Hear Lou Reed’s May 1965 “Heroin” Demo

Next month, the reissue label Light In The Attic is releasing some of Lou Reed’s earliest demos as an album called Words & Music, May 1965, featuring a tape recording that Reed created and mailed to himself that remained unopened for almost 50 years. Last month, we heard an early version of “I’m Waiting For The Man,” and today we get to hear an early demo of another eventual Velvet Underground classic, “Heroin.” As Spin points out, this version is two months older than that previously earliest known “Heroin” demo, which appeared on the Peel Slowly And See box set in 1995 and was recorded with John Cale and Sterling Morrison. Check it out below.

Words & Music, May 1965 is out 8/26 via Light In The Attic.