Street Hassle (song)
| "Street Hassle" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Lou Reed | |
| from the album Street Hassle | |
| Released | February 1978 |
| Recorded | 1977 |
| Studio | Record Plant (New York) |
| Genre | Art rock |
| Length | 10:53 |
| Label | Arista |
| Songwriter(s) | Lou Reed |
| Producer(s) |
|
"Street Hassle" is a song recorded by American rock musician Lou Reed for his 1978 studio album of the same name. It is 10 minutes and 56 seconds long and divided into three distinct sections: "Waltzing Matilda," "Street Hassle," and "Slipaway." Part one, "Waltzing Matilda," describes a woman picking up and paying a male prostitute. In Part Two, "Street Hassle," a drug dealer speaks at length about the death of a woman in his apartment to her companion. Part Three, "Slipaway," contains a brief, uncredited, spoken word section by Bruce Springsteen referencing his song Born to Run (from 9:02 to 9:39) and a dirge sung by Reed about love and death. It was recorded in E major.
On the live album . You mix it all up and you have 'Street Hassle'."
Critics have described the song as being largely motivated by and representative of the end of Reed's three-year relationship with
“Street Hassle" was included in 2008's The
Simple Minds covered the song in an abbreviated version on their sixth studio album Sparkle in the Rain (1984), using two verses (the first and third) from the "Waltzing Matilda" section and a verse from the "Slipaway" section.
In 2005, the song served as the leitmotif for Baker Skateboards' seminal full-length video Baker 3.[4]
References
- ^ Corey Kilgannon (July 3, 2018). "Dead of AIDS and Forgotten in Potter's Field". NY Times.
- ^ DeCurtis, Anthony. Lou Reed: A Life. Little Brown, 2017.
- ^ Gilmore, Mikal. "Lou Reed’s Heart of Darkness," Rolling Stone, March 22, 1979. 20.
- ^ "HOW "BAKER 3" BANGED US OVER THE HEAD". Jenkem Magazine. 2019-11-25. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
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