‘After Hours’ is not one of those Velvet’s new, old songs that have been floating around in the internet lately, you should know. I first heard ‘After Hours’ on the Velvet Underground: Live at Max’s Kansas City CD that I bought for my sister as a gift for her birthday (a CD is a pretty rare gift these days-- these downloading, digital music age days). When the final track came to its turn, and Lou Reed was about to get into the song, one thought came drifting through my mind. “Why the HELL is Lou Reed singing to that cheesy, cat-themed tune from Science of Sleep??!”And then it finally dawned upon me, it was the film who took the song, changed the lyrics into something cheesy about cats, gave the singing part to Gael Garcia Bernal, and told him to wear a cat costume while singing it in the film. It explained everything-- umm, not exactly. “What the HELL is going ON??!!” Why would they do such a thing to, of all bands, the Velvet Underground? And why do I think that this is some kind of a sick joke of Michel Gondry, am I wrong to think that?
*Deep breaths*
Nonetheless, ‘After Hours’ is definitely one of the Velvet’s more diverse but equally noteworthy tracks out of their entire collection, and that’s originally written and sung by the band’s drummer, Maureen Tucker. It’s a nice display by the Velvet’s, that quietly departs from the likes of ‘Heroine’, and ‘Venus In Furs’, or ‘Lady Godiva’s Operation’, showing that they also excel at making tunes that are a lot more accessible and a lot less scary. And I didn’t know Maureen Tucker could sing this well; she has a lovely voice. Julian Casablancas thinks so too:
…although I thought Maureen Tucker had a cool voice, as well as being a really cool drummer. She had femininity. I thought she sounded hotter than Nico.
Hotter indeed!
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Plus an added bonus-- as a joke!
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