The worlds of the Velvet Underground and Lawrence Welk are pretty far apart. On the one side, you have a gritty New York band city writing lyrics about shooting up heroin. On the other, a bandleader whose “champagne music” charmed TV viewers across Middle America for 27 straight years. And yet. And yet.
In this 2007 YouTube classic, director/producer Darren Hacker found a way to cross the chasm, mashing up VU’s 1968 song “Sister Ray” with footage from the Lawrence Welk Show. As he explained to Dangerous Minds, “I rigged up 2 ancient VCRs and a CD player across my living room floor, layed down on my stomach, cued everything up and then manually activated all 3 devices at precise intervals, live…in real time. One take, no edits…” Everything lined up, just like that.
Enjoy “Lawrence Welk Meets Velvet Underground” and imagine a moment when, circa 1968, VU went mainstream on the milquetoast Lawrence Welk Show.
Related Content:
An Animation of The Velvet Underground’s “Sunday Morning” … for Your Sunday Morning
A Symphony of Sound (1966): Velvet Underground Improvises, Warhol Films It, Until the Cops Turn Up
Hear Lost Acetate Versions of Songs from The Velvet Underground & Nico (1966)
This reminds me of the time Gail and Dale sang “One Toke Over the Line” on the Lawrence Welk show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8tdmaEhMHE