About "Street Hassle"
"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 (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 Animal Serenade (2004), Reed says: "I wanted to write a song that had a great monologue set to rock. Something that could have been written by William Burroughs, Hubert Selby, John Rechy, Tennessee Williams, Nelson Algren, maybe a little Raymond Chandler. 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 Rachel Humphreys, a trans woman who died in 1990, likely of AIDS, and was buried on Hart Island in the Bronx in the Potter's Field located on the island. Biographer Anthony DeCurtis summarized the song as "something of a requiem for Reed and Rachel's relationship." (DeCurtis also claimed that the second section of the song, "Street Hassle," was inspired by the mysterious 1975 death of Warhol performer and Max's Kansas City denizen Eric Emerson.) In a 1979 article for Rolling Stone, Mikal Gilmore refers to Rachel as the "raison d'être" for the entire album.“Street Hassle" was included in 2008's The Pitchfork Media 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present.
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.
Top songs by Simple Minds
- Don't You (forget About Me)
- Belfast Child
- Alive And Kicking
- Someone Somewhere In Summertime
- Forget About Me
- I Wish You Were Here
- Waterfront
- All The Things She Said
- Come A Long Way
- New Gold Dream 81—82—83—84
- Glittering Prize
- 20th Century Promised Land
- Biko
- Real Life
- Dancing Barefoot
- New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84)
- Promised You A Miracle
- Calling Your Name
- All For You
- Let The Children Speak
- The Needle And The Damage Done
- Mandela Day
- Once Upon A Time
- Gloria
- Ghostdancing
- Stand By Love
- Chelsea Girl
- Hypnotised
- Big Sleep
- Let It All Come Down
- Hunter And The Hunted
- Colours Fly And Catherine Wheel
"Street Hassle" video by Simple Minds is property and copyright of its owners and it's embedded from Youtube.
Information about the song "Street Hassle" is automatically taken from Wikipedia. It may happen that this information does not match with "Street Hassle".
SONGSTUBE is against piracy and promotes safe and legal music downloading. Music on this site is for the sole use of educational reference and is the property of respective authors, artists and labels. If you like Simple Minds songs on this site, please buy them on Itunes, Amazon and other online stores. All other uses are in violation of international copyright laws. This use for educational reference, falls under the "fair use" sections of U.S. copyright law.