Late American singer-songwriter and frontman of The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, has been honored once more with the debut of his previously unreleased 1965 demo “Men Of Good Fortune.” The track serves as a part of the forthcoming archival collection Words & Music, May 1965 which is scheduled to release later this year on September 16. 

Speaking on the song and it’s inspiration, archivists Jason Stern and Don Fleming offered, “‘Men of Good Fortune’ has every trademark of one of the traditional Child Ballads from England and Scotland dating back for centuries and passed on from person to person,” They continued, “It’s notable how the words to this version of ‘Men of Good Fortune’ could seemingly fit right in as a variant of a Child Ballad, but it doesn’t appear to borrow lines from the book or other songs, traditional or popular. Reed sings and plays the song alone.”

Some may confuse the song for the namesake track on Reed’s 1973’s album Berlin but rest assured the two are different. There are the signature twanginess and melodic vocals and yet the song is tells a story void of a happy ending. You can listen to the track below.

 Light In The Attic Records previously released “I’m Waiting For The Man” which was recorded for The Velvet Underground’s 1967 debut record as well as “Heroin” which marked Reed’s earliest demo of the song. Many artists have since paid tribute to the band including Courtney Barnett, Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen, Matt Berninger and Alice Cooper.