Lady Godiva's Operation

"Lady Godiva's Operation"
Song by the Velvet Underground
from the album White Light/White Heat
ReleasedJanuary 30, 1968 (1968-01-30)
RecordedSeptember 1967
StudioScepter Studios, New York City
Length4:56
LabelVerve
Songwriter(s)Lou Reed
Producer(s)Tom Wilson

"Lady Godiva's Operation" is a song by the Velvet Underground from their second album, White Light/White Heat (1968). The lyrics of the first half of the song, sung by John Cale, describe Lady Godiva; the lyrics of the second half, sung by Cale alternating with Lou Reed, are full of oblique, deadpan black humor and describe a botched surgical procedure, implied to be a lobotomy.[1] Cale plays electric viola while Sterling Morrison plays bass, an instrument that he disliked, despite his competent abilities.[2][3]

The song was covered by the Fatima Mansions as a single.[4]

Lou Reed said of the song in 1973: "Listen to the lyrics of my early songs, 'Lady Godiva's Operation' was about a trans-sexual."[5]

  1. ^ Wawzenek, Bryan (30 March 2018). "Doctor, Doctor, Give Me the News: 40 Songs About Doctors". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  2. ^ Hoffman, Eric. "Examinations: An Examination of John Cale". Mental Contagion. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2014. When I had to play viola, Sterling had to play bass, which he hated.
  3. ^ Pinnock, Tom (18 September 2012). "John Cale on The Velvet Underground & Nico". Uncut. Archived from the original on 29 December 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  4. ^ Green, Jim. "Fatima Mansions". Trouser Press. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  5. ^ Bloom, Howard (April 1973). "The Eerie Roots of Lou Reed's New Transformer". Circus Magazine. 7 (7): 48.