Velvet Underground – There She Goes Again

Being a fan of bands like this is like being in a secret club. When you do find a person who knows Big Star, The Velvet Underground, or any other band like that…you usually have found a friend.

In the 80s a buddy of mine had some Velvet Underground albums (same one with Big Star albums) and I loved what I heard. After I started to know some of their songs, I wanted to talk to other people about them…most people I talked to never knew who I was talking about. Lou Reed they knew but not this band. That is when I learned what a cult band was…after being introduced to Big Star and Velvet Underground by the same person…I’ll never be able to thank him enough.

This song was on their debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico it was released in 1967. Lou Reed wrote There She Goes Again. The lyrics to this song must have sounded outrageous to the listeners in 1967. The album only charted at #129 in the Billboard 100 and that would be the best charting LP of all of their 5 original albums.

Their compilation album VU did peak at #85 in 1985.

The band got its name from the 1963 paperback book of the same title. Cover quote on the book: “Here is an incredible book. It will shock and amaze you. But as a documentary on the sexual corruption of our age, it is a must for every thinking adult.”

It came with an introduction by Louis Berg, M.D. Cover price: sixty cents. Lou Reed called it “the funniest dirty book he’d ever read.

The Velvet Underground – “Velvet Underground” by Michael Leigh / 1963 Book The Band Took Their Name From

From Songfacts

“There She Goes Again” is the 8th track from the Velvet Underground’s debut album, reaching up the Billboard Hot 100 charts at… oh, wait, the Velvet Underground never charted. However as Velvet Underground songs go, this one is perhaps the most mainstream-sounding.

The lyrics more than make up for the ear-friendly notes, however, when you realize that this song is about a woman falling into prostitution. And in fact it does so with gritty references to being on her knees and walking the streets – maybe not so shocking today, but monocle-popping in 1967.

On December 11, 1965, the Velvets appeared at the Summit High School Auditorium for one of their first paid gigs, alongside two other bands since long forgotten. Their set began with this song, then went to “Venus In Furs,” and finished with “Heroin.” At a high school. Sterling Morrison later recounted in a 1983 interview that a “murmur of surprise” changed to “a roar of disbelief” and then to “a mighty howl of outrage and bewilderment” over the course of their three-song set.

Musically, this song does borrow from Marvin Gaye’s “Hitch Hike” – give it a listen. It’s even more obvious of an influence if you listen to the Rolling Stones cover on the Out of Our Heads album – there’s the guitar riff and the pronounced stops.

That album cover for The Velvet Underground & Nico – have you ever thought about how, if you peel off the sticker, the revealed banana is pink? Isn’t that an… interesting color choice for a… peeled banana? It’s almost like Andy Warhol was trying to convey some subtle Freudian signal to us. Pink banana.

There She Goes Again

There she goes again (There she goes again)
She’s out on the streets again (There she goes again)
She’s down on her knees, my friend (There she goes again)
But you know she’ll never ask you please again (There she goes again)

Now take a look, there’s no tears in her eyes
She won’t take it from just any guy, what can you do (There she goes again)
You see her walkin’ on down the street (There she goes again)
Look at all your friends she’s gonna meet (There she goes again)
You better hit her

There she goes again (There she goes)
She’s knocked out on her feet again (There she goes)
She’s down on her knees, my friend (There she goes)
But you know she’ll never ask you please again (There she goes)

Now take a look, there’s no tears in her eyes
Like a bird, you know she would fly, what can you do (There she goes)
You see her walkin’ on down the street (There she goes)
Look at all your friends that she’s gonna meet (There she goes)
You better hit her

Now take a look, there’s no tears in her eyes
Like a bird, you know she will fly, fly, fly away (Fly, fly, fly)
See her walking on down the street
Look at all your friends that she’s gonna meet

She’s gonna bawl and shout, she’s gonna work it
She’s gonna work it out, bye bye
Bye by by by by by bye baby
She’s all right

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball fan, old movie and tv show fan... and a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

29 thoughts on “Velvet Underground – There She Goes Again”

    1. I feel the same way…I was lucky. My friend (through his older brother) had them and Big Star albums…and The Jam for that matter. They opened up a new world in music for me.

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      2. booo boooo….lol no their version is alright…I actualy have nothing against it…I just like the original.

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  7. I feel like for my age group, or maybe a little bit older, they were pretty much part of the canon as much as higher-selling contemporaries. Not too hard to find their albums on CD and got a lot of press. R.E.M. covered this song as a bonus track on one of their IRS albums if I remember correctly, and Marshall Crenshaw has a song with the same title.

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    1. Oh no…not as hard to find them now. When I first heard them in the 80s it wasn’t as common. Yea they do deserve to be mentioned with their peers and above some of them.

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  9. I was so surprised when I had to review this album for the You Pick It Series how much I loved it. I did not expect to at all. I am now on the hunt for an unpeeled banana from an early pressing. I don’t want a re-issue, I want the real thing. And I will pay for it too!

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    1. That would be a cool find!
      I hope one day you will review Big Star’s debut album or the second….Radio City…they inspired a lot of bands like the VU did… but didn’t sell either.

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  10. sounded vaguely familiar and then I noticed Aphoristical’s comment and seem to recall the REM version – probably on ‘Dead LEtter Office’, the compilation of demos and b-sides from the early days. Not a bad song…but I always tend to like bands influenced by VU better than VU itself!

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