Submitted By: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
Lou Reed Rock N’ Roll Poet, Singer and Musician died this week at the age of 71. To my mind he was a far greater artist than the world gave him credit for being. What made him special besides his guitar virtuosity; the distinctive sound of his music; his unique voice; was that his lyrics reflected his raw emotional reaction to the life he saw around him. We see many of the Rock N’ Roll Idols of our youth trade their revolutionary sentiments for a knighthood and celebrity lifestyle. Yet Rock N’ Roll in its inception began as outlaw music in the 50’s. The main cause of R&R’s horrifying the mainstream in America was that it was White musicians copying the blues styles of what were then called “Race Records” because they were performed by great Black artists. The initial horror at Elvis wasn’t just the movement of his hips, but the fact that this quintessentially southern White boy was singing Black music. The music industry soon tamed Elvis as it tamed those to come with some exceptions. Lou Reed was never tamed and was never really listed in the top tier of Rock Legends by a public that found his lyrics too raw and too filled with what was the seamy side of American life. What follows are the lyrics to one of Lou Reed’s angriest and greatest songs as pertinent to America today as it was when he wrote it in 1989. Afterwards you can hear him sing it. To me one of the two great American poets of the last 100 years died this week and people think he was just another Rock N’ Roll singer.
Dirty Blvd. by Lou Reed
Pedro lives out of the Wilshire Hotel
He looks out a window without glass
The walls are made of cardboard, newspapers on his feet
His father beats him cause he’s too tired to beg
He’s got 9 brothers and sisters
They’re brought up on their knees
It’s hard to run when a coat hanger beats you on the thighs
Pedro dreams of being older and killing the old man
But that’s a slim chance he’s going to the boulevard
He’s going to end up, on the dirty boulevard
He’s going out, to the dirty boulevard
He’s going down, to the dirty boulevard
This room cost 2,000 dollars a month
You can believe it man it’s true
Somewhere a landlord’s laughing till he wets his pants
No one here dreams of being a doctor or a lawyer or anything
They dream of dealing on the dirty boulevard
Get to end up, on the dirty boulevard
Going out, to the dirty boulevard
He’s going down, on the dirty boulevard
Going out
Outside it’s a bright night
There’s an opera at Lincoln Center
Movie stars arrive by limousine
The klieg lights shoot up over the skyline of Manhattan
But the lights are out on the Mean Streets
A small kid stands by the Lincoln Tunnel
He’s selling plastic roses for a buck
The traffic’s backed up to 39th street
The TV whores are calling the cops out for a suck
And back at the Wilshire, Pedro sits there dreaming
He’s found a book on magic in a garbage can
He looks at the pictures and stares at the cracked ceiling
“At the count of 3” he says, “I hope I can disappear”
And fly fly away, from this dirty boulevard
I want to fly, from dirty boulevard
I want to fly, from dirty boulevard
I want to fly-fly-fly-fly, from dirty boulevard
I want to fly away
I want to fly
Fly, fly away
I want to fly
Fly-fly away (Fly a-)
Fly-fly-fly (-way, ooohhh…)
Fly-fly away (I want to fly-fly away)
Fly away (I want to fly, wow-woh, no, fly away)
Notes on Dirty Blvd.
Dirty Blvd is the 3rd of 14 tracks on Lou Reed’s 15th solo album, New York, released in 1989 to broad critical acclaim. In New York, Reed builds upon on his longtime theme of documenting New York City’s underbelly and its most stigmatized and downtrodden residents. It is regarded as one of his most conceptual albums, and in the liner notes Reed himself instructs listeners to take in the whole album in one sitting, “as though it were a book or a movie.” Apologies to Lou for breaking it down song-by-song.
Dirty Blvd describes the life of Pedro, a boy living and hustling in seedy areas of Manhattan. Pedro’s wish to magically disappear is his only respite from an abusive father, abysmal living conditions, and a bleak future that Reed portrays as near-inevitable. Reed’s deadpan delivery implies that he’s seen many unfortunate youth like Pedro end up “dealing on the dirty boulevard.”
More broadly, Dirty Blvd is a lament for the poor and vulnerable in a New York that, in the late 1980s, was beginning its obsession with “cleaning up” its most notorious districts of crime and vice. Longtime NYC mayor Ed Koch was leaving office and future mayor Rudy Giuliani was beginning to rear his ugly head. The NYPD was growing in power, and police-inflicted violence against the homeless was becoming commonplace:
“Your poor huddled masses, let’s club ‘em to death
And get it over with and just dump ’em on the boulevard.”
This comes from the website Rock Genius: http://rock.rapgenius.com/Lou-reed-dirty-blvd-lyrics
Twenty-four years after Lou Reed wrote this song the Billionaire who bought the New York City Mayoralty will soon be leaving office having accomplished all that Lou Reed Predicted. I will miss this great poet of the underbelly of our society.
Submitted By: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
Anonymously Yours 1, November 2, 2013 at 7:03 pm
Dredd,
I did not know that about Van Gogh …
================================
In my library I have “Van Gogh, The Complete Paintings” (2001, Taschen GmBh, ISBN 3-8228-1215-3, Printed in Slovenia).
It points out that he was fanatical about religion for a time, taking theological classes. and translating the Bible into several languages.
He made his own vow of poverty while a lay preacher giving sermons and the like:
(Bio).
His brother Theo did not like that, always encouraging him to follow artistry.
Eventually Vincent did follow artistry, and was “full on” in that too:
(Van Gogh Museum). People like Lou Reed and Vincent do experience lots of storms in their lives, and weather them in different ways.
“People like Lou Reed and Vincent do experience lots of storms in their lives, and weather them in different ways.”
Dredd,
Quite true and for some great artists it is the “struggle” that informs their art. Some people only look at the struggle because they can’t perceive the truth of the art.
Oh, and as for health care, I wanted a public option. Any competent business person knows with each layer between the consumer and the product comes added cost. There is nothing more moronic than an amalgam of public and private services. I prefer all business, with regulation, or all government. Look at defense contracting as a prime example of how melding the two combines the worst aspects of both.
Juliet, Well I do. I’m not going to do your homework, but just off the top of my head recently, I slammed the GOP for the shutdown. I didn’t think it was Armageddon like the hand wringers, my wife having gone through more than a dozen as a Federal PO. But I thought it was stupid. I routinely blast Republicans for being the leader in the War on Drugs, although this prez flat assed lied about his stance on cannabis, which I call him on since he was hypocritical as a candidate. I believe in the separation of church and state, an issue I believe I offered you some advice on just last week. There’s more but hopefully that’ll do for the purposes of this discussion.
What you fail to realize is that in this forum, it’s almost all left, so I skirmish w/ them. When I’m in a forum w/ right, I skirmish w/ them. And here’s what I see in you that I see in many ideologues on both sides. When I discuss issues, since I’m not w/ them, I must be w/ “those idiots” on the other side. I see it so clearly and you just do not. It’s that prism, Juliet.
Finally, You just missed Rand Paul on Stephanapolous. George was pretty tough on him.
Obamacare is getting ripped by the roundtable so I would not tune in right now.
Nick: That chip on your shoulder is almost visible online! I’m not taking sides for or against anyone. I’ve argued viciously with most of the regulars. You’re about as “maverick” as Sarah Palin, doll. Sometimes, going against the crowd just makes you wrong.
“I see it so clearly and you just do not. It’s that prism, Juliet.”
The only thing you see clearly Nick is your face in the mirror and you orgasm.
“Juliet, It appears both you and another commenter have been drinking poison tea this morning. Being a business person, I have said many times there are few things more edifying and sobering then having to make a payroll, something I did for decades. Why don’t we put the vitriol aside and discuss the difficulties you experienced operating your own business.”
Ah poor Juliet, just another confused woman that Nick can enlighten. You’ve become added to the list of women here that our Nick patronizes. That they are strong, confident women is something that escapes Nick somehow, because here any woman who Nick disagrees with is somehow brainwashed by the “clique” here that Nick hates. What I think it really is though is that Nick has a thing about confident intelligent women and it might well be related to his being married to one who constantly puts him in his place at home. Here on the blog he can pretend for awhile that he’s a tough guy aiding damsels in distress.
“Why don’t we put the vitriol aside”
Now this is what really defines who Nick is. He starts the vitriol, gets called on it and then claims he was the victim. He then pens E Mails to Professor Turley
claiming he’s being picked on. Nick is a classic bully that’s all bluster, but whines when confronted. And to think just days ago he promised to stop his nonsense and apologized for his bad behavior claiming health problems. Nick’s promises and apologies are meaningless, because he hasn’t learned that actions speak truer than words.
Nick: I don’t need to do homework, because I’m not being schooled.
We have very different recollections of your commentary during the shutdown. I recall your attitude was more along the lines of “It’s no big deal. My wife and I have been through them. Nothing to see here.”
My father has been a professional musician for about 50 years, although fame has eluded him. He’s living proof that writing and playing beautiful music doesn’t guarantee someone won’t be an ass in “real life.” I’ll still mourn his passing, and I’ll still celebrate the parts of his life that were good.
Nick: I’d love for you to point out where you “slam both parties.”
“Beneficial to the people?” Reed made it chic to sing about the downtrodden and chic to shoot heroin. The only one benefitting were heroin dealers.
Annie, Keeping on the theme of great rock n’ rollers, in the immortal words of the Who, “Who the f@ck are you?”
Juliet, I am not a Republican. I slam both parties, but when you view the world through your prism, that’s how you see me.
I agree with Nick, in principle, about beatifying celebrities. I just don’t mind the marketing, if it’s beneficial to the people. It makes me wonder, though, why Nick doesn’t feel anger at the GOP for pretending to give a shit about the working people, yet enacting policies designed specifically to screw them over.
My God! What an insufferable bore Nick Spinelli is.
““Beneficial to the people?” Reed made it chic to sing about the downtrodden and chic to shoot heroin. The only one benefitting were heroin dealers.”
It is said of some that they have eyes but cannot see, ears but they cannot hear and mouths that blabber. “Heroin” is neither a pro, nor con song about heroin. It is a brutally honest depiction of what is happening in an addict’s mind when in the thrall of heroin. To say that it benefits only heroin dealers evinces a lack of knowledge about addiction, particularly heroin addiction and I suspect as all your comments on this thread were done out of your enmity towards me. you just can’t control the anger within you, can you Nick, nor can you ever fail to get in the last word, no matter how vapid and inane that word is.
As for:
“Annie, Keeping on the theme of great rock n’ rollers, in the immortal words of the Who, “Who the f@ck are you?””
It seems you only welcome newcomers who agree with you Nick, but for those even remotely critical the venom flows. As for Juliet’s comment:
“Nick: I’d love for you to point out where you “slam both parties.””
She does make a valid point. You claim to be non-partisan but you consistently slam only the Democrats and also talk a lot about the “liberals” but I remember few, if any instances where you’ve derided the conservatives. You bandy about that you’re a “libertarian” and about the “duopoly” but I suspect it is like much of your writing here, mere deception. Now go send off another E Mail to Professor Turley pleading that you are being picked on tough guy, because as Shakespeare puts it in Macbeth:
“There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
Dylan and Neil Young are both outstanding.
Absolutely love Neil Young. So much tragedy in his life but just keeps moving forward.
Dredd,
I did not know that about Van Gogh….. Elaine, I had heard about Theo…..
I’m in agreement that Dylan is beyond his prime….. He still has some of the great qualities you admire…. His song are still good….
Another artist that is timeless in my opinion is Neil Young….. He writes from the heart…..
“We see many of the Rock N’ Roll Idols of our youth trade their revolutionary sentiments for a knighthood and celebrity lifestyle.”
Even Dylan! President Obama put the US Medal of Freedom around Bob Dylan’s aging neck…
I guess they waited till he was old,
to cast a medal a-round his neck…
and alas; for those who were there…
Once upon a time…
They…
…finally stole his soul.
http://open.salon.com/blog/sally_swift/2012/05/30/bob_dylan_my_story
Dredd, Dylan is a great songwriter, I would pay to not hear him sing.
Dredd,
Vincent was fortuante to have a younger brother Theo who was understanding and who helped to financially support him so that he could devote his life–short though it was-to painting.
nick spinelli 1, November 2, 2013 at 2:52 pm
… regarding Reed is he really didn’t produce much of anything the last years of his life.
…
===========================
Yep.
Most of us don’t know when to quit.
I wish the greatest musician, Dylan, would get that clue.
Elaine M. 1, November 2, 2013 at 2:01 pm
Vincent van Gogh,one of my favorite artists, was a tortured soul.
…
====================
Yep.
He was a pastor for the serfs who did the coal mining.
He would go down into the mines where they worked, view the working conditions, and their poverty.
He became very tortured when he asked the church to help them by giving them monitary assistance rather than the other way around.
That ended his work as a pastor.
The fired him.
So he took up painting.
Let it all hang out.
http://www.salon.com/2013/11/01/lou_reeds_widow_writes_touching_obituary/
“Laurie Anderson, widow of the late Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Lou Reed, has written an obituary in The East Hampton Star remembering her husband and their life in Long Island:”
To our neighbors:
What a beautiful fall! Everything shimmering and golden and all that incredible soft light. Water surrounding us.
Lou and I have spent a lot of time here in the past few years, and even though we’re city people this is our spiritual home.
Last week I promised Lou to get him out of the hospital and come home to Springs. And we made it!
Lou was a tai chi master and spent his last days here being happy and dazzled by the beauty and power and softness of nature. He died on Sunday morning looking at the trees and doing the famous 21 form of tai chi with just his musician hands moving through the air.
Lou was a prince and a fighter and I know his songs of the pain and beauty in the world will fill many people with the incredible joy he felt for life.
Long live the beauty that comes down and through and onto all of us.
— Laurie Anderson
his loving wife and eternal friend
Harper Lee Stopped Writing Due to Pressure and Publicity, Friend Says
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article
Posted Aug 8, 2011
By Stephanie Francis Ward/harper_lee_stopped_writing_due_to_pressure_and_publicity_says_friend/
Why did Harper Lee stop writing after her first, highly celebrated attempt? Because she said what she wanted to in To Kill A Mockingbird, the Birmingham News reports, and she didn’t want to go through all the pressure and publicity again.
The insight came from Rev. Thomas Lane Butts, a friend of Lee’s. He told Australia’s Sunday Telegraph that she disclosed her reasoning to him one evening while the two shared a bottle of scotch. Butts said he guessed his friend, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who has an ABA Award named in her honor, stopped writing because she didn’t want to compete with herself.
“She said ‘Bull,’ ” Butts told the Telegraph, and claims that Lee told him she had “two reasons: One, I wouldn’t go through the pressure and publicity I went through with To Kill A Mockingbird for any amount of money. Second, I have said what I wanted to say and I will not say it again.’ ”