What Goes On (Velvet Underground song)

This article is about the Velvet Underground song. For the Beatles song, see What Goes On (Beatles song).

"What Goes On" is a song by the Velvet Underground. It was the only single released from their third album, The Velvet Underground (1969).

"What Goes On"
Single by The Velvet Underground
from the album The Velvet Underground
B-side	"Jesus"
Released	March 1969 (1969-03)
Recorded	November–December 1968
Studio	TTG Studios, Hollywood
Genre	Rock[1] pop[2]
Length	4:55
Label	MGM
Songwriter(s)	Lou Reed
Producer(s)	The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground singles chronology
"White Light/White Heat" (1968) "What Goes On" (1969) "Who Loves The Sun" (1971)

The song was recorded in 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood.

A concert performance of the song, with Doug Yule on keyboards, was included on their double live album 1969: The Velvet Underground Live.^[3]

Personnel

Yule, Morrison (back) and Reed (front) in a magazine advertisement for the single

• Lou Reed – lead vocals, multi-tracked electric and acoustic guitars (including solo)
• Doug Yule – bass, organ, backing vocals
• Sterling Morrison – multi-tracked electric guitars (including solo)
• Maureen Tucker – drums

Other media

The "What Goes On" organ riff was used in the Talking Heads song "Once in a Lifetime," featured on their 1980 album Remain in Light.^[4]

In 1978, aficionados Mike "MC" Kostek and Phil Milstein started the Velvet Underground Appreciation Society, which collected, cataloged and made available various rarities.^[5] They published a fanzine titled "What Goes On", and later on a newsletter titled "What Goes On Jr."^[6]