"Rue Morgue Avenue" kinda bugged me the first time I heard this song, since "Rue Morgue" is not just a reference to the Edgar Allan Poe story, "The Murders In The Rue Morgue," but also in French the word "Rue" means "Street." So it initially annoyed me that Lloyd Cole, who doubtless knew better, was saying (in translation) "Morgue Street Avenue."
But I soon discovered, since I hadn't yet been immersed in Dylan, that Cole is paying homage to a line from "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues." Which is:
Don't put on any airs when you're down on Rue Morgue Avenue
Somehow the fact that he's riffing in a way on a Dylan lyric made this okay, for me.
"Rue Morgue Avenue" kinda bugged me the first time I heard this song, since "Rue Morgue" is not just a reference to the Edgar Allan Poe story, "The Murders In The Rue Morgue," but also in French the word "Rue" means "Street." So it initially annoyed me that Lloyd Cole, who doubtless knew better, was saying (in translation) "Morgue Street Avenue."
But I soon discovered, since I hadn't yet been immersed in Dylan, that Cole is paying homage to a line from "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues." Which is:
Don't put on any airs when you're down on Rue Morgue Avenue
Somehow the fact that he's riffing in a way on a Dylan lyric made this okay, for me.