The Lou Reed song that broke the “horrifyingly narrow” parameters of rock and roll
To some, the pairing of Lou Reed and Bruce Springsteen might seem unlikely. Reed, a caustic and self-destructive outsider hailing from New York, crafted nihilistic music with limited commercial success. In contrast, Springsteen, the working-class voice of New Jersey, rose to fame through his charismatic live performances and radio-friendly rock sound.
Fans familiar with Reed’s demeanour might presume that he would subject Springsteen to the same ridicule and disdain he directed at many of his contemporaries. However, Reed held a deep admiration for Springsteen, to the extent that he invited him to contribute to the title track of his eighth album, Street Hassle, released in 1978.
Spanning 11 minutes, the track is divided into three distinct sections: ‘Waltzing Matilda’, ‘Street Hassle’, and ‘Slipaway’, with Lou Reed providing narration for the first two segments. In ‘Waltzing Matilda’, the narrative centres around a woman seeking the services of a male prostitute, while ‘Street Hassle’ immerses Reed into the persona of a drug dealer who bears witness to a tragic demise.
The third and final segment, ‘Slipaway’, introduces Springsteen to the composition. Against a backdrop of velvety guitars, Springsteen offers a spoken word passage, saying, “Life’s full of sad songs”. The section culminates with the resonant line, “Joe, tramps like us, we were born to play,” echoing a motif from Springsteen’s track, ‘Born to Run’.
Despite being one of the darkest songs ever recorded, Reed didn’t think it particularly stood out in the context of art. “If this was a novel or a movie, this stuff would be no big deal,” he said in 1978. “But in rock and roll, the parameters you’re allowed to work in are so horrifyingly narrow. If you do anything other than pure, surface optimism, you seem to come off as intrigued with the dark, murky, kinky, downside of existence. It’s just a little realism.”
Adding: “I think it’s fine and dandy that people enjoy themselves and they’re happy and everything, but to constantly paint that picture leads to a general dullness on the part of the listener. He’s just shocked when he finally gets to the reality of it all and finds out that he’s been lied to.”
Reed also considered the Street Hassle album a continuation of his work with The Velvet Underground, with its title track becoming a project that ultimately “had a great monologue set to rock […] that could have been written by William Burroughs, Hubert Selby, John Rechy, Tennessee Williams, Nelson Algren, [and] maybe a little Raymond Chandler.” There’s no mistaking that ‘Street Hassle’ is exactly that – along with a parting statement, or even a requiem, to the boundaries of rock and roll.
