The late Lou Reed was an incredibly influential figure in rock music. He was known for his authenticity, innovation of sound, and impulse to push boundaries in his music and lyrics. As an artist, Reed not only worked in collaboration with visual artists such as Andy Warhol, who designed the Velvet Underground’s premier album cover, but he also drew lots of inspiration from literature. For example, his song “Venus in Furs” is based on the novel by Leopold Sacher-Masoch. Reed was also very interested in Edgar Allen Poe, and rewrote his poem “The Raven” using more modernized language. In interview with Rolling Stone critic Anthony deCurtis, Reed claims, “The trouble with Poe was that his language is so serious — the vocabulary — the words he’s using — some of those words were arcane when he used them.” Reed explains, “Mine’s like a contemporary version of it, and we have a graphic novel out … illustrated by this great Italian artist, Lorenzo Mattotti. … Making things that are beautiful is real fun.”
Willem Dafoe’s reading of Reed’s version of “The Raven” is below, and here is a link to Poe’s original poem. Feel free to read the poem along with Dafoe’s reading to spot the differences between the two versions.
To read and listen to more excerpts from deCurtis’s interview with Reed on Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, and more, please visit the article on Brain Pickings.