Length 4:56 Writer(s) Lou Reed | Label Verve Producer(s) Tom Wilson | |
Released January 30, 1968 (1968-01-30) Recorded September 1967,
Scepter Studios, Manhattan | ||
"Lady Godiva's Operation" is a song by American avant-garde rock band The Velvet Underground, appearing on their second album, White Light/White Heat (1968). The lyrics of the first half of the song (sung by John Cale) describe Lady Godiva. The lyrics of the second half (sung by Cale alternating with Lou Reed) are full of oblique, deadpan black humor and describe a botched surgical procedure. Cale plays electric viola while second guitarist Sterling Morrison plays bass, an instrument that he disliked, despite his competent abilities.
The person's name is taken from the British legend of Lady Godiva, a noble English lady who rode naked through the streets of Coventry.
The song was covered by The Fatima Mansions as a single.
Personnel
References
Lady Godiva's Operation Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA