“White Light / White Heat” by The Velvet Underground

"White Light/White Heat" hit the streets as a Velvet Underground single in late November 1967, with "Here She Comes Now" on the back, and early the next year it gave its name to their second album. The band cut it in September 1967 at Scepter Studios in Manhattan, with Tom Wilson producing and Gary Kellgren recording.

Lou Reed wrote it about the rush of shooting amphetamine and sings it himself, with John Cale and Sterling Morrison backing him, over a pounding barrelhouse piano vamp that's close kin to "I'm Waiting for the Man". Then Cale drives it out on an electric bass distorted almost past recognition, stuck on a single chord. It was a fixture of their live sets, and the 1969 Live double LP stretches it to nearly nine minutes.

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