A number of artists have come forth in the last day to pay tribute to Lou Reed in the wake of his death. David Bowie writes on his website, simply: "He was a master" accompanied by this photo of the two of them. Morrissey was a bit more verbose, quoting his own song "Life Is a Pigsty". He writes, via True to You:

'Oh Lou / why did you leave us this way?'

No words to express the sadness at the death of Lou Reed. He had been there all of my life. He will always be pressed to my heart. Thank God for those, like Lou, who move within their own laws, otherwise imagine how dull the world would be. I knew the Lou of recent years and he was always full of good heart. His music will outlive time itself.
We are all timebound, but today, with the loss of liberating Lou, life is a pigsty.

'7 glasses used to be
called for six good mates and me
now we only call for three'

-Patrick MacGill

John Cale, founding Velvet Underground member and longtime collaborator/sparring partner/close friend of Reed, writes:

The news I feared the most, pales in comparison to the lump in my throat and the hollow in my stomach. Two kids have a chance meeting and 47 years later we fight and love the same way —losing either one is incomprehensible. No replacement value, no digital or virtual fill...broken now, for all time. Unlike so many with similar stories—we have the best of our fury laid out on vinyl, for the world to catch a glimpse. The laughs we shared just a few weeks ago, will forever remind me of all that was good between us.

That comes following a very short and sweet statement Cale posted on Facebook yesterday: "The world has lost a fine songwriter and poet…I’ve lost my ‘school-yard buddy’". 

Watch Reed and Cale perform "Waiting for the Man":