"European Son", also known as"European Son (toDelmore Schwartz)", is a song written and performed by the Americanexperimental rock bandThe Velvet Underground. It appears as the final track on their 1967 debut albumThe Velvet Underground & Nico. It is also the album's longest track at more than seven and a half minutes.

The song could be seen as a precursor to the band's next albumWhite Light/White Heat and to the song "Sister Ray", a seventeen-minute-long rock improvisation.^{[original research?]}

"European Son" is dedicated to poetDelmore Schwartz, who had beenLou Reed's advisor atSyracuse University. Wanting to dedicate a song to Schwartz, "European Son" was chosen because it had the fewest lyrics, as Schwartz made his distaste for rock lyrics clear.^[4] The first pressing ofThe Velvet Underground & Nico referred to the song as "European Son (to Delmore Schwartz)".^[5]

The song was recorded in April 1966; Schwartz died alone in Manhattan three months later, on July 14. According to musicologistRichard Witts, the song "reads like little more than a song of loathing" to Schwartz, who refused to see Reed while living out his last days in seclusion inMidtown Manhattan. Witts highlighted obscure personal details in lyrics such as "You made your wallpapers green", and found the "Dylanesque" "hey, hey, bye bye bye" refrain "a malicious farewell to its subject".^[6]

The song begins with two stanzas of lyrics sung byLou Reed over a D major chord played by Reed andSterling Morrison and awalking bassline played byJohn Cale; about one minute later, a loud crashing sound produced by Cale hitting a stack of plates with a metal chair is heard.^[4] Six minutes of instrumental improvisation, making extensive use ofdistortion andfeedback, follow.^[7][8]

• Lou Reed –vocals,electric guitar, sound effects
• John Cale –bass guitar, sound effects
• Sterling Morrison – electric guitar
• Maureen Tucker –percussion

• Half Japanese on their 1984 albumOur Solar System
• Thurston Moore on the 1988 compilation albumThe End of Music as We Know It^[9]
• Gary Lucas on his 2000 albumStreet of Lost Brothers^[10]
• Iggy Pop andMatt Sweeney on the 2021 compilation tribute albumI'll Be Your Mirror^[11][12]

"European Son" was an influence on the Germankrautrock bandCan. Its influence can especially be heard on the song "Father Cannot Yell", the opening track of their 1969 debut albumMonster Movie, in which bassistHolger Czukay plays a similar bassline.^[13]

A slowed-down version of the song's bassline appears on "Moby Octopad" byYo La Tengo.

Simple Minds recorded a song entitled "European Son" on a demo tape, which was released on CD onThe Early Years: 1977–1978. The bandJapan also recorded a song with the title "European Son". Both these bands titled the song in tribute to the Velvet Underground song, and have covered other songs by the band (both covering "All Tomorrow's Parties", for one), but neither "European Son" is a cover of the Velvet Underground song.