"All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...

, written by Lou Reed

Lou Reed

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

 and released on the group's 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico.

Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of the Warhol clique; according to Reed, the song is "a very apt description of certain people at the Factory

The Factory

The Factory was Andy Warhol's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year"...

 at the time. ... I watched Andy

Andy Warhol

Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

. I watched Andy watching everybody. I would hear people say the most astonishing things, the craziest things, the funniest things, the saddest things." The song was Andy Warhol's favorite by The Velvet Underground.

The song has notably lent its name to a music festival

All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)

All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....

, a William Gibson

William Gibson

William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...

 novel

All Tomorrow's Parties (novel)

All Tomorrow's Parties is the final novel in William Gibson's Bridge trilogy. Like its predecessors, All Tomorrow's Parties is a speculative fiction novel set in a postmodern, dystopian, postcyberpunk future. The novel borrows its title from that of a song by Velvet Underground...

, and a Yu Lik-wai

Yu Lik-wai

Yu Lik-wai is a Hong Kong cinematographer, film director, and occasional film producer. Born in Hong Kong, Yu was educated at Belgium's INSAS where he graduated with a degree in cinematography in 1994...

 film

All Tomorrow's Parties (2003 film)

All Tomorrow's Parties is a 2003 Chinese science fiction film directed by Yu Lik-wai. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Cho Yong-won - Xuelan* Diao Yinan - Xiao Zhuai* Na Ren - Lanlan...

.

Recording

The song was recorded at Scepter Studios, New York, during April 1966. It features a piano motif played by Cale (initially written as an exercise) based largely on tone clusters. It was one of the first pop songs to make use of prepared piano

Prepared piano

A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sound altered by placing objects between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers....

 (a chain of paper clips were intertwined with the piano strings to change their sounds). The song also features the ostrich guitar

Ostrich guitar

Ostrich guitar is an alternative guitar tuning in which all the guitar strings are tuned to the same pitch class . The term was coined by The Velvet Underground's Lou Reed after the pre–Velvet Underground song "The Ostrich" by Lou Reed and The Primitives, on which this tuning was first used...

 tuning by Reed, by which all of the guitar strings were tuned to D.

Nico

Nico

Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...

 provides lead vocals. The song was originally recorded with only one track of her vocals; they were later double-tracked for the final album version. Most versions of the album use this version of the song, though the initial 1987 CD release uses the original mix without the double-tracking.

Ludlow Street Loft, July 1965

The earliest known recorded version of "All Tomorrow's Parties" was recorded on reel to reel

Reel to Reel

* For the audio technology, see "Reel-to-reel audio tape recording"Reel to Reel is the debut album by Grand Puba. It was Puba's first solo venture, following group projects with the likes of the short lived group Masters of Ceremony and Brand Nubian. Both of the group’s albums were critically...

 tape by Lou Reed

Lou Reed

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

, John Cale

John Cale

John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....

 and Sterling Morrison

Sterling Morrison

Holmes Sterling Morrison, Jr. was one of the founding members of the rock group The Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, and singing backing vocals.-Biography:...

 in a New York apartment loft on Ludlow Street. With Reed on acoustic guitar, the song features a strong folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 sound—particularly in Cale and Morrison's harmony vocals—which critic David Fricke suggests demonstrates Reed's fondness for Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

. This version, released on the Peel Slowly and See

Peel Slowly and See

Peel Slowly and See is a five-disc box set of material by The Velvet Underground. It was released in September 1995 by Polydor.-Compilation:...

box set, is composed of multiple takes, which add up to a time of 18:26.

Single version, July 1966

An edited version of the song was released in July 1966 as a single with "I'll Be Your Mirror

I'll Be Your Mirror

"I'll Be Your Mirror" is a song by The Velvet Underground. It appeared on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It also surfaced as a single a year earlier with "All Tomorrow's Parties" in 1966....

" as a B-side. The song cuts out about half of the studio version at just under three minutes long. It did not chart.

This version later became available in 2002 on the "Deluxe Edition" of The Velvet Underground & Nico.

Cover versions

Both Nico

Nico

Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...

 and Lou Reed

Lou Reed

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

 have recorded solo versions of the song. Other artists who have covered it include Jun Togawa, Apoptygma Berzerk

Apoptygma Berzerk

Apoptygma Berzerk is a Norwegian musical group. They have achieved success with a brand of synthpop, and ballads backed with electronic rhythms, commonly known within the scene and referring to themselves as "futurepop". Apop has won awards and top-10 spots in Germany and Scandinavia...

, the Ass Ponys

Ass Ponys

Ass Ponys are an indie rock band based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The band combines rock and country into an off-kilter blend of Americana music. They have gone on national tours with bands such as Pavement, Throwing Muses, and Possum Dixon. Among other periodicals, they have been featured in Rolling...

, Buffalo Tom

Buffalo Tom

Buffalo Tom is an alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1986. Its principal members are guitarist Bill Janovitz, bassist Chris Colbourn, and drummer Tom Maginnis. The band's name is derived from the band Buffalo Springfield and the first name of the drummer.-Career:Dinosaur Jr...

, Japan

Japan (band)

Japan were a British New Wave group, formed in 1974 in Catford, South London. The band achieved success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when they were often associated with the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement .- History :The band began as a group of friends...

, Bauhaus

Bauhaus (band)

Bauhaus was an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. The group consisted of Peter Murphy , Daniel Ash , Kevin Haskins and David J . The band was originally Bauhaus 1919 before they dropped the numerical portion within a year of formation...

, Jeff Buckley

Jeff Buckley

Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley , raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician...

, Icehouse

Icehouse (band)

Icehouse is an Australian rock band, formed as Flowers in 1977 in Sydney. Initially known in Australia for their pub rock style, they later achieved mainstream success playing new wave and synthpop style music and attained Top Ten singles chart success in both Europe and the U.S...

, Los Tres

Los Tres

Los Tres is a Chilean rock band composed of four members: a rock/folk singer and three jazzmen. It was one of the noted bands in the Chilean nineties, together with La Ley and Lucybell....

, The Method Actors

The Method Actors

The Method Actors were a post-punk/new wave musical group from Athens, Georgia, founded by Vic Varney and David Gamble in 1979.-Singles and EPs:*This Is It 7" ep: "The Method" / "Can't Act" / "Bleeding"...

, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian alternative rock band, formed in Melbourne in 1983. The band is fronted by Nick Cave and has featured international personnel throughout their career.-Formation and early releases :...

, the Oysterband

Oysterband

Oysterband is a British electric folk or folk rock band formed in Canterbury in or around 1976.-Early history:...

, Tom Robinson

Tom Robinson

Tom Robinson is an English singer-songwriter, bassist and radio presenter, better known for the hits "Glad to Be Gay", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson Band...

, Kikka Sirén

Kikka Sirén

Kirsi Hannele Viilonen , better known by her stage name Kikka, was a Finnish pop/schlager singer. She was known for her sexpot image and suggestive, equivocal songs. Her career was launched in the late 1980s, inspired by the success of such busty international stars as Samantha Fox and Italy's...

, Simple Minds

Simple Minds

Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...

, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Rasputina

Rasputina

Rasputina is a cello-driven band based in New York that is renowned for their unconventional and quirky music style as well as their fascination with historical allegories and fashion, especially those pertaining to the Victorian era....

, Kendra Smith

Kendra Smith

Kendra Smith is an American musician who was a founding member of Dream Syndicate, a member of Opal, and later recorded as a solo artist.-Biography:...

, Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in...

, June Tabor

June Tabor

June Tabor is an English folk singer.- Early years :June Tabor was inspired to sing by hearing Anne Briggs' EP Hazards of Love in 1965. "I went and locked myself in the bathroom for a fortnight and drove my mother mad. I learned the songs on that EP note for note, twiddle for twiddle. That's how I...

, Johnette Napolitano

Johnette Napolitano

Johnette Napolitano is an American singer, songwriter and bassist best known as the lead vocalist/songwriter and bassist for the alternative rock group Concrete Blonde.- Solo career :...

, Iron and Wine, Deerhoof

Deerhoof

Deerhoof is a musical group consisting of Satomi Matsuzaki, John Dieterich, Ed Rodriguez and Greg Saunier.-Origins:In 1992, Greg Saunier, having recently graduated with a degree in music composition from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, joined a short-lived San Francisco quartet called Nitre Pit, on...

, Hole

Hole (band)

Hole is an American alternative rock band that originally formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The band is fronted by vocalist/songwriter and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love, who co-founded Hole with former songwriter/lead guitarist Eric Erlandson...

, The Music Tapes

The Music Tapes

The Music Tapes is an experimental pop music project of Elephant 6 member Julian Koster, also of Neutral Milk Hotel, and the earlier Chocolate U.S.A....

, Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio

Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio

Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio is a neofolk and martial industrial music group from Stockholm. The band is composed of its founding member and vocalist Tomas Pettersson, and Rose-Marie Larsen, who replaced Chelsea Krook on backup vocals...

 and Black Tape for a Blue Girl

Black tape for a blue girl

Black Tape for a Blue Girl is an American Dark Wave band formed in 1986 by Projekt Records' founder Sam Rosenthal. Their music takes on elements of dark cabaret, Dark Wave, ethereal, ambient and neoclassical music. Director David Lynch...

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