All Tomorrow's Parties

"All Tomorrow's Parties"
Promotional picture sleeve
Single by the Velvet Underground and Nico
from the album The Velvet Underground & Nico
B-side"I'll Be Your Mirror"
ReleasedJuly 1966 (1966-07)
RecordedApril 1966
StudioScepter, New York City
GenrePsychedelic rock,[1] art rock
Length5:55 (album version)
2:55 (single version)
LabelVerve
Songwriter(s)Lou Reed
Producer(s)Andy Warhol
The Velvet Underground and Nico singles chronology
"All Tomorrow's Parties" / "I'll Be Your Mirror"
(1966)
"Sunday Morning" / "Femme Fatale"
(1966)
Audio sample
Beginning of 3rd verse, with Nico's double-tracked lead vocals

"All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released as the band's debut single in 1966. The song is from their 1967 debut studio album, The Velvet Underground & Nico.

Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of Andy Warhol's clique—according to Reed, the song is "a very apt description of certain people at the Factory at the time. ... I watched Andy. I watched Andy watching everybody. I would hear people say the most astonishing things, the craziest things, the funniest things, the saddest things."[2] In a 2006 interview, Reed's VU bandmate John Cale stated: "The song was about a girl called Darryl, a beautiful petite blonde with three kids, two of whom were taken away from her."[3] The song was Andy Warhol's favorite by The Velvet Underground.[4]

The song has notably lent its name to a music festival, a William Gibson novel, and a Yu Lik-wai film.

  1. ^ DeRogatis, Jim (2003). Turn On Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Hal Leonard. p. 80. ISBN 0-634-05548-8.
  2. ^ Fricke, David (1995). Peel Slowly and See liner notes, p.22
  3. ^ "Uncut: John Cale on The Velvet Underground & Nico". uncut.co.uk. Retrieved 12 Feb 2015.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ Harvard, Joe (2007) [2004]. The Velvet Underground & Nico. 33⅓. New York City: Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 109–110]url-access= registration. ISBN 978-0-8264-1550-9.