Real Life Parallels
Aug. 30th, 2004 12:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vardathemessagescript:
CECIL
(voice-over)
According to legend, when Curt was fourteen - he was discovered by his mother in the family loo, at the ‘service’ of his older brother - and promptly shipped off for eighteen months of electric shock treatment.
That's the legend of the film but there are no real life parallels for this in the prototypes for Curt's character, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, since neither of them have a brother.
However, the electroshock treatment is not folklore or legend and actually happened to Lou Reed. Reed is, of course, well known as a solo artist as well as a member of the legendary Velvet Underground. He was born in Long Island, New York, in 1942 to middle class parents, his father was an accountant. He has a younger sister. He studied five years of classical piano while growing up and then as a teenager he discovered Rock and Roll, forming his own band while in High School. His parents disapproved of the direction in which he was heading and took him to a psychiatrist when he was eighteen for treatment of homosexuality and moody behavior. Lou has been pretty straightforward about this event, sometimes even flip, "I didn't have the bad ones where they don't put you to sleep first. I had the fun ones where they put you to sleep first. You count backwards, and then you're out. It was shocking, but that's when I was getting interested in electricity anyway." However he documents the events quite bitterly in the song
Kill Your Sons
All your two-bit psychiatrists are giving you electro shock
They say, they let you live at home, with mom and dad
Instead of mental hospitals
But every time you tried to read a book
You couldn't get to page 17
'Cause you forgot, where you were
So you couldn't even read
Don't you know, they're gonna kill your sons
Don't you know, they're gonna kill, kill your sons
They're gonna kill, kill your sons
Until they run run run run run run run run away
Mom informed me on the phone
She didn't know what to do about dad
Took an axe and broke the table
Aren't you glad you're married
And sister, she got married on the island
And her husband takes the train
He's big and he's fat and he doesn't even have a brain
They're gonna kill your sons
Don't you know, they're gonna kill, kill your sons
Don't you know, they're gonna kill, kill your sons
Until they run away
Creedmoor treated me very good
But Paine Whitney was even better
And when I flipped on PHC
I was so sad I didn't even get a letter
All of the drugs, that we took, it really was lots of fun
But when they shoot you up with thorazine on crystal smoke
You choke like a son of a gun
Don't you know, they're gonna kill your sons
Don't you know, they're gonna kill, kill your sons
They're gonna kill, kill your sons
Until they run run run run run run run run away
In this (rather purple) excerpt from Victor Bockris' Transformer, The Lou Reed Story, there is a vivid depiction of the event. However, knowing the source, how much of this is verbatim from Lou or a colorful recreation is debatable.
According to legend, when Curt was fourteen - he was discovered by his mother in the family loo, at the ‘service’ of his older brother - and promptly shipped off for eighteen months of electric shock treatment.
That's the legend of the film but there are no real life parallels for this in the prototypes for Curt's character, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, since neither of them have a brother.
However, the electroshock treatment is not folklore or legend and actually happened to Lou Reed. Reed is, of course, well known as a solo artist as well as a member of the legendary Velvet Underground. He was born in Long Island, New York, in 1942 to middle class parents, his father was an accountant. He has a younger sister. He studied five years of classical piano while growing up and then as a teenager he discovered Rock and Roll, forming his own band while in High School. His parents disapproved of the direction in which he was heading and took him to a psychiatrist when he was eighteen for treatment of homosexuality and moody behavior. Lou has been pretty straightforward about this event, sometimes even flip, "I didn't have the bad ones where they don't put you to sleep first. I had the fun ones where they put you to sleep first. You count backwards, and then you're out. It was shocking, but that's when I was getting interested in electricity anyway." However he documents the events quite bitterly in the song
Kill Your Sons
All your two-bit psychiatrists are giving you electro shock
They say, they let you live at home, with mom and dad
Instead of mental hospitals
But every time you tried to read a book
You couldn't get to page 17
'Cause you forgot, where you were
So you couldn't even read
Don't you know, they're gonna kill your sons
Don't you know, they're gonna kill, kill your sons
They're gonna kill, kill your sons
Until they run run run run run run run run away
Mom informed me on the phone
She didn't know what to do about dad
Took an axe and broke the table
Aren't you glad you're married
And sister, she got married on the island
And her husband takes the train
He's big and he's fat and he doesn't even have a brain
They're gonna kill your sons
Don't you know, they're gonna kill, kill your sons
Don't you know, they're gonna kill, kill your sons
Until they run away
Creedmoor treated me very good
But Paine Whitney was even better
And when I flipped on PHC
I was so sad I didn't even get a letter
All of the drugs, that we took, it really was lots of fun
But when they shoot you up with thorazine on crystal smoke
You choke like a son of a gun
Don't you know, they're gonna kill your sons
Don't you know, they're gonna kill, kill your sons
They're gonna kill, kill your sons
Until they run run run run run run run run away
In this (rather purple) excerpt from Victor Bockris' Transformer, The Lou Reed Story, there is a vivid depiction of the event. However, knowing the source, how much of this is verbatim from Lou or a colorful recreation is debatable.
