"Femme Fatale" is a song by American rock band the Velvet Underground from their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico, with lead vocals by Nico.[1]
| "Femme Fatale" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Single b/w "Sunday Morning" | ||||
| Single by the Velvet Underground and Nico | ||||
| from the album The Velvet Underground & Nico | ||||
| A-side | "Sunday Morning" | |||
| Released |
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| Recorded | April 1966 | |||
| Studio | Scepter,[1] New York City | |||
| Genre | Pop[2] | |||
| Length | 2:35 | |||
| Label | Verve | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Lou Reed | |||
| Producer(s) | Andy Warhol | |||
| The Velvet Underground and Nico singles chronology | ||||
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The song was composed in the key of C major.[3] At the request of Andy Warhol, band frontman Lou Reed wrote the song about Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick. According to Reed, Warhol said when asked what he should write about her: "Oh, don't you think she's a femme fatale, Lou?", with consequence, Reed wrote "Femme Fatale".[4][5]
The song was recorded with vocals by Nico.[1] Guitarist Sterling Morrison said of the song:
"Femme Fatale"—she [Nico] always hated that.[nasal voice] Nico, whose native language is minority French, would say "The name of this song is 'Fahm Fatahl'." Lou and I would sing it our way. Nico hated that. I said, "Nico, hey, it's my title, I'll pronounce it my way".[6]
"Femme Fatale" was recorded at the Scepter Studios in New York in April 1966 while the studio was still under construction.[1][7] It was released as a B-Side to "Sunday Morning" in December 1966.[8] The following year it was included in their debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. A 1969 live recording of the song was included in Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes released in 2001.[1]
AllMusic critic Mark Deming thought that "Femme Fatale" was among the four best songs on the album.[9] American music journalist Stephen Davis called "Femme Fatale" a beautiful song that portrays the vivid, conflicted and emotional undercurrents of 1966.[10]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)Andy said I should write a song about Edie Sedgwick. I said 'Like what?' and he said 'Oh, don't you think she's a femme fatale, Lou?' So I wrote 'Femme Fatale' and we gave it to Nico. (Lou Reed)
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