The Raven

By Lou Reed

The legendary musician’s distinctive artistic take on Edgar Allan Poe includes “some of the most personal lyrics of his career” (Rolling Stone).

One of the most influential and innovative recording artists of the past three decades, Lou Reed has always offered a shrewd view of life in the big city in all its colors. It is no surprise, then, that he considers Edgar Allan Poe a spiritual forefather.

In The Raven, Reed immerses himself in Poe’s enigmatic world and sets out to reimagine his work to mesmerizing effect. In 2001 Lou Reed, legendary theater director Robert Wilson, and an all-star cast presented the musical POEtry at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Reed’s subsequent studio adaptation, The Raven, has been hailed as one of his more daring and challenging albums. Here, accompanied by photographs by the acclaimed artist and director Julian Schnabel, is the definitive text of the CD release. The Raven includes Reed's distinctive takes on Poe’s most celebrated works, as well as song lyrics written for the musical. It is a fascinating meeting between a dark chronicler of the twentieth century and his nineteenth-century counterpart; the work of one iconoclastic genius offering a haunting exploration of another.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Dec 1, 2007
• ISBN: 9780802199379

Lou Reed

Lou Reed was a musician, singer, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, lead singer, and songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a legendary solo career that spanned five decades. He died in 2013. 

Book preview

THE RAVEN

THE RAVEN

LYRICS AND TEXT BY LOU REED

WITH PHOTOGRAPHS BY JULIAN SCHNABEL

Copyright © 2003 by Lou Reed

Photographs © 2003 by Julian Schnabel

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Any members of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or publishers who would like to obtain permission to include the work in an anthology, should send their inquiries to Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

Published simultaneously in Canada

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Reed, Lou.

[Raven. Libretto]

The raven / lyrics and text by Lou Reed ; with photographs by Julian Schnabel.

p. cm.

Libretto of a studio adaptation of the musical POEtry.

eBook ISBN-13: 978-0-8021-9937-9

1. Musicals—Librettos. I. Reed, Lou. POEtry. II. Poe, Edgar Allan,

1809–1849. III. Title.

ML50.R317R43  2003

782.1’40268—dc21

2003051151

Grove Press

841 Broadway

New York, NY 10003

Acknowledgments

To Robert Wilson, our original stage director, whose idea this was.

To Hal Willner, my coproducer of the reworked audio version of this play.

THE RAVEN

This is a work for the imagination; therefore I have included only audio cues, as this version is meant to be heard in the mind.

Speakers (in order of appearance)

VOICE

OLD POE

YOUNG POE

LIGEIA

ROWENA

LENORE

POE

DEATH

RODERICK USHER

LADY MADELINE OF USHER

ENTERTAINER

POE ENSEMBLE

THE OLD MAN

FIVE POLICEMEN

FEMALE TEACHER

MALE STUDENT

MOTHER

DAUGHTER

JUDGES

DEAD PEOPLE

HOP-FROG

KING

TRIPITENA, A PRINCESS

THE CONQUEROR WORM

VOICE

Lo! It’s a gala night.

A mystic throng bedecked

Sit in a theater to see

A play of hopes and fears

While the orchestra breathes fitfully

The music of the spheres.

Minds mutter and mumble low—

Mere puppets they, who come and go

Disguised as gods,

They shift the scenery to and fro

Inevitably trapped by invisible woe.

This motley drama—to be sure—

Will not be forgotten.

A phantom chased for evermore,

Never seized by the crowd

Though they circle—

Returning to the same spot—

Circle and return

To the selfsame spot

Always to the selfsame spot,

With much of madness and more of sin,

And horror and mimic rout

The soul of the plot.

Out—out are the lights—out all!

And over each dying form

The curtain, a funeral pall,

Comes with the rush of a storm.

The angels, haggard and wan,

Unveiling and uprising affirm

That the play is the tragedy, Man,

And its hero the conqueror worm.

Instrumental overture

ACT I

OLD POE

Guitar melody

OLD POE

As I

Reviews for The Raven

[lquilter_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Still creepy! And memorable to my 6yo who was quoting it weeks later. As chance would have it, I was in Charleston a month later, and hearing the ghost story about the little girl who was the "lost love" object of this poem, Poe then being in his 20s and the girl being 12 or 13 when he surreptitiously courted her.

[michael5rimmer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

By turns beautiful and disturbing, Lou Reed has adapted the poems and stories of Edgar Allan Poe as a musical, presented here as a book of lyrical poetry and prose. The illustrations by Mattotti are by turns dream-like and nightmarish, in both stark monochromes and vividly febrile colour.

This is the first time I've seen Mattotti's artwork, so I can't compare it to any of his others, but as an isolated example I have to say he's able to brilliantly express Reed/Poe at both their most wistful and most morbid.

Whether you're a fan of Reed, Poe or Mattotti, I don't see where you can go wrong with this book.

[jami_leigh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Getting a head start, reading some of the shorter works to dispel the boredom in reading through Grimm.

[angelajmaher · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Raven is a legendary poem, but within the other poems included are more words that will ring with great familiarity. Beautifully flowing poetry from an iconic author.

[scottcholstad · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very high quality work from Poe. Possibly among the best work produced by American writers...

[avoraciousreader · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

4.5*Book source ~ Free onlineEdgar Allan Poe’s celebrated poem available and narrated by Christopher Walken.It’s Edgar Allan Poe and Christopher Walken. How bad can it be? As it turns out, not bad at all. There were a few times the background noise was distracting (the guitars for instance), but overall this was wonderful.

[26kathryn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Raven is a classic poem that I expect everyone has heard of. Imagine how you'd feel if you heard a knock at your door, only there was nobody there. Then you hear it again and so you open the window, only to have a raven fly in and perch itself above your door. It then just sits there looking at you and croaking "Nevermore". That's what happens in this poem and it's really very haunting.I loved the way the words flowed so easily in this poem. It almost sounds like a song.

[dedede-36 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

awsome poetry

[js126863 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Raven is a narrative poem by Edgar Allan Poe. The poem tells a story about a talking raven that mysteriously visits a man in the night. The man is mourning the lose of his love, Lenore. The raven seems to make this man who is suffering suffer even more by telling him "nevermore". The main theme of this poem is undying devotion. The man starts out being "weak and weary" and ends with him turning into a mad man. I absolutely love this poem. It is a tragic poem about the lose of a loved one. After the poem, the kids could tell you what they think the poems meaning is.

[clq_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've read The Raven a few times in the past, but never "properly". Because of the reputation this poem has, I hoped that this was why I didn't appreciate it as much as it seems I should have.I decided to finally sit down and read through it a few times slowly, and think about it properly.And yes, it does get better with repetition, and yes, it is worth spending some time thinking about. Rather than wondering why people really like The Raven, I now really like it myself. I still don't find it exceptional, but it's definitely a thoughtful, emotional piece of writing that I think is not only worth reading, but also worth re-reading and thinking about.

[jimocracy · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm sure this story is chocked full of symbolism and meaning but I didn't see it.

[bdtrump · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A must read for anyone - Poe's genius at play.