"I don't know just where I'm going. But I'm going to try for the kingdom if I can." Lou Reed's gone.

Lou Reed died today. 71 years old, which, really, isn't very old.

As I said on Facebook and Twitter, I wasn't a huge fan of *everything* the man ever did, but those Velvets albums, and large chunks of his solo career at least through the New York record, were so goddamn influential on so many people that you'd be hard-pressed to pick more than a few people who "mattered" more to the history of rock and roll than Lou Reed.

There were plenty of genius moments in Lou's career, and it'd be easy to post any of a large number of Velvets tunes here. But this one was always my favorite... specifically *this* over-the-top, full-of-backup-singers version, from the not-always-but-mostly-brilliant Take No Prisoners live album. (If it doesn't play for you, click here to go through to the You Tube link. It'll work there.)






And somehow, I think Lou would find it funny if his epitaph were the closing lines: "Sorry it took a while. Thank you."

I don't think you'll be easily replaced, sir. Thank *you*.