"All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut studio album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of Andy Warhol’s clique—according to Reed, the song is "a very apt description of certain people at the Factory at the time.... I watched Andy. I watched Andy watching everybody. I would hear people say the most astonishing things, the craziest things, the funniest things, the saddest things." In a 2006 interview Reed's bandmate John Cale stated: "The song was about a girl called Darryl, a beautiful petite blonde with three kids, two of whom were taken away from her." The song was Andy Warhol's favorite by The Velvet Underground. The song has notably lent its name to a music festival, a William Gibsonnovel, and a Yu Lik-waifilm. The song also appears prominently in the horror film The Lords of Salem.
Recording
The song was recorded at Scepter Studios in Manhattan during April 1966. It features a piano motif played by Cale based largely on tone clusters. The repetitive keyboard part was inspired by the style of his friend Terry Riley, with whom Cale had played in La Monte Young's mid 1960s group in New York City. It was one of the first pop songs to make use of prepared piano. The song also features the ostrich guitar tuning by Reed, by which all of the guitar strings were tuned to D. Drummer Maureen Tucker plays tambourine and bass drum while guitarist Sterling Morrison plays bass, an instrument that he professed to hate, despite his proficiency as a bassist. Nico provides lead vocals. The song was originally recorded with only one track of her vocals; they were later double-tracked for the final album version. Most versions of the album use this version of the song, though the initial 1987 CD release uses the original mix without the double-tracking.
The earliest known recorded version of "All Tomorrow's Parties" was recorded on reel to reel tape by Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison in a New York apartment loft on Ludlow Street. With Reed on acoustic guitar, the song displays a strong influence from the American folk music revival—particularly in Cale and Morrison's harmony vocals—which critic David Fricke suggests demonstrates Reed's fondness for Bob Dylan. This version, released on the Peel Slowly and See box set, is composed of multiple takes, which add up to a time of 18:26.
An edited version of the song was released in July 1966 as a single with "I'll Be Your Mirror" as a B-side. The song cuts out about half of the studio version at just under three minutes. It did not chart. This version later became available in 2002 on the "Deluxe Edition" of The Velvet Underground & Nico.
Other Alternate Versions
An anniversary reissue of the album included an "alternate single voice version" and an "alternate instrumental mix."
