#21 Nico - Afraid

Album: Desertshore (1970)

Lyrics excerpt:
Cease to know or to tell
Or to see or to be your own
Have someone else's will as your own
Have someone else's will as your own
You are beautiful and you are alone

Reasons to love this song:
A few times I've come across music critics saying something along the lines of "The Velvet Underground were a great band, too bad Andy Warhol forced them to perform with Nico". I would take it as a sure sign that I need not pay any attention to any of their reviews. Yes, Nico was a beautiful woman, but she was far from "just a pretty face"; she had a unique, warm and deep voice coloured by her German accent, a way of singing I've seen compared to a priestess chanting, and she developed a songwriting style that sounded timeless and didn't fit into any existing genre.
I've always understood Afraid to be similar to Tori Amos's Girl -- the artist addressing and comforting her younger and more insecure self. Nico's chant-like way of singing gives the impression of a prophetess or deity comforting a mortal.

Link to Amazon preview:
The album version by Nico: Afraid
A lovely cover by Espers from The Weed Tree (2005): Afraid

YouTube link:
Nico performing Afraid live in Manchester in 1980:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG2JNv5r6yE