Line #4 Music/Berlin


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lou_reed_berlin_7089.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Caroline Says: "This is a masterpiece".]]
3
4	''Berlin'' is the third studio album by Music/LouReed, released in 1973 through Creator/RCARecords. It was produced by Bob Ezrin (Music/AliceCooper, Music/{{KISS}}, Music/PeterGabriel, Music/PinkFloyd). As the title suggests, it takes place in UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}}.
5
6	Not to be confused with the ''band'' Berlin (best known for their hit song "Take My Breath Away").
7
8	----
9	!! Tracklist:
10
11	[[AC: Side One]]
12
13	# "Berlin" (3:23)
14	# "Lady Day" (3:40)
15	# "Men of Good Fortune" (4:37)
16	# "Caroline Says I" (3:57)
17	# "How Do You Think It Feels?" (3:42)
18	# "Oh, Jim" (5:13)
19
20	[[AC: Side Two]]
21
22	[numlist:7]
23	# "Caroline Says II" (4:10)
24	# "The Kids" (7:55)
25	# "The Bed" (5:51)
26	# "Sad Song" (6:55)
27	[/numlist]
28
29	----
30	!! Caroline Tropes...
31	* BaroquePop: Like most of Reed's music from this time period.
32	* BottleEpisode: All action takes place in Berlin.
33	* CallBack and ContinuityNod: "Caroline Says II" calls back to "Candy Says" from Music/TheVelvetUnderground's [[Music/TheVelvetUndergroundAlbum self-titled album]]. In fact, this song is essentially a rewrite of the unreleased Velvet Underground song "Stephanie Says", with new lyrics and a slower, sparser arrangement.
34	* ConceptAlbum: The entire story takes place in Berlin.
35	* CoversAlwaysLie: Reed is shown on the cover with an electric guitar but only played an acoustic one on the album.
36	* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: "Caroline Says II"
37	--> ''Life is meant to be more than this''
38	--> ''And this is a bum trip''
39	--> ''But she's not afraid to die''
40	* DomesticAbuse: "Caroline Says II"
41	--> ''Caroline says''
42	--> ''As she gets up from the floor''
43	--> ''You can hit me all you want to''
44	--> ''But I don't love you any more''
45	** "Oh Jim"
46	-->''And when you're filled up to here with hate''
47	-->''Don't you know you gotta get it straight''
48	-->''Filled up to here with hate''
49	-->''Beat her black and blue and get it straight''
50	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: The album ends with Caroline's suicide.]]
51	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Caroline.]]
52	--> ''This is the place where she cut her wrist''
53	* DrugsAreBad: "Caroline Says"
54	--> ''All of her friends call her Alaska''
55	--> ''When she takes speed, they'll laugh and ask her''
56	--> ''What is in her mind?''
57	--> ''But she's not afraid to die;''
58	--> ''All of her friends call her Alaska''
59	--> ''It's so cold in Alaska''
60	* EpicRocking: The 7:55 "The Kids" and the 6:55 "Sad Song". "The Bed", at 5:51, just barely misses the six-minute mark.
61	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin:
62	** "Sad Song," which is a sad song. [[LyricalDissonance If you ignore the lyrics]] it might not seem like it at first though.
63	** The album itself, which is set in Berlin.
64	* FaceOnTheCover: Reed is shown on the album cover, but in a small image.
65	* {{Fingore}}: "Caroline Says II"
66	-->''She put her fist through the window pane''
67	* GreenEyedMonster: Jealousy is a recurring theme on the album. Reed considered it a destructive emotion.
68	* GriefSong: "Sad Song".
69	--> ''I thought she was Mary, Queen of Scots''
70	--> ''I tried so very hard''
71	--> ''Shows just how wrong you can be''
72	--> ''I'm gonna stop wasting time''
73	--> ''Somebody else would have broken both of her arms''
74	* {{Jerkass}}: Both main characters of ''Berlin'' qualify. Caroline is serially unfaithful, a neglectful parent, and so on, while Jim is a domestic abuser who gets custody of their children taken away from her purely out of spite and doesn't feel any remorse after his mistreatment of Caroline [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide drives her to suicide]]]], and in fact rationalises it by saying "somebody else would have broken both of her arms". Of course, it's also possible that some or all of Caroline's characterisation is a case of UnreliableNarrator, since we mostly have to take Jim's word for her actions and various things he says throughout the course of the album suggest that he may not exactly be the most stable individual out there.
75	* LackOfEmpathy: "Men of Good Fortune"
76	--> ''Men of good fortune, often cause empires to fall''
77	--> ''While men of poor beginnings, often can't do anything at all''
78	--> ''The rich son waits for his father to die''
79	--> ''The poor just drink and cry''
80	--> ''And me I just don't care at all''
81	* LastNoteNightmare: "The Bed" is a dream-like song with a final moment of pure nightmare. "The Kids" is another quiet song that in this case ends with the voices of children hollering for their mother, sounding for all the world like they have just been told she is not coming home ... ever.
82	* LocationSong: "Berlin", though the entire album could count since it all takes place in the German capital.
83	* LonelyPianoPiece: The TitleTrack is just Reed and a piano.
84	* TheMovie: Julian Schnabel's ''Berlin: Live At St Ann's Warehouse'', combining concert footage with filmed scenes from the story.
85	* MyGreatestFailure: How Reed regarded ''Berlin''. It was perhaps the most ambitious thing he ever did, but it flopped commercially and was savaged by critics (though it was [[VindicatedByHistory retroactively deemed one of his best albums]]).
86	* NewSoundAlbum: ''Berlin'' features heavy orchestral arrangements, compared to the GlamRock sound of ''Music/{{Transformer}}''.
87	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Some of the more salacious details about Caroline make it clear that she's based at least a little bit on Music/{{Nico}}, with whom Reed had a torrid affair a few years prior. They're even the same height, 5'10.
88	* OneManSong: "Jim"
89	* OneWomanSong: "Caroline Says" and "Lady Day".
90	* OneWordTitle: "Berlin".
91	* ReallyGetsAround: Caroline, if Jim's narration is accurate (it might not be).
92	* RearrangeTheSong: The title track originally appeared as a bluesy ballad on ''Lou Reed''; "Sad Song", "Oh Jim" and "Caroline Says II" are rewrites of (then) unreleased Music/TheVelvetUnderground songs.
93	* RhymingWithItself:
94	** "Men of Good Fortune" rhymes "die" with "die", as well as "a thing" with "anything".
95	** "Caroline Says" rhymes "vial" with "vile."
96	* RockOpera: It's a story about two doomed lovers in the titular city
97	* SexByProxy: Suggested in "How Do You Think It Feels?"
98	--> ''How do you think it feels\
99	To always make love by proxy?''
100	* ShoutOut:
101	** The woman in "Sad Song" is compared to UsefulNotes/MaryQueenOfScots.
102	* SlobsVersusSnobs: "Men of Good Fortune"
103	--> ''Men of good fortune, often wish that they could die''
104	--> ''While men of poor beginnings want what they have''
105	* TheSomethingSong: "Sad Song"
106	* SplashOfColor: The photos in the album artwork are green-tinted monochrome except with prominent elements tinted in red.
107	* StatuesqueStunner: The title track mentions that Caroline is 5'10.
108	* TitleTrack: "Berlin"
109	--> ''In Berlin, by the wall''
110	--> ''You were five foot ten inches tall''
111	* UnreliableNarrator: Subtext suggests that Jim may be one.
112	* WhamLine: "The Bed":
113	--> ''This is the place where she cut her wrist''
114	* WithFriendsLikeThese: "Oh Jim":
115	--> ''All your two-bit friends\
116	They shot you up with pills''

Context Music / Berlin