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
He thanks Mr.Turley for threatening to ban him?
Those 2 had a love hate relationship. Bowie got sober before Reed. They were in a restaurant in London and Bowie reportedly told Reed he would only produce Reed’s albums if Reed got sober. Reed started pummeling Bowie right @ the dining table. It took several people to pull him off. When you read rock star bios there’s a lot of that stuff, almost all booze/drug fueled.
Good tune….
Thanks, sir. And thanks from my wife.
Thanks Professor Turley.
I especially like where he says “thank you for being so nice” 😉
The Voice within the curtain has spoken it appears…. I agree in totality…. Thanks….
Once again, I was astonished to check in on the blog and see this personal stuff appear in the comments. There is no place for this type of personal animus and attacks on this blog. We have long maintained a civility rule on the blog that asks for our commenters to refrain from personal commentary. There is clearly history extending to another blog site. However, this site is different. We are struggling to offer a site where passional but civil discourse is possible. As a site committed to free speech, I am loath to ban anyone from the site. However, this exchange has pushed me to consider such drastic action. We gather on this site to exchange ideas and values without degrading or insulting those on the other side. If commenters cannot maintain a civil discourse, I am asking you to seek out an alternative site. There are plenty that love this type of discourse. If you cannot refrain from attacks, please leave this blog to those who want to discuss the issues of the day.
AY, You’re simply wrong. Even SHE said she was a new commenter. She is stalking me and my wife. Chrissake!!! AY, you try my patience sometimes.
So Nick are you saint that you were never banned from the Althouse blot? If that is the case then Anne loses credibility. If you have been banned then maybe she is speaking the truth. Also no one has criticized your wife so why do you bring her into this? You are of course aware that if its your wife’s. website than comments can be excised so there is no proof to be had in that direction. The only way to establish credibility is to deny you’ve been banned elsewhere so we could check it out. An easy way to do it would be to post a comment on the Althouse site today. Your record here is such that you have developed little trust in your good faith.
Nick,
Annie has been around for some time…. I have yet to see Annie attack anyone…. But hey, time can tell…. You’ve been after Mike S and Elaine for some time….
As has been suggested quit throwing lit torches and listen to what OS, Raff and others have suggested…. Get along or git…… Your choice….
Said the guy throwing lit torches at the crowd.
Illustrative ofhe fact he has several people whom he has stalked he gets them mixed up.
Now I do know who this person is and the comment about dogs is not relevant. This is almost certainly the same person who wrote the slanderous comment on Amazon. My wife does not blog. But, this person has gone to her book website and sent a threatening email. My wife did not respond because she sees her as someone that you don’t respond to, and my wife is also somewhat frightened of her. So, this person probably then wrote the slanderous “review,” that has been reported to Amazon and other steps are being taken to end this stalking. Again, it’s MIA FAMIGLIA she has gone after. This woman is an open book. She has given out her entire life story making me look like a closed book, if you can believe that. But, when she gets nasty she uses other names. However, as you can see, she came out of the closet here, as it were. She’s not real bright, but that’s the least of her problems. I do not address this woman, and when she says things I ignore her.
Like I said, I knew this would be edifying. You have embraced someone simply because what she said fit your narrative. I am thinking about that poor, dead Polish girl that fit the atheist narrative yesterday that is now shown to be a hoax. However, embrace this woman, you all deserve each other. She “feels safer here.” If she was so fearful why would she come here? How did she know I was here? For chrissake folks, you’re acting like an angry mob.
Mr.Spinelli does know far more about me than he has a right to. He has used his PI status to obtain private information about me, my profession, where I live, what kind of car I drive, which he has taunted me with many times on another blog. He has made references to my marital status in a cruel way and has used foul language toward myself and others who disagree with him politically. I have asked him several times to leave me alone and he does not. I confronted his bullying here as I could no longer stand to let it go and in light of the fact that it appears that there have been instances of the same type of behavior here to others, I felt safer here than at the other blog that he frequents.
There is a lot we have learned about Nick but I’ve always wondered by he puts so much emphasis on “real names” and when in his “congenial mode” he seems so interested in learning about commenters personal lives.
No, I want you to embrace this person.
As OS suggested, civility and comity can and should go hand in hand with free speech for all posters.
Someone appears, out of the blue, offers no comments but bile toward one person, and she/he is considered to be speaking gospel. Wow.
Explain your walking the dogs comment, and I’ll put her in the grain of salt category.
As I said, the response would be edifying. Annie says, among other things, “It wouldn’t be a stretch to surmise he does beat his wife.” And, I am lectured. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Edifying indeed.