| Femme Fatale | |
| Cover: | Sunday Morning (The Velvet Underground record).jpg |
| Caption: | Single b/w "Sunday Morning" |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | the Velvet Underground and Nico |
| Album: | The Velvet Underground & Nico |
| A-Side: | Sunday Morning |
| Released: |
|
| Recorded: | April 1966 |
| Studio: | Scepter, New York City |
| Genre: | Pop[1] |
| Label: | Verve |
| Producer: | Andy Warhol |
| Prev Title: | All Tomorrow's Parties |
| Prev Title2: | I'll Be Your Mirror |
| Prev Year: | 1966 |
| Title2: | Sunday Morning |
| Next Title: | White Light/White Heat |
| Next Title2: | Here She Comes Now |
| Next Year: | 1968 |
"Femme Fatale" is a song by American rock band the Velvet Underground from their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico, with lead vocals by Nico.[2]
The song was composed in the key of C major.[3] At the request of Andy Warhol, band frontman Lou Reed wrote the song about Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick. According to Reed, the title was inspired by Warhol saying, about Sedgwick, "Oh, don't you think she's a femme fatale, Lou?"[4] [5]
The song was recorded with vocals by Nico. Guitarist Sterling Morrison said of the title:
"Femme Fatale" was recorded at the Scepter Studios in New York in April 1966 while the studio was still under construction.[6] It was released as a B-Side to "Sunday Morning" in December 1966.[7] The following year it was included in their debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. A 1969 live recording of the song was included in released in 2001.
AllMusic critic Mark Deming thought that "Femme Fatale" was among the four best songs on the album.[8] American music journalist Stephen Davis called "Femme Fatale" a beautiful song that portrays the vivid, conflicted and emotional undercurrents of 1966.[9]