JOHN CALE: “Nico was like a European gargoyle. It was like something from another age, or another planet. And it wasn’t a fashion or anything, she wasn’t following some trend.”
LOU REED: “Nico’s the kind of person that you meet, and you’re not quite the same afterwards. She has an amazing mind.”
JOHN CALE: “Lou fell madly in love with her. She was exactly what Lou was looking for. I was always suspicious of blondes; Lou was not. The band had no idea how to deal with her – the timing, the accent – but Lou rose to the occasion. His songs for her are some of the most beautiful ballads he has written.”
LOU REED: “I was just this poor little rock’n’roller, and here was this goddess.”
RICHARD MISHKIN: “People who’ve only seen her picture don’t realize what a large woman Nico actually was. She was huge, almost manly, and imposing with her icy stare and manner. Lou clearly was drawn to her, as if she were a towering presence that he needed to overwhelm. Considering the fact that he was a little Jew from New York and she was a big woman from Germany with – at least in her family – a Nazi past, one can make assumptions. I don’t need to spell it out.”
JOHN CALE: “Lou has a way of knowing exactly how to hurt people. The first jottings of a new relationship are always, ‘How can I get to this person?’ And it was very easy to get to Nico because she was so insecure. But slowly we all got the hang of her, and Lou did write some beautiful songs for Nico – ‘I’ll Be Your Mirror’ was written so that she would feel better about herself.”
NICO: “I said to Lou, one day, ‘I’ll be your mirror.’ I fell in love with him. He was so beautiful. And tough, tough like a statue.”
STERLING MORRISON: “You could say Lou was in love with Nico, but Lou Reed in love is a kind of abstract concept.”
