Lou Reed - heroin use, or no?

sars · Post by **sars** » 15 Jan 2005 00:08

I'd be more surprised if Lou HADN'T tried heroin at one point or another.

Gnaeus · Post by **Gnaeus** » 15 Jan 2005 02:25

Lou definitely did speed. Heroin is iffy, dosen't chage the song for me at all though.

Stephen Says · Post by **Stephen Says** » 15 Jan 2005 06:22

Alright, I know about the speed, but I always assumed that he was into heroin too. Unless I'm mistaken, white HEAT is speed, white LIGHT is heroin. Then there's the incredibly relaxed buzz he often seems to have that makes me think of a downer, not an upper. Sometimes I even think he's starting to nod off in the middle of a song.

Cameo Role · Post by **Cameo Role** » 15 Jan 2005 17:44

White light would be speed. When you shoot up smack, you feel warm inside until you come down. But I'm pretty sure WL/WH is an all speed song.

Stephen Says · Post by **Stephen Says** » 15 Jan 2005 20:53

Well someone told me that white heat=speed and white light=heroin, but they might have been wrong. If it's just the other way around, though, and white heat is heroin, then I assume the song (and album) would be about both.

Homme Fatale · Post by **Homme Fatale** » 16 Jan 2005 10:36

I think it was in Uptight or somewhere that Lou explained how the whole term white light/white heat meant speed in that apparently it gave you a blinding "white flash" in the eyes and also that your toes would feel all hot.

White light - Don't you know it's gonna make me go blind
White heat - Oh, white heat, it tickle me down to my toes

vegard · Post by **vegard** » 16 Jan 2005 22:38

i've heard that "white heat" is just booze..

vegard · Post by **vegard** » 16 Jan 2005 22:40

one can also "go blind" if you are drinking poor homemade booze

Cameo Role · Post by **Cameo Role** » 17 Jan 2005 03:49

Regardless, the song is about amphetemine.

simonm · Post by **simonm** » 17 Jan 2005 10:22

There might be a case for arguing that he wrote the song before experiencing the drug, but there's no way Lou wasn't into smack in a big way at various times, Cale and Nico also. I don't have very good recall for details from books but there's a story in Welsh For Zen where Lou visits Cale in the 70s (with Rachel I think) and nearly ODs in the toilet... the Bockris biog (hardly a reputable source but still) relates many grim junk tales, and LR himself kind of confirms them in the song Like A Possum - he's talking about crack in that one and it may not exactly be a diary entry, but you get the picture...