The Gift (Velvet Underground song)

"The Gift"
Song by The Velvet Underground
Album	White Light/White Heat
Released	January 30, 1968
Recorded	September 1967, Scepter Studios, New York City, New York
Genre	Rock
Length	8:19
Label	Verve Records
Writer	Lou Reed
Composer	John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker, Lou Reed
Producer	Tom Wilson
White Light/White Heat track listing
"White Light/White Heat" "The Gift" "Lady Godiva's Operation" "Here She Comes Now" "I Heard Her Call My Name" "Sister Ray"

"The Gift" is the second track that appears on White Light/White Heat, the 1968 second album by The Velvet Underground. The song is notable for its experimental qualities. Over eight minutes long, the song is mixed in such a way that a short story can be heard in the left speaker, while a noisy rock instrumental is heard on the right.

Elements

Short story

The short story, recited by the deadpan John Cale, was written by Lou Reed as a writing project during his college days.^[1] The narrative concerns Waldo Jeffers, a lovesick youth, who has engaged in a distressing long-distance relationship with his college girlfriend Marsha Bronson. After their school terms end, Waldo returns to his hometown of Locust, Pennsylvania. He becomes increasingly paranoid over the course of two months, worried that Marsha might not stay faithful to him as promised. More than anything, he fears constantly that she will engage in sexual promiscuity. Lacking the requisite money to visit her in Wisconsin, he concocts a plan to mail himself to her in a large cardboard box, intending it to be a surprise visit. He ships himself on Friday. The following Sunday, Marsha is having a discussion with her friend Sheila Klein about Bill, a man that Marsha slept with the previous night. When the package arrives at the door, the two struggle to open the box while Waldo waits excitedly inside. Frustrated, Sheila retrieves a sheet metal cutter from her basement and slices straight through the box as well as, unknowingly, Waldo's head.

Music

The instrumental track, entitled "The Booker T", was originally developed from live jams the band used to play during the brief time in which Lou Reed was ill and unable to perform with the band. Original drummer Angus Maclise briefly returned to the band to play drums while Maureen Tucker played bass guitar. The song is named after Booker T. Jones of Booker T. & the M.G.'s.

Audio mix

By keeping the story separate in the left stereo speaker and the music in the right, the listener is presented with the option to experience to both tracks together, or listen to either isolated element of the song by themselves. The original LP release could not successfully achieve this technically due to the limitations of the vinyl format. When the album was mastered, the left and right channels bled into one another. For the remastered 1996 CD reissue, the story and music instrumental are kept completely separated.

Trivia

• Clips of the track were used as radio advertisements for the album.
• A live version appears on Live MCMXCIII.
• The distinctive vocal affect and cadence of John Cale's spoken words on this track were memorably adopted by John Cameron Mitchell for his portrayal of the title character in the 1998 off-broadway and 2001 film versions of his rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

References