Street Hassling

Lou Reed, birthday boy, is now 66. I've backed off a touch on my days of worship, but he's still a key figure in my life.

This is "Street Hassle," as performed by him and his band in 1980. The studio version has cellos and some spoken words from Bruce Springsteen (read Rolling Stone's take on it here); this version doesn't, but it still has one of the greatest arrangements any two-chord rock 'n' roll song could ask for, along with some of the most wrenching writing of Lou's career.

It's eleven minutes long, set up in three movements. Here's part 1:



And, after a mean pinball and an introduction to the band, here are parts 2 and 3.