You’re so closely associated with New York.
But you haven’t written explicitly about the
city since—
I wrote a song for Cartier that you can download
from my website. Have you heard that?

Yeah. “Power of the Heart.” I did two songs for [2007’s] Nanking documentary: “Gravity” and “Safety Zone.” Have you heard those?

Not “Safety Zone.”

Research, research, research. It means everything. [Sighs] You were saying?

Has the fact that the city has been cleaned up
made it a less interesting subject for you?
I would hope to write about more than just the
city. Raymond Chandler managed to write about
L.A. his whole career. Should I keep going writing
about New York? Is that what I should be doing?
Songwriting doesn’t work that way.

Factory workers, 1966: Gerard Malanga (in stripes), Nico, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Andy Warhol, Reed, Maureen Tucker

How does it work?

I write whatever shows up. That’s good enough for me. I’m part of the first generation that wants to still do original material and not tour around as an oldies act. You know, Chuck Berry is still out there playing. No one can play his music like he does. My stuff’s the same way. [His phone rings] Sorry, I have to take this. [A minute passes] That was my 99-year-old aunt. You know how it is.

“I have no control over my audience—
they’ve thrown beer cans at me. I’ve
caused riots in most cities. What can I do?”
You put together the track list for 2003’s N YC
Man career-spanning anthology. As someone
who doesn’t listen to his own music much,
did you hear anything in your old songs that
surprised you?
I heard the same things wrong that were wrong

the first time. The first generation of CDs sounded terrible. Any chance to remaster would make the music sound better than what was already out there. People at the record company do not give a shit. They don’t care if the tapes are sitting on a warehouse floor somewhere. When they say music is disposable, they’re not kidding.

Does it matter to you that the album has
been given a second life?
I mean, I’m glad people get to hear it. People
never really got to hear Berlin because of the crit-
ics. Then critics ask you if you feel vindicated by
other critics. I didn’t like critics then, and I don’t
like them now. There you go. I’ve always been
outside the mainstream, and it stayed that way.

Aside from sonic issues, did the songs mean anything different after hearing them again? Sound quality was the reason I listened to those songs. That’s it. They sound better now. They’re not vinyl, but they can be killer. The Berlin DVD, I’ll match that up against anything. The sound is murderous. Murderous.

The year before Berlin came out, you
released “Walk on the—
I followed up my one big hit with Berlin; Berlin
has got this rap that it’s depressing. Are you
joking me? You can’t handle it? You ever read
Hamlet Who are you talking to that’s so stupid?
Are you joking? You’re kidding me.

Okay, let’s talk about Berlin. It was pretty poorly received when it came out. Then, in 2006, you were approached to make the album into a concert film directed by Julian Schnabel. Did you get a sense that people’s feelings about the album had changed over time? You know, it’s funny. It’s making me think, like, if you were talking to Bill Burroughs, would you have said, “Now, Bill, they put together the new version of Naked Lunch. What do you think? Do you still feel the same way, Bill?” Can you imagine being put in a position where you’re trying to justify Naked Lunch How are we supposed to answer that? You gotta be kidding me. Berlin, you know, we tried. It’s such a simple idea that it barely qualifies as an idea: Instead of all the songs having different characters, why not have the characters come back and deal with each other? How much simpler can it get?

When you were touring behind Berlin in the
mid-’70s, you were doing some risqué stuff
onstage. [Reed would feign injecting drugs
during concerts.] You were singing about
domestic abuse. And people clapped. Did you
ever wonder if they were clapping for the
wrong reasons?
I have no control over the audience. I have no
idea what they think. My heart’s pure. I can’t do
anything. I really can’t do anything. I don’t know
what goes on in the crowd. I’ve had them show up
and throw beer cans at me. I caused riots in most
of the major cities. What can I do?

Pale writer: Reed in Brussels, 1974

Singing about gay life on albums like [1972’s]
Transformer was definitely transgressive at
the time. But now, playing with sexuality and
gender is part of the mainstream. Do you

FROM TOP: NAT FINKELS TEIN/RE TNA; BE T TMANN/CORBIS