Hands down, Lou Reed’s New York is one of my favorite records of all-time. Lou’s at the top of his game musically, topically, lyrically (mostly), and emotionally (though with ol’ deadpan Lou it’s hard to tell sometimes).

Released in 1989, it’s a somewhat dated commentary on New York City and our society in general. There are many frank ideas about wealth, poverty, failed leadership, religion, greed, and race throughout the set that are timeless and, sadly, unresolved or unchanged.

On the whole it’s one of Lou’s better albums.

One song in particular — “Strawman” — always gets me riled up, partly because of the subject matter and partly because you can really hear Lou getting riled up himself.

The words to the tune are pretty simple and self-explanatory. I always find myself summing them up with one simple question that Lou himself asks in the song:

Does anyone need a $60,000 car?

Now I don’t know what Lou drives nor do I begrudge anyone for owning a $60,000 car. The song just gives me a little perspective and sometimes I — better yet, we — need that more than anything else.

Take a few minutes and listen for yourself.

Lou Reed “Strawman”
from New York