Best Song on Lou Reed's New York

this came up on one of the other Lou Reed threads and my reaction after listening to this album for the first time in, oh, 20 years went something like this:

Romeo Had Juliette - wow this is much better than I remember it. sharp lyrics, incisive playing, everything is in place.
Halloween Parade - pretty good, more of the same. sounds a lot like the Songs for Drella stuff
Dirty Blvd - lol remember this crappy video? some of these lyrics are pretty corny, but not bad
Endless Cycle - this is starting to get a little boring
There Is No Time - ooh angry political Lou. this is fucking silly. geez does every song on here sound EXACTLY THE SAME?
Last Great American Whale - what the fuck is this about.
Beginning of a Great Adventure - ugh I'm turning this off now

lol you turned it off before the anti-Jesse Jackson, the Pope, and Karl Waldheim song

it's okay, that's one of the songs I have painful 20-year-old memories of

also so tired of Jesse Jackson, the Pope and Karl Waldheim keeping Lou down, so glad he got a chance to kick them in their collective nuts

I didn't have MTV when this came out, or cable at all, so I didn't see the video, and consequently remember "Dirty Blvd" as the song I couldn't believe was Lou because he hadn't made anything that tood in forever. "Romeo Had Juliette" is second but Lou's belief that because he read some Shakespeare as as undergrad & knew Delmore Schwartz he is somehow in control of high-calling influences has always bugged me, because he does not really seem to get the stuff he's dealing with. ("You saw 'West Side Story,' Lou? Great, I'm proud.') I remember "Busload of Faith" actually being pretty good but again lyrically it's pretty fuckin corny easing-into-latter-age Andy Rooneyism almost. Ex-junkie Andy Rooney ok but what's the diff. Dirty Blvd. takes it.

"There Is No Time" made a few mixtapes quite a few years ago, so I voted for it. I'm with Shakes on the first three songs, and also will rep for Mo's drumming on "Dime Store Mystery."

I think this was the album where I learned to both resent & accept Lou's limitations 'cause just four or five years earlier he'd been God to me

("that tood" should say "that good")

Strawman should have been the real title amirite

yeah, the video for "Dirty Blvd" I think was my intro to all things Lou Reed. Still, best song for me here is the opener.

("that tood" should say "that good")[

lol thought this was some intentional variation of 'tude (for 'attitude')

wait didn't lou have a song called "strawman" on a 90s album? like, where he didn't actually seem to get what the term meant?

yeah, the video for "Dirty Blvd" I think was my intro to all things Lou Reed. Still, best song for me here is the opener.

okay here's what really bugged me about this video (I don't think it's on youtube...? I remember not being able to find it awhile ago). I knew the backing vocals were courtesy of Dion DiMucci (who I love) and in the video, there's some Shel Silverstein motherfucker lip-syncing his part. I can understand not being able to get Dion for the video shoot or something, but this "artistic decision" always struck me as really weird cuz I was left wondering "who the fuck is this black guy? I thought Dion was an old white greaser?")

wait didn't lou have a song called "strawman" on a 90s album? like, where he didn't actually seem to get what the term meant?

lol dude it was THIS ALBUM

i remember thinking "strawman" was really righteous sounding when I was 13 ... not sure what I think about it now. what is it about?

and yeah, i can't find the dirty blvd vid online either! Internet, you have let us all down.

We who have so much to you who have so little
to you who don't have anything at all
We who have so much more than any one man does need
and you who don't have anything at all, ah
Does anybody need another million dollar movie
does anybody need another million dollar star
Does anybody need to be told over and over
spitting in the wind comes back at you twice as hard

Strawman, going straight to the devil
strawman, going straight to hell
Strawman, going straight to the devil

Strawman
strawman
Strawman
strawman, yes

Does anyone really need a billion dollar rocket
does anyone need a 60,000 dollars car
Does anyone need another president
or the sins of Swaggart parts 6, 7, 8 and 9, ah
Does anyone need yet another politician
caught with his pants down and money sticking in his hole
Does anyone need another racist preacher
spittin' in the wind can only do you harm, ooohhh

Strawman, going straight to the devil
strawman, going straight to hell
Strawman, going straight to the devil

Strawman
strawman
Strawman
strawman

Does anyone need another faulty shuttle
blasting off to the moon, Venus or Mars
Does anybody need another self-righteous rock singer
whose nose he says has led him straight to God
Does anyone need yet another blank skyscraper
if you're like me I'm sure a minor miracle will do
A flaming sword or maybe a gold ark floating up the Hudson
when you spit in the wind it comes right back at you

Strawman, going straight to the devil
Strawman, going straight to hell
Strawman, going to the devil

Strawman, strawman
strawman, ...., ah
Strawman
strawman

Does anybody need another self-righteous rock singer
lolz

lol dude it was THIS ALBUM

lol whoops overlooked, I remember that 2nd side bein up on some "you know what, I'll stick with side A" action

Does anyone need yet another blank skyscraper
if you're like me I'm sure a minor miracle will do

this is like everything that pisses me off about Lou Reed's writing in one non-rhyming couplet

so ... who is the strawman? is it new york? i still don't get it. in fact, i think originally i thought he was singing "Strong man" which made more sense to teenage me.

it helps if you remember that Lou does not know what a strawman is and is using his own idiosyncratic definition of the word, which he has not chosen to share with the listener

that seems like a good songwriting strategy.

it helps if you remember that Lou does not know what a strawman is and is using his own idiosyncratic definition of the word, which he has not chosen to share with the listener

is this an excerpt from the liner notes?

Dirty Blvd is the worst VU song ever but i have a soft spot for it.

like, "This album is meant to be listened to like Absalom, Absalom!! and other masterworks Lou has not read."

xpost

like, "This album is meant to be listened to like Absalom, Absalom!! and other masterworks Lou has not read."

loooooool

hahahahaha otm

lol not sure the absalom absalom shoutout is referring to this but i remember at the time reed kept hammering the 'faulkner had mississippi, i have new york' and even at the time when i had barely read any faulkner (only light in august which btw if you're trying to get a 13 yr old boy who's into public enemy and horror novels into faulkner light in august totally the way to go - good job aunt alecia) i remember thinking 'umm...'. first lou reed solo album i ever bought, i remember liking it alot at the time (except the anti-jesse song and whichever one had the baby names - beginning of a great adventure maybe?), loving 'there is no time' cuz it was the loudest. 'dirty blvd' got alot of airplay at the time, heard it a few weeks ago, sounded good, dion esp, but he's told better stories. voted 'halloween parade'.

I love 'Last Great American Whale'

also couldn't find it in their search engine but swear to god the ny times ran either the lyrics to 'there is no time' or 'hold on' as an op-ed at the time

http://www.globalnerdy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/grandpa_simpson_yelling_at_cloud.jpg

lol is 'strawman' his 'silly love songs'?

"Hold On," I think. I remember reading about it.

xxpost

lol is 'strawman' his 'silly love songs'?

"I Love You, Suzanne"?

that's his "lovely linda", i mean more a 'steering into the curve' move.

I wish I could still get as excited about a record as I did when this came out and blew my 16-year-old mind. I saw him on this tour in NY at the St. James Theater where he played the entire record in order and Dime Store Mystery rocked in a way few things ever have.

I'm going to have to go back and listen to this a few times before voting. Hold On is the early front runner, but Good Evening Mr. Waldheim is right there too.

Blew my 18-year-old mind as well. This and The Trinity Sessions both were college freshman-year albums, and both were live-room recordings.

never forget eleanor bumpers and michael stewart

Ha! I'm sure they'll appreciate that.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

awful record.

Kinda surprised Halloween Parade didn't make it.

yeah! that would've been my second choice i think.

The-eh-eh is. no. time.

it made me dream of nosferatu, trapped on the isle of doctor moreau

Surprised there are no votes for Halloween Parade. It's a bit heavy handed maybe but also devastating if heard at the right moment.

"In the back of my mind, I was afraid it might be true / In the back of my mind, I was afraid they meant you" is a fairly haunting lyric about AIDs

Also have we entertained the idea that Lou is using the word Strawman correctly, implying that the social ills he calls out in the verses -- rich movie stars, politicians "caught with their pants down" -- are really just meaningless generalities? Maybe he is saying that rants about alleged symptoms of social decline are less than worthless, just diversions from more pointed discussions about politics and culture. This would explain the "self-righteous rock star" line: the popular complaint that celebrities talk too much about political issues is really just a product of resentment. People don't want to hear what the privileged have to say because they feel their own voices being ignored.

happy 35th

recently learned that bob seger covered 'busload of faith'

it's pretty good! he even does a little 'huh!'

lol 'statue of bigotry' c'mon dude

Seger also covered "California Stars." He has a knack for covering the most Seger-esque songs in a given artist's repertoire.