Ed Lachman's Songs for Drella is exclusively showing on MUBI in most countries starting April 18, 2022 in the series Rediscovered.
Lou Reed and John Cale created an album that pays homage, eulogizes, and reflects on their relationship with their mentor Andy Warhol three years after he died in 1987—it was their first collaboration in over two decades. The result was the album Songs for Drella, which was inspired by Warhol’s personal diaries. The album is comprised of 15 songs that deal with Warhol’s life, dreams, aspirations, work, and fears. In 1989, Reed and Cale performed some of the songs at St. Anne’s in Brooklyn and later played the full version at BAM’s Next Wave Festival.
I previously worked on a video for the AIDS benefit project Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter. Derek Jarman was to direct one segment but became too ill to work. He recommended me to take over the project and Derek generously allowed me to use his family’s home movies of him to use for the video. I projected them over Annie Lennox’s white pancake face as she sang “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” as a way to honor Derek as well as the Porter song. The video was well received by critics and led to Channel 4 offering me the opportunity to direct Songs for Drella.
When I first met with Lou and John about the project in New York, Lou said he did not want any cameras on stage between him and the audience. I suggested shooting the rehearsals with only my camera on the stage without an audience and one night of the performance with other cameras off the stage. I realized I had more intimacy with them in this setting than I could have if I actually filmed the performance with multiple cameras. I tried to find the rhythm of the music that would be in sync with the performance in the images. This set-up allowed me to shoot longer, sustained moving dolly shots with the emotions of the performances. I made the decision to only focus on the stripped-down stage with the performers and modify the projections that were a part of the show.
I approached each song individually, concentrating on the performers and their interactions with each other. The rehearsals gave me the option to change the stage lighting and projections to create different moods between the songs. By observing the intimacy between John and Lou, I felt like I was documenting something unique between them. They hadn’t played together for 17 years, since John was separated from the Velvets.
To me, the camera discloses both an intimacy and distance between Lou, John, and Andy. They are enshrouded in their own confessions, isolated in the stripped-down darkness of the stage. You are the only one viewing them. It’s not like you’re in a concert audience. The camera is both a participant and an observer, and I hoped that every time someone sees this, they feel as if no one else is present.
Songs for Drella screened on Channel 4 in Great Britain, but did not receive much attention in the US. Warner Music originally released VHS and laserdisc versions in 1990 which is the source for poor-quality clips that circulate on the Internet.
When researchers were compiling material for the Todd Haynes documentary The Velvet Underground, I told Todd about Songs for Drella and the researchers couldn’t find the masters. So during the pandemic, I started searching for the original materials. I had been looking for the elements all over the world for years, and then I remembered that the lab DuArt in New York had sent me the materials with my name on it a few years ago after they had shut down. To more than my amazement, I found the original A and B rolls in a box less than 100 feet from my bedroom.
Another curious story: I first met Lou in 1973 while filming the promo for the album Berlin. He came up to me while I was setting up the camera and Lou kicked one of the legs of the tripod from under me as he told me to do it like Andy. I held onto the camera in shock as he walked back to his microphone. I asked him when we were filming Songs for Drella if he remembered shooting the Berlin album promo and that incident… he looked at me and said, “I don't remember much from back then,” and smiled.