Music Book Review: I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp by Richard Hell

I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp
by Richard Hell (Music 781.66 Hel)

This book, a document of the nascent late 1970s punk scene in Manhattan by one of its most influential participants, describes a world I am completely unfamiliar with except for the musical recordings and books like these that emerged from it. Therefore, it provides the same reader experience and immersion into another realm that I get from reading The Lord of the Rings. It is another legend in the larger story, written in fevered confessional from the author who escaped to tell the tale. Fans of the bands Television, Blondie, The Ramones, and early Talking Heads who also like biographical context and historical backstory to their cherished songs will enjoy this autobiography.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Just Kids by Patti Smith, or Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.]

[ publisher’s official I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp web site ] | [ official Richard Hell web site ]

Recommended by Eric S.
Walt Branch Library

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