Lou Reed Inspired Dragonflies (2 Images)

"Pedro lives out of the Wilshire Hotel. He looks out a window without glass. And the walls are made of cardboard, newspapers on his feet and his father beats him because he's too tired to beg.

He's got 9 brothers and sisters, they're brought up on their knees. It's hard to run when a coat hanger beats you on the thighs. Pedro dreams of being older and killing the old man but that's a slim chance, he's going to the boulevard.

He's going to end up on the dirty boulevard. He's going out to the dirty boulevard. He's going down to the dirty boulevard.

This room cost 2,000 dollars a month, you can believe it man, it's true somewhere a landlord's laughing till he wets his pants. No one dreams of being a doctor or a lawyer or anything. They dream of dealing on the dirty boulevard.

Give me your hungry, your tired, your poor - I'll piss on 'em. That's what the Statue of Bigotry says. Your poor huddled masses, let's club 'em to death. And get it over with and just dump 'em on the boulevard.

Get 'em out on the dirty boulevard. Going out to the dirty boulevard. They're going down on the dirty boulevard going out.

Outside it's a bright night, there's an opera at Lincoln Center Movie stars arrive by limousine. The klieg lights shoot up over the skyline of Manhattan. But the lights are out on the mean streets.

A small kid stands by the Lincoln Tunnel. He's selling plastic roses for a buck. The traffic's backed up to 39th Street. The TV whores are calling the cops out for a suck.

And back at the Wilshire, Pedro sits there dreaming. He's found a book on magic in a garbage can. He looks at the pictures and stares up at the cracked ceiling. "At the count of 3," he says, "I hope I can disappear."

And fly, fly away, from this dirty boulevard I want to fly, from the dirty boulevard. I want to fly, from the dirty boulevard I want to fly, fly, fly, fly, from the dirty boulevard."

Read More About: Lou Reed

Read More About: The Velvet Underground