![\"Lou](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Lou-Reed-Musician-1997-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n
Sun 9 November 2025 21:00, UK <\/p>\n
Lou Reed<\/a> wasn\u2019t a man who doled out praise easily, but for the artists who cut the mustard in his estimation, you could count on the New York songsmith for an accolade both sincere yet delivered in his uniquely curt tongue.<\/p>\n It said a lot about Reed\u2019s love of creative innovation and an ear forever to the musical ground that the last significant gift to the world before his death in 2013 was a glowing long-form review of Kanye West\u2019s Yeezus in The Guardian, celebrating the electronic stinger of a rap album as \u201cMajestic and inspiring\u201d. <\/p>\n Plenty of rock and pop\u2019s biggest names would face his acidic potshots, however, Frank Zappa, Roxy Music, and The Doors all in his sights at various points, if surrounded by conflicting statements smattered across his many fickle interviews and press appearances.<\/p>\n Such a capricious U-turn almost took place within the same interview. Speaking to journalist Paul Zollo in 1991, a seemingly unlikely songwriter was picked by Reed as possessing an enviable lyrical pen. \u201cTo me, someone who writes really good songs is Randy Newman,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people who write good songs. Now Randy might not go out on stage and knock you out, or knock your socks off. And he\u2019s not going to get people thrilled in the front row. He ain\u2019t gonna do that\u201d.<\/p>\n He stressed, however, \u201cBut he\u2019s gonna write a better song than most people who can do it. You know, he\u2019s got that down to an art. Now Randy knows music. He knows music. But it doesn\u2019t get any better than \u2018Louisiana\u2019 or \u2018Sail Away\u2019. It doesn\u2019t get any better than that\u201d.<\/p>\n It may appear an improbable fandom. On the face of it, the acerbic lyrical reporter moulded from The Velvet Underground\u2019s avant-garde New York factory happenings with Andy Warhol<\/a> seem worlds apart from the voice behind \u2018Short People\u2019. But, both Reed and Newman dwell in the largely urban milieu, examining the society around them with a degree of satire and subversion that can come as a shock to newcomers only familiar with Newman\u2019s \u2018You\u2019ve Got a Friend in Me\u2019 for Toy Story.<\/p>\n Still, in characteristic fashion, Reed added a cooler assessment of the \u2018I Love LA\u2019 singer. \u201cI admire him, but I never listen to him. I know he\u2019s very bright, and I know the lyrics are good, but they\u2019re not for me, they\u2019re just not for me. If I had to say something, I\u2019d say he tries too hard. But you\u2019ve got to understand, the only lyrics that I really think are fantastic, what I\u2019m talking about, fantastic, is Dylan\u201d.<\/p>\n Reed\u2019s undying love for Bob Dylan is well covered, but perhaps Reed\u2019s slippery appraisal of Newman reveals a deeper admiration. Reaching his arm through all the differences in tone and handling of humour to find an artist that gave the ever mordant Reed a run for his money with a similar prickly statement on the human condition.<\/p>\n