Elliott Murphy and Mink (Willy) Deville

Oddly, I dicovered the two street dandies at a young age, through the French press (Rock and Folk magazine, mostly) which was at their feet, always praising Murphy and Willy Deville - in the very early nineties. They were the Hearts and Clubs aces of the square they formed with Johnny Thunders and Stiv Bators in the French rock crits' beautiful American losers mythology. All in exile in Paris at some point, in the great American tradition. The Poet, the Loup-Garou, the Broken Doll and the Dead Boy, doomed Lord of the New Church, a nice crowd to idolize, really.

Naturally, "Spanish Stroll" is an absolutely perfect song, rose-in-teeth, knife-in-hand West Side Story masterpiece. And what of Murphy's "Poise'n'Pen"'s brilliant urban imagery, which often is superior to Lou Reed's at the same period. His celebration of escape counterbalanced by a poignant evokation of teenage boredom - you have to be gloriously bored after all to desire to flee... New York stories, Spector stories, "A train Lady" goes so well with "Diamonds by the Yard" when you're walking in the city at night, looking for something to do... "Cabretta", "Return to Magenta" and "Le Chat Bleu", a neglected trilogy?