Watch: Jeff Tweedy Nods to Sonic Guardian Lou Reed on New Single and Official Music Video

Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez

Jeff Tweedy is paying tribute to his sonic guardian with a new single and Austin Vesley-directed music video for the track “Lou Reed Was My Babysitter.” The latest preview of the Wilco frontman’s triple solo album, Twilight Override, due on September 26 via dBpm Records, finds the songwriter giving his best impression of the Cafe Bizarre tastemaker, equipped with a sense of deadpan poetics and avant-garde tempo shifts accompanied by Tweedy’s reactionary whoop.

“Lou Reed Was My Babysitter” courses the spirit of the Velvet Underground, seasoned with a familiar blend of proto-punk and rock backing, that sparks a reference to the 1970s Loaded feature, “Rock & Roll.” The track’s sentiment highlights the significance of Reed’s music on an impressionable and adolescent Tweedy, who drew much of his musical introduction and appreciation from his brother’s record collection, which served as his primary source of entertainment and a sublime caretaker.

In his own words, Tweedy describes it as “The joy in this dark music that Lou Reed made, and the beautiful conflict that it creates when you try and analyze it. And how it was such a positive force for so many people. ‘My life was saved by rock and roll’—Lou Reed is saying the same thing. I was babysat by fucking Lou Reed, literally, in my bedroom as a 10-year-old, 12-year-old kid. His music was a more legitimate mentor to me than most of my teachers.”

At its core, “Lou Reed Was My Babysitter” conveys the visceral sensation of live music, in both mood and sound, as depicted in the official music video, which features Tweedy, his sons, Spencer and Sammy, and Twilight Override contributors Sima Cunningham, Macie Stewart, and Liam Kazar performing in a house party environment, and working toward a headbanging surge of: “The dead don’t die, The dead don’t die, The dead don’t die, The dead don’t die…” Watch below. 

“Lou Reed Was My Babysitter” is the latest sample from Tweedy’s forthcoming triple album, Twilight Override, which has already yielded the pensive meditation “Feel Free,” the reflective “One Tiny Flower,” and the accompanying single, “Out in the Dark,” “Stray Cats in Spain,” and “Enough.” Twilight Override represents Tweedy’s influx of creativity and is the result of a five-year gap in solo deliverables, stemming from 2020’s Love Is The King. 

Twilight Override offers peaks of lyrical light, showcasing Tweedy’s finesse for lines within the framework of a darkening societal atmosphere. Over the course of 30 entries, Tweedy sharpens his commentary on past, present, and future, while deliberately positioning Easter eggs that allude to his own experiences and influence. 

Pre-order Twilight Override. Watch the official music video for “Lou Reed Was My Babysitter,” below. 

Catch Tweedy on tour this fall. For tickets, visit wilcoworld.net.