The Gift (song)

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This article is about The Velvet Underground song. For other uses, see The Gift.

"The Gift"
Song by The Velvet Underground
from the album White Light/White Heat
Released	January 30, 1968
Recorded	September 1967, Scepter Studios, New York City, New York
Genre	Rock
Length	8:19
Label	Verve Records
Writer(s)	Lou Reed
Composer(s)	Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker
Producer(s)	Tom Wilson
White Light/White Heat track listing
White Light/White Heat (song) (1)	"The Gift" (2)	Lady Godiva's Operation (3)

"The Gift" is an eight-minute and 18 second short story appearing on the 1968 Velvet Underground Album White Light/White Heat. Spoken to a steady backbeat by the deadpan John Cale, it was written by bandmate Lou Reed as a short story assignment for a writing class. In the 1996 CD reissue the story and music instrumental are separated with Cale's reading of the story in the left speaker, while a noisy rock instrumental is heard on the right. This way, the listener can choose to listen to the track as a whole, or either the story or the music. (NOTE: The original LP release also had this stereo separation, though the effect was botched in mastering and had the channels bleed into one another.) The instrumental track, called "The Booker T", was originally developed from live jams the band used to play in the short time in which Lou Reed was ill and unable to play in the band. Original drummer Angus Maclise briefly returned to the band to play drums while Maureen Tucker played bass guitar. A live version appears on Live MCMXCIII

The song is concerned with Waldo Jeffers, a hapless schmuck who has a long distance relationship with his girlfriend Marsha Bronson. He grows paranoid and worried that Marsha might not be faithful. Lacking the requisite money to visit her, Waldo concocts a plan to mail himself to her in a large cardboard box, intending it to be a surprise visit. Marsha's friend Sheila Klein, unable to open the box, gets a sheet metal cutter and pierces the box and, unknowingly, Waldo's head.