Eisspeedway

What Goes On (Velvet Underground song)

"What Goes On"
Single by The Velvet Underground
from the album The Velvet Underground
B-side"Jesus"
ReleasedMarch 1969 (1969-03)
RecordedNovember–December 1968
StudioTTG Studios, Hollywood
Genre
Length4:55
LabelMGM
Songwriter(s)Lou Reed
Producer(s)The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground singles chronology
"White Light/White Heat"
(1968)
"What Goes On"
(1969)
"Who Loves The Sun"
(1971)

"What Goes On" is a song by the Velvet Underground. It was the only single released from their third album, The Velvet Underground (1969).

The song was recorded in 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood.

A concert performance of the song, with Doug Yule on keyboards, was included on their double live album 1969: The Velvet Underground Live.[3]

Personnel

Yule, Morrison (back) and Reed (front) in a magazine advertisement for the single

Other media

The "What Goes On" organ riff was used in the Talking Heads song "Once in a Lifetime," featured on their 1980 album Remain in Light.[4]

In 1978, aficionados Mike "MC" Kostek and Phil Milstein started the Velvet Underground Appreciation Society, which collected, cataloged and made available various rarities.[5] They published a fanzine titled "What Goes On", and later on a newsletter titled "What Goes On Jr."[6]

References

  1. ^ Deming, Mark. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground (1969) Review at AllMusic. Retrieved December 18, 2024.
  2. ^ Narayan, Kathy (2002). "BBC - Music - Review of The Velvet Underground - The Very Best Of". BBC Music. Retrieved 17 February 2025. But it also features several lesser-known top pop tunes: Sweet Jane, What Goes On and Beginning To See The Light...
  3. ^ Unterberger (2009)
  4. ^ "Once in a Lifetime". The 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century. National Public Radio broadcast. 27 March 2000. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  5. ^ Zak (1997)
  6. ^ Le Velours Souterrain

Further reading

  • Le Velours Souterrain, Velvet Underground fanzines
  • Unterberger, Richie. White Light/White Heat The Velvet Underground Day By Day ; Jawbone Press; June 1, 2009; ISBN 9781906002220
  • Zak, Alban.The Velvet Underground Companion: Four Decades of Commentary; Schirmer Trade Books; November 1, 1997; ISBN 9780028646275