually, the year of release of "Rock & Roll Animal" was 1974, not 1964 as listed above. The live version, featured on Rock & Roll Animal and clocking in at 7:45, is BY FAR the most well known version.
• Ferdinand from Hilversum, NetherlandsThe Cowboy Junkies' version is much slower and sounds quite fragile. On the record sleeve there's a sticker that says something like Lou Reed liked the Cowboy Junkies' version better than any of his. Oliver Stone used the song for the soundtrack of Natural Born Killers.
• Scott from Syracuse, NyThis song showed up on the disc "Live on Letterman". I always thought this version epitomised Rock-n-Roll
• Marcus from Sydney, AustraliaMaybe they should change it from "lou Reed" to "The velvet underground". *Shrugs*
• Nelle from Lima, PeruI think that the fact that they were commercially doomed actually portraits them as this amazingly complex band that only few got. They are captivating and compulsive. One of the best things i've ever heard
• Kendall from Thomasville, GaActually Lou Reed was making this song before he got Velvet Underground started... so technically this song IS a Lou Reed song.
• Ronnie from Ft. Meyers, FlI don't know why this is listed as Reed and not the Velvet Underground who did the original on the album Loaded. The old saying was, only about 3000 people bought Velvet Underground albums but all of them started a band. Along with Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones, the Velvet Underground was one of the most influential bands ever. All the punk music and so called alternative stuff of the 1970's and 1980's can thank the Velvet Underground. They were 20 years ahead of their time, so far ahead no one had heard anything like it and no one but a few select bought their albums.
• Paul from Baltimore, Mdthere is a great live version by reed with soul asylum from the concert for the opening of the rock and roll hall of fame in cleveland, which is on a double cd set (which might be out of print by now)....
• Mike from Hamilton, CanadaThe Canadian Alt/Rock Band The Cowboy Junkies also covered this classic...
• Kristy from La Porte City, IaI could be wrong, but wasn't "Sweet Jane" on the 1970 album, Loaded? Maybe it was first released on Rock n' Roll Animal, but the most well known version is on Loaded.
• George from Williston, NcThis was covered by Mott the Hoople on their "All the Young Dudes" album.

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