Off Phrazes For The Young, hidden behind a terribly dreary bass synth intto, lies Casablancas proto-country drinking song of your dreams, “Ludlow St.”.
The song soon segues into a synchopated waltz but a tweak of the arrangement and it’s true nature becomes clears: Dan McGee would love it. George Jones could sing it. And we could all get fucked up to it “Everything seems to go wrong when I start drinking, everything seemed to go my way last night,” Casablancas swings in the best opening couplet since “Waking Up Drunk”.
Soon the problem (hereafter referred to as Nicki) becomes clear: “While I surrendered my ego you fed yours, all my fantasies died when you said yours, I have dangled my pride to forget yours, will my mind be at ease when I get yours? ”
All well and good plus it’s Julian’s most New York song on the album, Ludlow Street is on the Lower East Side and though it’s not Bleeker (and, isn’t it a little late to worry about gentrification), it’s as good a place to get toasted as anywhere.
Real good song.