Lou Reeds passing a few days ago caught everyone by surprise. The man, despite all that he had been through, was the epitome of ageless cool. Dressed all in black, sunglasses everpresent, gravelly voice commenting sardonically on all manner of personal and societal darkness it seemed like, minus that terrible early 90s mullet, Lou had always been and would always be pointing the way towards hipness your unflappable older brother or uncle who always knew best But it wasnt just his Dorian Graystyle looks that contributed to the shock. For those who had followed his work and life, Lou Reed represented a very real triumph over the horrific electroshock treatments of his youth, over drug abuse and reckless behavior, over career missteps, and, in a very real way or so it seemed over death itself In 1991, Lou was reeling from the deaths of two close friends. The legendary songwriter Doc Pomus had died of cancer that March, and another publicly unnamed close friend of Reeds, often speculated to be Kenneth Rapp, a.k.a. Rotten Rita of Warhols Factory, passed around the same time While most people facing such a double whammy would be happy to be able to put their shoes on in the morning, Reed was writing and recording an album the month after Pomus death. Magic and Loss is a powerful record that takes the listener through Lous journey, from the initial shock and outrage You loved a life others throw away nightlyIts not fair, not fair at all to his friends treatment But this drawn out torture over which part of you livesIs very hard to takeTo cure you, they must kill you to cremation Since they burnt you up, collect you in a cupFor you, the coal black sea has no terror to an angry need for cosmic revenge I wish I was a warrior kingInscrutable, benignWith a faceless charging power to, finally, a hardwon transcendence Theres a bit of magic in everythingAnd then some loss to even things out. The record helped a ton of people, Lou undoubtedly included, deal with death. My copy, shortly after I bought it, was lent to my freshman year geometry teacher, who had a friend pass from cancer. It was youthful brashness that made me think I could help a grownup recover from grief, of course. I knew next to nothing about this guy, and he may not have known the Velvet Underground from the London Underground Yet several weeks later, he returned the album with a heartfelt thank you. Something about the records plainspoken feeling, combined with the stark descriptions of things most pop music runs screaming from, but everyone ends up facing, like funerals Listening to the speakers theyre talking about youLook at all the people, all the people you knew and survivors guilt But me, Im all emotional, no matter how I tryYoure gone and Im still here alive, gave comfort to the unlikeliest of people That same copy of Magic and Loss still has a ton of lyrics underlined in pencil, from when I went through it a few years later, when a friend was killed after being hit by a bus. Going to Colleens funeral didnt do much to help my grief. A girl I had never seen wear anything but Slayer shirts and tall boots was buried in a white dress, in a church she couldnt have been dragged to while alive. The whole thing was bizarre, and seemed so far removed from the person I had known But Lou came to the rescue yet again, helping me realize that I wasnt alone. I will never forget the experience of discovering how his words now spoke for and to me in an inexplicably direct way. It was as if he was inside my head, speaking my thoughts before I could even form them into sentences Years later, that record brought me further unexpected joy. Little Jimmy Scott, who I was introduced to via his backing vocals on Power and Glory, became my favorite singer, and I got to see him perform probably a dozen times, all of which were magical experiences So when Lou died, I was at a loss. How can someone who taught me how to deal with death in the first place be dead? How can the person I relied on to help me through grief not be around? Who will guide me through? The answer, of course, was right in front of my nose. Lou always knew best, and in Magic and Loss he left us the perfect blueprint to deal with our feelings about his own passing. So clear out an hour, pull out the record, and let Uncle Lou help you one more time
lou, reed, loss, record, pomus