Lady Godiva's Operation (4:53)

From White Light/White Heat and 16 other releases

“Lady Godiva’s Operation” is a song by American avant-garde rock band The Velvet Underground, appearing on their second album, White Light/White Heat (1968). The lyrics to the first half of the song (sung by John Cale) describe Lady Godiva. The lyrics of the second half (sung by Cale alternating with Lou Reed) are full of oblique, deadpan black humor and describe a botched surgical procedure.

The person’s name is taken from the British legend of Lady Godiva, a noble English lady who rode naked through the streets of Coventry.

In the second half of the song, Cale and guitarist Sterling Morrison do vocal impersonations of various surgical instruments, including a drill and a wooden leg.


John Cale - vocals, viola
Lou Reed - guitar, vocals
Sterling Morrison - bass guitar, backing vocals
Maureen Tucker - percussion

Tags

Everyone’s tags

More tags

Play with Spotify

Albums featuring this track (17)

Similar Tracks

  Track   Duration Listeners
The Velvet Underground - I Heard Her Call My Name 4:36 128,802
The Velvet Underground - Here She Comes Now 2:03 175,790
Love - Alone Again Or 3:14 192,163
The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows 3:12 400,394
Lou Reed - Vicious 2:56 292,195
Love - A House Is Not a Motel 3:26 118,190

Listening Trend

136,013listeners all time
449,986scrobbles all time
Recent listeners trend:

Explore more

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up.

Listening Now

Top Listeners
{"cc_re__cc_re__cc_by_sa_3_0_le": [" data-analytics-action=\"FooterClick\" data-analytics-label=\"Privacy Policy\">Privacy Policy</a> and\n            <a href=\"/legal\" data-analytics-action=\"FooterClick\" data-analytics-label=\"Legal\">Legal Policies</a> \u2014\n            <span class=\"date\">Updated 26 Nov 2013</span>\n        </li>\n        <li>\n            <a href=\"http://www.gamespot.com\">Gamespot</a>\n        </li>\n    </ul>\n                <p class=\"wiki-legalese\">\n            Some user-contributed text on this page is available under the <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode\">Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License</a>. Text may also be available under the <a href=\"/help/gfdl\">GNU Free Documentation License</a>.\n        </p>\n    </div></footer>                    </div>\n    \n    <div id=\"multiButtonMenu\" style=\"display: none;\">\n    <div>\n        <ul class=\"lfmDropDownBody\">\n            <li class=\"mAddToLibrary\"><a href=\"#\">Add to my Library</a></li>\n            <li class=\"mAddToFriends\"><a href=\"#\">Add to Friends</a></li>\n            \n            <!-- <li cl"]}