Boulevards in songs

[gavc23]

Hanoi Rocks also had a song called Boulevard of Broken Dreams that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the ones already mentioned.

Incidentally the Bulevardi in Helsinki is lovely with a few bakeries and a shop selling Soviet art, so doubt it refers to that. Well there’s the plague pit cemetery, but can’t see Michael Monroe writing about that.

[WOM]

We were in Pizza Hut this evening ...

You don't read that very often.

[WOM]

What ursus said about the JD poster; also there was a popular and cheesy riff on Edward Hopper's Nighthawks painting called Boulevard of Broken Dreams that featured Elvis, Dean, Marilyn Monroe and (for some reason) Humphrey Bogart. It was popular on dorm-room walls in the late '80s and early '90s.

[ursus arctos]

Never got it. Still don't. There are actually versions with neon highlights, which are yet worse.

[adams house cat]

"Boulevard" - Dan Byrd
"Boulevard" -Jackson Brown
"461 Ocean Boulevard" (LP) - Eric Clapton
"Boulevard de la Madelaine" (LP) - Moody Blues

[Jah Womble]

Jah's obvoiusly on a lot of people's Ignore Poster function...

Clearly so. (Add ahc to the list, it seems.)

(IM me if you got this. Etc.)

[adams house cat]

Whoops! Sorry.

[Jah Womble]

S'okay! It was a fleeting reference on my part...

[Wouter D]

[Pérou Flaquettes]

"Boulevard de la Madeleine" (LP) - Moody Blues

I don’t don’t if that counts but there’s a French pop-rock band called Boulevard des airs, they had this minor hit a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkOPeQXcV4Y

There's MC Solaar's big hit, Bouge de là, which name-checks the pulsating and multicultural Boulevard Barbès in Paris's 18th district:

Je continue mon trajet, j'arrive sur le boul'vard Barbès
Quand je vois un d'mes amis qui venait de Marrakech
Il me dit "arwhah, arwhah, j't'achète des rap en dinars"
J'ai dit "non je veux des dollars car on m'appelle Solaar"


Great song BTW:

[Pérou Flaquettes]

Alabama - Dancin', Shaggin' On The Boulevard

[sw2borshch]

Rock the hard jams, treat like a seminar
Teach the bourgeois, and rock the boulevard

Public Enemy again, Don't Believe the Hype

[Benjm]

Chuck's got more boulevard than Maurice Chevalier.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Big Audio Dynamite "Hollywood Boulevard"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugphkgi7n3E

Very much of its time, forgotten by history. A housemate/ex-uni friend got me the album as a birthday present in the late 80s.

[Pérou Flaquettes]

Yves Montand - Les Grands Boulevards

J'aime flâner sur les grands boulevards
Y a tant de choses, tant de choses
Tant de choses à voir

[…]

Je file entre la porte Saint-Denis
Et le boulevard des Italiens

[…]

Là vibre le cœur de Paris
Toujours ardent, parfois frondeur
Avec ses chants, ses cris
Et de jolis moments d'histoire
Sont écrits partout le long
De nos grands boulevards

J'aime flâner sur les grands boulevards
Les soirs d'été quand tout le monde
Aime bien se coucher tard


[…]

D'où me parviennent comme un appel
Toutes les rumeurs, toutes les lueurs
Du monde enchanteur
Des grands boulevards

Jacques Brel - Il Peut Pleuvoir

Il peut pleuvoir
Sur les trottoirs
Des grands boulevards
Moi j'm'en fiche
J'ai ma mie
Auprès de moi

Il peut pleuvoir
Sur les trottoirs
Des grands boulevards
Moi j'm'en fiche
Car ma mie
C'est toi

[Patrick Thistle]

You don't read that very often.

It's one of the few eating places we can go where Mrs Thistle can eat due to her restricted diet. So we go quite frequently. Our local one is less than a mile from the house.

[Pérou Flaquettes]

Renaud – Oscar

L'a quitté Paname et la rue de Charonne
Pour une petite baraque avec un bout de jardin

L'a usé ses reins, a cassé la terre
Pour planter trois pauvres salades, trois carottes
Y regrettait ses potes du Boulevard Voltaire
Le bistrot, l'apéro et les parties de belote

[Pérou Flaquettes]

Boulevard Saint Michel in Paris is referenced in Peter Sarstedt's 'Where Do You Go To My Lovely?', and in Gary Moore's 'Parisienne Walkways.'

Must be a cool thoroughfare. I've never been.

The Boulevard Saint-Michel (sometimes called Boul’ Mich) is a famous Parisian tree-lined thoroughfare, associated to major social movements, it was the epicentre of the May 1968 "revolution" in Paris (plenty of students’ and lycéens’ demonstrations over the decades there too). It’s more peaceful now, but still used for street parties (eg the Gay Pride) or the occasional march, although demos tend to be held elsewhere now, in Eastern Paris mainly.

If you’re ever in Paris, try to walk the full length of the Boulevard St-Michel (2 kms), from the bottom (where the legendary Closerie des Lilas café-brasserie is located) to the top (Saint-Michel Fountain).

As G-Man says, the Boulevard St-Michel takes in a few famous landmarks/areas (Latin Quarter, Sorbonne University, Luxembourg Gardens – with the Senate in the Gardens, the Upper House of the French parliament) with plenty more within 500 metres on either side (Panthéon, Notre-Dame, St Sulpice Church – used as a filming location for the Da Vinci Code –, the famous Shakespeare and Company bookshop, the Bouquinistes at the top of the Boulevard along the Seine etc.).

Most of the Boulevard St-Michel is in the heart of a studenty area but sadly the students don’t live there anymore as it’s way too expensive now, but they study there, plenty of universities, Grandes Écoles, Lycées (15-18 high schools) etc. in that area (5th/6th district of Paris). Some good bookshops too (although rents are sky high so not that many left now), such as the famous Gibert Jeune (bombed in 1986, by Hezbollah members), and good discount bookshops too, music, DVDs etc. Both sides at the top of the Boul’ Mich are pedestrian, good vibes, some very old streets there, but extremely touristic and the character of the place has been spoilt, especially the old buildings, there are so many fucking signs on some of those streets (eg 100s of restaurants and cafés) that it’s sometimes hard to appreciate the lovely architecture. However, it's a very pleasant area, fairly laidback, especially as you go east of the Boulevard St-Michel, towards the Mouffetard Street area (where James Joyce, Hemingway and many others lived), lovely markets there, street musicians too, at the bottom of Mouffetard Street every Sunday lunchtime there's a great little bal musette (accordion), outside of the St Médard Church. Rain, hail or shine since 1975, a man called Christian Bassoul gets his accordion out and plays classic French tunes for 3 hours, there's bars & restaurants, so people get pissed and sing and dance along, Christian gives out the lyrics to whoever wants to sing along.

Times have moved on since Peter Sarstedt's hit, not many bohemians left on the Boulevard St-Michel, it is a very bourgeois area today (eg the last MP for this area/constituency [2nd district] was François Fillon, not exactly your average paupers’ representative; was MP there form 2012 to 2017, then was forced to retire from politics and a Macronist businessman replaced him, elected in last year’s general elections).

Ah, Zizi Jeanmaire (sigh)…

[Sporting]

"In L.A. a drunk is sick on Gene Vincent's star on Hollywood Boulevard": New Puritan - The Fall.

[ad hoc]

Another Fall one is LA (on This Nation's Saving Grace) which includes the line "They have filled the boulevards with white snow, scumball"

Sensation Boulevard - T Rex
Petite blonde du Boulevard Brune - Manu Chao

[Sporting]

Actually, though, Gene Vincent's star isn't on Hollywood Boulevard but on Vine Street.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Lou Reed and PE both got quoted recently when we cycled through the ‘Boulevard Shopping Centre’ in Longbenton.

This had a reputation as one of the roughest/hardest estates in Newcastle so this outdoor shopping development symbolises the attempts at social cleansing and gentrification underway for many years.

That the row of shops comprises Greggs, Booze Buster, Ladbrokes, BetFred and FarmFoods tells you a bit about their (council/gentrifiers) progress so far.
Mind you, 5 still- functioning retail outlets tells you it’s doing a lot better than other parts of toon.

[Nefertiti2]

[Nefertiti2]

Sunset Boulevard was an Andrew lloyd Webber musical.

[Nefertiti2]

And has this been done