In case you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, a major controversy has been brewing surrounding Britain's Got Talent's celebrated discovery Susan Boyle, legendary Velvet Underground member and songwriter Lou Reed, and the American version of the hugely popular talent competition.
The story begins with the Scottish singing sensation being invited to perform as a guest on America's Got Talent. Needless to say, the singer was allowed to personally choose any song she wanted, and Ms. Boyle elected to cover "Perfect Day", which appears on Reed's 1972 release, Transformer. Everything seemed to be all set when on the day of the live performance, Susan and America's Got Talent's producers were informed that they did not have clearance from Reed to do the song on the air.
Since Ms. Boyle had been rehearsing Reed's tune for the September 8th taping, she had no backup plan (maybe not a wise move on her part, but nonetheless) or alternative tune to sing, effectively canceling her moment to wow American audiences who made Susan a viral phenomenon when the video of her singing "I Dreamed A Dream" (from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Les Miserables) became the most-streamed video on YouTube. Here's where things get a little complicated: media outlets began spinning the story that Lou Reed refused permission because he did not like the singer, which lead to Boyle's publicist issuing the following statement:
"Susan was absolutely devastated to be told on the morning of the show taping that Lou Reed had personally decided to block her singing his already much covered song, 'Perfect Day,' on 'America's Got Talent' in L.A. We obviously had no idea of this prior to leaving London. None of us can understand the decision given that it's such a beautiful rendition of the song." Indeed, "Perfect Day" has been interpreted by a wide array of other artists including Coldplay, Amanda Palmer, Patti Smith, Kirsty MacColl, and Duran Duran, the latter cited by Reed himself as his favorite cover version, and appears on Duran Duran's all-covers release, Thank You.
In October of 1997, an all-star version of the song, commissioned by the BBC was released to benefit the charity Children In Need, and included performances from Reed, Bono, David Bowie, Elton John, Emmylou Harris, Joan Armatrading, and Reed's partner, avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson. So if it wasn't a personal snub by Reed to Ms. Boyle, what went wrong? According to Reed's camp, the issue was one of licensing, and while permission to perform "Perfect Day" had already been cleared for Britain's Got Talent, the go-ahead for U.S. clearance was not processed in time for the September 8th airing.
Of course Simon Cowell, Executive Producer and judge of Britain's Got Talent, had some choice words for Reed following the cancellation of Boyle's performance: "This is so petty, so pathetic. Loads of people have covered this song. This is a fantastic version. He's now saying, 'If I'd have known, I'd have given permission.' Well Lou, if you're listening, 'Do we have permission to put the song on next week?"
As of this writing, the question of clearance has not been adequately resolved, and so the controversy continues. As a footnote, a studio-performance of Boyle singing "Perfect Day" has been leaked to (where else?) the Internet - you can catch the tune here on Idolator.com, as well as other web sources.
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