Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Lou Reed's Tales of New York

Photo: Reuters

"Does anyone really need a billion dollar rocket
does anyone need a $60,000 car
Does anyone need another President
or the sins of Swaggart parts 6, 7, 8, and 9, ah
Does anyone need another politician
caught with his pants down money sticking in his hole
Does anyone need another racist preacher
spittin' in the wind can only do you harm, wow"
-- Lou Reed, “Strawman”

I’ve been a big fan of the Velvet Underground since college, but it has only been the past few years that I’ve really got into Lou Reed’s solo stuff, seems I can’t get enough of it lately. Tonight I was listening to his 1989 album, “New York”, which is a collection of stories from Reed’s beloved city before Rudy G. cleaned it up. It paints a picture of what New York was like in the ‘80’s; gritty tales of sex, drugs, crime, AIDS, death, racism, romance, and poverty wrapped up in some of the best rock of it’s time. This album, though lyrically a bit dated today, still holds it’s own.

1 comment:

Rambling Canuck said...

So true. Lou tells it like it is. Love the NY album. I also find myself going back to The Blue Mask and Ecstasy a lot.