Wow, what a song.
I think that the point of the crying kids is overlooked. Obviously the mother has a rough history and created a lot of problems for herself, that is very sad and a continuous cycle of bad decisions and terrible circumstances. I feel empathy for her, but she is broken. I have heard the horror stories from these kids with druggy parents (my in-laws are very generous foster parents) and they are crying because their mother is too doped up to respond. We never hear mom replying to them because she is either in a drugged out trance or left them at home to fend for themselves. Maybe they are crying from burning themselves while cooking up meth for their parents (true story) or they are starving and covered in their own filth because their parents are denying them food for crying, or they aren't feeding them because they spent all the money on drugs (another true story). There are children surviving from garbage cans because their craphole parents can't keep off of dope, but keep popping out kids because of their self centered lifestyle.
Lou was a genius at observing people and seeing what was tearing them apart, however, from many interviews he admits that he was not supportive of their behavior, he just recognized that they were in it and had feelings too. It is terrible that these parents like the mother in his story can't get out of their problems because of addiction or being abused or whatever, but why do they keep reproducing just to ruin their children's lives?
Lou also makes a phenomenal point in the song when they take the sobbing kids away. It goes quiet. She wants to be a good mother, she wants to fix her life, so now maybe taking her kids and protecting them will motivate her to do so.
Lou Reed was a genius musician, but even more he was extremely empathetic and saw both sides of the story in peoples live that most people turn away from. Drugs suck! Abusing children sucks worse! At least the children will be given attention, fed and (usually) not neglected as badly as they were.
How sad.
Wow, what a song. I think that the point of the crying kids is overlooked. Obviously the mother has a rough history and created a lot of problems for herself, that is very sad and a continuous cycle of bad decisions and terrible circumstances. I feel empathy for her, but she is broken. I have heard the horror stories from these kids with druggy parents (my in-laws are very generous foster parents) and they are crying because their mother is too doped up to respond. We never hear mom replying to them because she is either in a drugged out trance or left them at home to fend for themselves. Maybe they are crying from burning themselves while cooking up meth for their parents (true story) or they are starving and covered in their own filth because their parents are denying them food for crying, or they aren't feeding them because they spent all the money on drugs (another true story). There are children surviving from garbage cans because their craphole parents can't keep off of dope, but keep popping out kids because of their self centered lifestyle. Lou was a genius at observing people and seeing what was tearing them apart, however, from many interviews he admits that he was not supportive of their behavior, he just recognized that they were in it and had feelings too. It is terrible that these parents like the mother in his story can't get out of their problems because of addiction or being abused or whatever, but why do they keep reproducing just to ruin their children's lives? Lou also makes a phenomenal point in the song when they take the sobbing kids away. It goes quiet. She wants to be a good mother, she wants to fix her life, so now maybe taking her kids and protecting them will motivate her to do so. Lou Reed was a genius musician, but even more he was extremely empathetic and saw both sides of the story in peoples live that most people turn away from. Drugs suck! Abusing children sucks worse! At least the children will be given attention, fed and (usually) not neglected as badly as they were. How sad.