"Romeo Had Juliette"
Lou Reed
New York
1989
Growing up in the 70's or 80's meant you had a specific image of New York from TV and the movies: a dirty cesspool with garbage piled on the streets, gangs of dudes with pink Statue of Liberty mohawks roaming the subway with boomboxes blasting Def Leppard tunes, EPA bureaucrats refusing the keep the city safe from evil demons.
Even the sitcoms set there - "Taxi", "Barney Miller", "Welcome Back Kotter" - looked like they were filmed through a layer of grime.
Against that backdrop, Lou Reed's New York album almost qualified as a love letter.
I'll take Manhattan in a garbage bag
with Latin written on it that says
"it's hard to give a shit these days"
Manhattan's sinking like a rock
into the filthy Hudson what a shock
they wrote a book about it
they said it was like ancient Rome
Like a Cole Porter song, even.
(Every song on this list has at least one moment I look forward to when it comes on, and for this song I always give an appreciative nod when Lou Reed sings "Romeo Rodriguez squares his shoulders, curses Jesus." That lyric is the tits.)
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