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Last night I dreamt that I was you
I was dressed all in black with dark glasses and attitude
Such a pose I could simply not hold
Through days in a northern town that I had once called a home
And your studies of fringe New York Streets
I was reading the pavement in every word you would speak
To a "brownstone up three flights of stairs" and it's on...
Buying drinks for the poets upstate
The southern corruption tows you down the interstate
And they all said that you were the king
Of a gloomy disruption that surfaced when you would sing
And this town simply cannot begin to compete
So I'm packing my Bullets and Silvertones and heading east
To a "brownstone up three flights of stairs" and it's on, on, on, on...it's...
I could have had my way, this year would bridge '66 again
Trust fund hipsters were casing the room
Chock-full of amphetamines
The overturned kick drum boom
Set the pace with incomparable cool
And if the tempo was lousy it was lost on all but you...
And your studies of fringe New York Streets:
I was reading the pavement in every word you would speak
To a "brownstone up three flights of stairs" and it's on, on, on, on...it's on...
If I could have had my way, this year would bridge '66 again
If I could have had my way, this year would bridge '66 again
I was dressed all in black with dark glasses and attitude
Such a pose I could simply not hold
Through days in a northern town that I had once called a home
And your studies of fringe New York Streets
I was reading the pavement in every word you would speak
To a "brownstone up three flights of stairs" and it's on...
Buying drinks for the poets upstate
The southern corruption tows you down the interstate
And they all said that you were the king
Of a gloomy disruption that surfaced when you would sing
And this town simply cannot begin to compete
So I'm packing my Bullets and Silvertones and heading east
To a "brownstone up three flights of stairs" and it's on, on, on, on...it's...
I could have had my way, this year would bridge '66 again
Trust fund hipsters were casing the room
Chock-full of amphetamines
The overturned kick drum boom
Set the pace with incomparable cool
And if the tempo was lousy it was lost on all but you...
And your studies of fringe New York Streets:
I was reading the pavement in every word you would speak
To a "brownstone up three flights of stairs" and it's on, on, on, on...it's on...
If I could have had my way, this year would bridge '66 again
If I could have had my way, this year would bridge '66 again
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The song has ties to Lou Reed’s musical career, and most certainly deals with Ben’s contemplating that career (not to mention Lou’s life) if we base our analysis on explicit allusion. But the track also falls on an album that deals with love and loss in some form, as cliché as it may sound. No Joy in Mudville seems to be a final ode, at least to the person with whom Ben is struggling to reconcile, that things are not (and will not be) the same without her/him. With or without the influence of The Velvet Underground, this song is a perfect homage to the emptiness that follows a friend’s, or a lover’s, moving away.
Personally, this song speaks to me as the voice of my best friend, whom I’ll call “T”. When I moved to New York, I left behind the small town where I spent my late teens and early twenties—and developed some of the best friends I’ll ever have. T told me once that my anthem was Mudville because, coming from a military family, I must have left a lot of people feeling the sting of loss (like him). And one night when I was visiting home he explained over a few drinks. He said it was like a piece of him is missing, and it went with me to New York. He said he could see himself singing in that song. Then, living in a hipster neighborhood in Brooklyn, I started identifying with parts of that song as well—and was comforted by the notion that someday T would find his way up at least two flights of stairs, in my brownstone apartment.
This is not a “clearly” point of view, clearly. I just want to suggest that song meanings are mutable things, and that although original intent is interesting contemplate—the critic who uses original intent doesn’t have a monopoly on interpretation.
this song makes me want to just be on the road. and forget the world i live in and go somewhere else.
it's on, on, on.
:)
in company calls epi. the girl he loved jsust got married. ofcourse hes gotta feel like shit now, and the whole 'feel' for the song is depressing..(hence the amazing slowbeat drums, and even in the buildup of the song u can get the feel)
"If I could have (had) my way, this year would bridge '66 (again?)" -- thats his hindsight of it.
now (honestly) ive never heard of Lou Reed butwhat the ppl above said^ definatly makes sense.
He was called "king of a gloomy disposition."-this was from OHNO,DISASTER! and that fits into what this song is about. him feeling gloomy after his girl got married.
now, from FARFORNORM he said theres a poem called "Casey at the Bat"..where the main character 'strikes out' actually and figuratively.
soo, doesnt this fit in with ben (or whoever) "striking out" in life because he thought that this was THE girl for him? ...yeaa
At the end with its on.. its on.. ((here we go)) iii think that this leads up to him killing the girl he has been talking about throught the cd.. iknow its a stretch from the happy endings.. but look at Scientist Studies and read some of the comments there..
IN THE LAST PARAGRAPH it makes the most sense to me..- hes full of drugs (amphetathat)- "The overturned kick drum boom", the way he feels, overturned inside.- "And if the temp was lousy it was lost on all but you...", - he is still so obsessed with her even though she's moved on.-
"I was reading the pavement in every word you would speak.
To a "brownstone up three flights of stairs" and it's on, on, on, on...it's on" ...yea.
i just tried to put everything together in some logical fashion. shun me or thank me lol. theres my interpretation X)
It's clearly about Lou Reed. "To a brownstone, up three flights of stairs" is from the Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting for the Man." It's common knowledge that Lou Reed did a lot of drugs (I'm Waiting for the Man is about waiting for a heroin dealer on a New York street).
Lou Reed spent a lot of time with Andy Warhol, and there were always parties going on, hence the "trust fund hipsters were casing the room chock full of amphetamines." '66 was about the year that all of this hit its peak.
Lou's voice is definitely full of "gloomy disruption," and all the "poets upstate" clearly regarded him as "the king."
I love this song.
anyway, i love this song. i'm not sure why. i love how it starts "last night i dreamt..that i was you" i also love the lyric "to a brownstone up three flights of stairs, and it's on"
but i don't know what this is about... it seems to be kind of country boy/city girl love story sort of thing...only no happy ending... maybe she's real famous and he can look beyond that... i don't know... oh well