No. 300

Lou Reed - Street Hassle [mp3]

As much as I love this song for its gorgeous refrain and its singular Reed lyrics, I think it's the structure that I find most fascinating. A three-part tone poem is unique on its own, but "Street Hassle" is flawlessly crafted to be a thoroughly moving meditation on an epic scale, where even the inclusion of Springsteen doing spoken word seem in-place. Amazing.

Buy Street Hassle. Also included on the Squid and the Whale OST.

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Stereogum Presents... Drive XV is available for download! A tribute to R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People, featuring Wrens, hooray!

Happy October!