5. "Dirty Blvd."
Album:
New York (1989) There isn't a Lou Reed song with imagery quite as vivid as that found on "Dirty Blvd.," a song found on his 1989 opus
New York. Lou has that rare talent of being able to express opinions without sounding like a self-righteous jackass (lookin' at you, Bono) and he imbues every song on the album with his opinions on crime, pollution, Jesse Jackson's 1988 "common ground" speech, and the idea of someday being a father. But it's "Dirty Blvd." that takes the cake - the lyrics jump from subject to subject, each darker and more depressing than the last (particularly memorable - "it's hard to run when a coat hanger beats you on the thighs"). It never preaches, never talks down to these characters, and never once lets anybody off the hook. Lou's gravelly speak-singing is matched with a bouncy, bar-band guitar riff that's just as catchy as the chorus. "He's goin' out to the Dirty Boulevard," he tells us - and we're right there with him all the way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z3TPwOT31g