"I'm Waiting for the Man" is a song by the American rock band The Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed. It was first released on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico.
The song is about purchasing 26 dollars worth of heroin in a Harlem brownstone near the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street in New York City. The song is sung from the point of view of the purchaser who is presumably traveling to Harlem from another part of the city; the "man" in the song's title is a drug dealer. Along with traditional guitar, bass, and drums, the song also features pounding, percussive rock-and-roll barrelhouse-style piano. It is one of the band's more popular songs, and one of their many compositions featuring drugs as subject matter. After leaving the band in 1970, Lou Reed continued to incorporate the song into his solo live performances. Reed does not often sing the song himself anymore. Released as a single in October 1971 (b/w "There She Goes Again") as Andy Warhol's Velvet Underground on MGM Records.
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #159 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
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Famous quotes containing the words waiting and/or man:
“A sure way to irritate people and to put evil thoughts into their heads is to keep them waiting a long time. This makes them immoral.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“We call ourselves a free nation, and yet we let ourselves be told what cabs we can and can’t take by a man at a hotel door, simply because he has a drum major’s uniform on.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)