Lou Reed - Dirty Boulevard
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Title:
The title Dirty Boulevard refers, as the rest of the song, to an actual location in New York. The whole song is build up among the dirty boulevard and you can say that all the way trough the song the is a red line which ends at “The Dirty Boulevard.”
Characters:
Pedro: Lives out of the Wilshire hotel, his father beats him because he’s too tired to beg. Dreams about flying away, being older and killing his father.
Father: Beats his kids, pays 2000$ a month to live in a hotel room.
Pedro’s 9 brothers and sisters: They were brought up on their knees, with a father beating them with a coat hanger.
Landlord: Laughing ’till he wets his pants, ’cause the father pays way too much for the room.
The small kid: A small poor kid that stands at the Lincoln tunnel, selling plastic roses for a buck.
TV whores: Standing on 39th street calling cops for a suck.
Movie stars: Arrives by limousine at the opera.
There is a contrast between the movie stars, the landlord and the poor people on the dirty boulevard.
Composition:
Intro - 2 verses – chorus – 2 verses – chorus – 3 verses – chorus - outro.There are typically 4 lines per verse throughout the whole song. The song is divided in a three-part structure. The first part is where we are presented to Pedro, the neighborhood is introduced and his family is described. The second part is the environmental description of New York and the nearby neighborhood, without focus on Pedro and his family. The third part is back at The Wilshire Hotel with Pedro, where he sits with a book, dreaming about flying away from the Dirty Boulevard.
Include comments about the sound aspects of the song (music).Old-school country rock theme throughout the whole song, with a simple typical American country styled guitar riff. 2 guitars, drums and a bass do the instrumentation.
Settings:
At a glance you instantly notice the contrast between the negative lyrics and positive instrumentation. The song is situated in ”no time”, as there’s no description of when this story has unfolded. It takes place in New York - “Skyline of Manhattan, Lincoln Tunnel, 39th street, The Wilshire Hotel”. Pedro, the main character of the song, lives at the Wilshire Hotel. The storyteller starts in Pedro’s home, and then takes on alone to describe the Lincoln Center where there is a opera and movie starts are arriving. He also describes a small kid standing at 39th street selling flowers. He then comes back to Pedro’s home, where he describes how Pedro just wants to fly away from this “dirty boulevard”. The “Dirty Boulevard” is what gives the song a symbolic setting.
Speaker/Voice:
Throughout the song Pedro amongst others and New York is described from a 3rd person narrator – Lou Reed. He tones the settings (Pedro’s relationship to his father, the neighborhood they live in – Dirty Boulevard and the peoples future) negatively. For example: “But that's a slim chance he's going to the boulevard”, ”No one here dreams of being a doctor or a lawyer or anythingthey dream of dealing on the dirty boulevard”, ” Get to end up, on the dirty boulevardgoing out, to the dirty boulevard”.Even though the author probably isn’t part of this neighborhood in particular, he says/knows that they’re going to end up as drug dealers and forever poor, as he has probably lived in the same sort of environment as Pedro.
Language and style / Poetic devices:
The language is rather easy, but with a couple of difficult words. There are a few rhymes, but no constant rhythm or rhyme composition throughout the whole song. The key word is of course Dirty Boulevard, which is also the title and the all in all theme of the song. Metaphors: Dirty Boulevard (the bad, poor neighborhood), Statue of Bigotry (Statue of Liberty contrast. Liberty means freedom, and bigotry means intolerance. America or especially New York is known for freedom of speech and no racism between black/white. “Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I'll piss on 'em”. He means that America is exactly NOT liberty. Everyone is for them selves, and people don’t give a rat’s ass about each other.). The elements altogether work to create a criticism of America.
Theme(s) and message:
The title is the focus of attention, and supports the message of the song. The theme is developed through the narrators’ point of view on the rich/poor contrast, which takes place in New York. The author wants to share his opinion on America, and its liberty.
The title Dirty Boulevard refers, as the rest of the song, to an actual location in New York. The whole song is build up among the dirty boulevard and you can say that all the way trough the song the is a red line which ends at “The Dirty Boulevard.”
Characters:
Pedro: Lives out of the Wilshire hotel, his father beats him because he’s too tired to beg. Dreams about flying away, being older and killing his father.
Father: Beats his kids, pays 2000$ a month to live in a hotel room.
Pedro’s 9 brothers and sisters: They were brought up on their knees, with a father beating them with a coat hanger.
Landlord: Laughing ’till he wets his pants, ’cause the father pays way too much for the room.
The small kid: A small poor kid that stands at the Lincoln tunnel, selling plastic roses for a buck.
TV whores: Standing on 39th street calling cops for a suck.
Movie stars: Arrives by limousine at the opera.
There is a contrast between the movie stars, the landlord and the poor people on the dirty boulevard.
Composition:
Intro - 2 verses – chorus – 2 verses – chorus – 3 verses – chorus - outro.There are typically 4 lines per verse throughout the whole song. The song is divided in a three-part structure. The first part is where we are presented to Pedro, the neighborhood is introduced and his family is described. The second part is the environmental description of New York and the nearby neighborhood, without focus on Pedro and his family. The third part is back at The Wilshire Hotel with Pedro, where he sits with a book, dreaming about flying away from the Dirty Boulevard.
Include comments about the sound aspects of the song (music).Old-school country rock theme throughout the whole song, with a simple typical American country styled guitar riff. 2 guitars, drums and a bass do the instrumentation.
Settings:
At a glance you instantly notice the contrast between the negative lyrics and positive instrumentation. The song is situated in ”no time”, as there’s no description of when this story has unfolded. It takes place in New York - “Skyline of Manhattan, Lincoln Tunnel, 39th street, The Wilshire Hotel”. Pedro, the main character of the song, lives at the Wilshire Hotel. The storyteller starts in Pedro’s home, and then takes on alone to describe the Lincoln Center where there is a opera and movie starts are arriving. He also describes a small kid standing at 39th street selling flowers. He then comes back to Pedro’s home, where he describes how Pedro just wants to fly away from this “dirty boulevard”. The “Dirty Boulevard” is what gives the song a symbolic setting.
Speaker/Voice:
Throughout the song Pedro amongst others and New York is described from a 3rd person narrator – Lou Reed. He tones the settings (Pedro’s relationship to his father, the neighborhood they live in – Dirty Boulevard and the peoples future) negatively. For example: “But that's a slim chance he's going to the boulevard”, ”No one here dreams of being a doctor or a lawyer or anythingthey dream of dealing on the dirty boulevard”, ” Get to end up, on the dirty boulevardgoing out, to the dirty boulevard”.Even though the author probably isn’t part of this neighborhood in particular, he says/knows that they’re going to end up as drug dealers and forever poor, as he has probably lived in the same sort of environment as Pedro.
Language and style / Poetic devices:
The language is rather easy, but with a couple of difficult words. There are a few rhymes, but no constant rhythm or rhyme composition throughout the whole song. The key word is of course Dirty Boulevard, which is also the title and the all in all theme of the song. Metaphors: Dirty Boulevard (the bad, poor neighborhood), Statue of Bigotry (Statue of Liberty contrast. Liberty means freedom, and bigotry means intolerance. America or especially New York is known for freedom of speech and no racism between black/white. “Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I'll piss on 'em”. He means that America is exactly NOT liberty. Everyone is for them selves, and people don’t give a rat’s ass about each other.). The elements altogether work to create a criticism of America.
Theme(s) and message:
The title is the focus of attention, and supports the message of the song. The theme is developed through the narrators’ point of view on the rich/poor contrast, which takes place in New York. The author wants to share his opinion on America, and its liberty.