3. "Caroline Says II"
Album:
Berlin (1973) "Caroline Says II" is one of the most straightforward songs about domestic abuse ever released, but it's no surprise when you hear it on the second side of
Berlin, the astutely-titled "Most Depressing Album of All Time," released in 1973 to a very unresponsive public.
Rolling Stone was especially harsh, simply stating: "Goodbye, Lou." But it's an album that has persevered. In 2003, it was included in
Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time (it only took them 30 years to warm up to it) and has often been cited as Lou Reed's best studio album. It's a 50-minute descent into darkness about a doomed relationship in Berlin, Germany, augmented by drug abuse and violence and ending in suicide. It would be a normal Lou Reed album if it weren't for the grandiose production by Bob Ezrin, fellow heroin fanatic and future producer of Pink Floyd's
The Wall. "Caroline Says II" makes its subject matter clear using very simple terms: "Caroline says, as she gets up off the floor, 'You can hit me all you want to, but I don't love you anymore.'" Beyond the startling lyrics lies a sense of disconnection: Jim, the protagonist, isn't sorry in the least about his actions. And that's what really makes "Caroline Says II" such a worthwhile song - That disturbing feeling that nobody cares and the abuse will never end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuHgjtAK_PE