Lou Reed Lyrics-41 – Do Lou Reed (from “Live, Take No Prisoners”) (Now Playing Week 17)

Lest we forget, the artist “Lou Reed”  was only one facet of the human being Lou Reed.    

Characters in search of a voice

Of course, much of the real Lou shines through his lyrics. But Lou was a superb creator of characters, and had a well-honed ability to express the thoughts, moods, and feelings of those characters. It was as if Lou the writer helped those fictional characters to find their voices.

True portraits of fictional characters

Inevitably, Lou portrayed some of those characters through the first-person singular “I.” In many cases, however, that “I” is a fictional character. 

The protagonist might be similar to Lou, and he may have problems and predilections similar to those of Lou, but he is not necessarily Lou.

At the most, he’s only a portrayal of one aspect of Lou. A unique and inimitable portrayal. Lou Reed, Anthology of Memorable Lyrics.